Jonah Goldberg is bothered by the fact that a private company isn’t doing enough to celebrate something he thinks is important. Goldberg is free to get his own damn website, and do whatever he likes with the logo on it, on any day he sees fit.
What a dingleberry.
8 Comments
I half see your side, and half his.
If government did not exist, we would rightly quibble about nothing but culture. “Oh, yuck, a townie driving a big car at 20 miles per hour in a 40 zone”. “Stupid hippie kids should learn to bathe”, etc.
Clearly the difference between arguing about government and arguing about culture is that it is illegitimate for government (of the conventional you-must-obey variety) to exist, while it is legitimate for people to do things that piss us off.
Google is doing something that pisses Jonah off.
And he’s ranting about it.
Fine.
Of course it’s fine that he’s ranting about something that pisses him off (what could be more American, btw?) - I’m just saying the thing that’s he’s ranting about makes him sound like a dingleberry, and qualifies him as a busybody.
Sorry- can’t side with you on this one.
So you should stop being critical of the NYTimes, start your own paper, and print whatever you damn well please?
So you’re also upset that google redecorates its logo for holiday A and not holiday B?
I’m not saying Jonah shouldn’t be allowed (”allowed”) to complain (either at all, or because he doesn’t have his own website) - I’m saying that just as he thinks it’s sad that google didn’t change its logo today, I think it’s a stupid thing to care about. What google’s logo looks like (and what that might or might not say about its institutional “feelings” about patriotism vs. detective fiction) seems utterly unimportant to me, whereas the propaganda that the “paper of record” tries to pass off as news is somewhat more noteworthy. When I complain about something the NYT publishes, you’re free to tell me that you think it’s a stupid thing to care about, and call me a dingleberry.
And, of course, I do print whatever I damn well please.
No- I don’t give a sh*t what Google does to its logo on any given day. However given that Google has a policy of modifying its logo for holidays, and that I’m down to about 6 holidays that “The Man” finds important enough to actually give me the day off, one of which is Memorial day, I won’t brand anyone a dingleberry who opens such a topic for discussion.
That said I imagine that the possibility of nepharious, terrorist supporting, anti-american, Stalin worshiping motivations being behind the lack of a modified logo is quite slim. Most likely too many people involved in the process we taking extra days off and they didn’t get around to it. Some people are overly sensitive about lack of military appreciation.
My issue with your original post was the “get your own logo” statements- If you think JG is a dingleberry for trying to make a big deal out of a nothing, or let a dumbass thing make him “sad” say so. Don’t make it some property issue.
I don’t do anything to celebrate Memorial Day, but I think Jonah’s got a perfectly good rant, and I guess, now that I’m forced (”forced”) to take a stand on it, I’ll say that I agree with him.
Google is, de facto, rank ordering their allegiance to different cultural touch points, and putting Dali’s birthday about the American Armed forces is a bit too hippy for me.
What on earth do those two things have to do with each other??
And if you look at the history of logo changes they’ve made, they observe more than some holidays. That they change a logo on a day of their choice does not mean they’ve shouldered an obligation to change their logo on a day of your choice, or on every day that might be considered a member of the same set that a day they chose might be considered to be a member of. Oh no! Google didn’t change their logo for Ramadan, or Black History Month. It’s soooo sad how racist they are!
And again, I’m not saying this is something he shouldn’t mention, or shouldn’t have an opinion about - I’m just saying I think his opinion is stupid.
Yes, I guessed that from your comment, and was hoping my elaboration would make my position on that a bit more clear.
Sorry, I thought
would get that across.
What I was trying to add with the “get his own logo” bit, is that nothing is preventing him from showing his own appreciation of the military with his own patriotic changing logo.
Well, this is the only good point so far, but I think if you take a look at the changes they’ve made in the past (assuming you haven’t yet), it’s hard to think that they’re trying to do anything other than be cute. So I think the term “allegiance” is a bit strong.