Same shit, different day.

[hackthis_archive]

I don't know how many of you use gmail, but those of you who do know that gmail has this little feature where they offer ads and news stories and links based on the contents of your e-mail. Today, I sent ethrosdemon an e-mail about The Roots album 'Game Theory' and the Notorious B.I.G's 'Greatest Hits' -- to which gmail decided that the best sponsored link response was:

Nigga - www.eBay.com - Great deals on Nigga Shop on eBay and Save!.

Oh really.

For those of you who don't know, both The Roots and Notorious BIG (Biggie Smalls) are rappers. So, naturally, when gmail thinks of rappers they think of 'nigga.' Never mind that nowhere in the e-mail was 'nigga' used as I tend to abbhor the use of this word and find is seriously offensive. So, naturally, I think anybody could understand why I might take a moment to say 'wait. WHAT?' Not just as a black person or as a black women, but as a person in general.

Do they do this for Asian people and Latinos? Have I missed something? Has Google been bought by the ignorant and callous? Naturally I went to Customer Service to complain, but since gmail doesn't seem to have a Customer Service area that isn't just 'Tell us How Much You Love Us,' you can see why I'm a little pissed off.

In 2007 you would think a international conglomerate could show a little fucking TACT. Apparently not.

I was just going to let this slide, but you know, my day is already fucked up, might as well go for broke.

The thing is that I really am of two minds about posting this, because on one hand, it's just so fucking typical of American society these days that I shouldn't be surprised. It's the new 'norm.' Everywhere you go people think it's okay to use the n-word (nigger) because their friends use it, or because it they heard it in a song, or because black people use it, so why can't they? Aren't black people past that whole slavery & racism thing? Why are they still harping on about old shit? Hmmm. Let me think on that for a moment.

I don't know if its a generational issue or maybe I'm just pissed off because it's a racial slur no matter how you spell it. Every time someone says "Well, I used 'nigga' instead of 'nigger', and that's not the same thing" I want to slap them, because guess what?

It is the same thing.

Cracka is the same as faggot is the same as spic as the same as chink. No matter what you try to disguise it as, a slur is a slur is a slur. If you don't want somebody else using it, how about you not use it either? How about people step up and admit when they're fucking wrong for a change?

Anybody know of a good competitor e-mail service?

Comments

[1407graymalkin.livejournal.com]

after poking google up the ass for a little while, I found this:

abuse report (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?security=1&ctx=security)

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't even know what to say about this. It's kind of unbelievable.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just. Wow. I don't even know what to say about this, because I can't believe somehow someone somewhere at Google thinks that's okay.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

Ok. Here's the thing: Yes, the word has uses that are not intended to be slurs. Uses that mean I always wind up skipping bits when I sing along to Jay-Z.

But: The chances of somebody being offended and upset by said word is much much much greater than the sales oppertunity presented. I would have _thought_ that gmail would have a filter tha removes certain words. Fuck can stay, cause hey, the internet is for porn.

But if it went to a corprophelia site everytime the word shit was used, you would have a serious problem.

I think that you need to email google. Because it is just wildly inappropriate to have that particular word on the sales link. I can think of several examples of other words that have the same problem.

Grr.

[lunais-cross.livejournal.com]

Eesh. I'd be mad as hell if they gave me a racial slur for an ad response. I've never had that happen to me before, but dang. They should know better. I thought the Google slogan was "Don't be evil" or something like that.

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd move e-mail services. How do you feel about yahoo? I've had my fannish e-mail account at yahoo for years. There are some ads, but they've avoided racial slurs so far. http://mail.yahoo.com/

[bitter-greene.livejournal.com]

In addition to horribly offensiveness of the ad, and the idea of there being a "Nigga Shop on eBay," I'm really disturbed by what this says about their classification system. Exactly how is google categorizing black writers and artists? Good grief.

[antheia.livejournal.com]

I have a few comments on this.

1. Aw, and just when I thought I was gonna make it through the day without seeing something that made me want to beat someone's ass.

2. And now, for the diametrically opposed (and equally fucked) position: New York City Council bans the 'n' word (http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/Juror_removed_from_Libby_trial/20070226-064542-2730r/). *sigh*

3. I think it's probably not specifically gmail's fault - more likely a failure in their software or sommat. If memory serves, it relies on keywords provided by the site being advertised. Which means you probably want to throw a hearty "fuck you" to ebay. But that's speculation. I would have to do (and am now inclined) more research on how google constructs this stuff.

4. I really just give up on society. Bad enough when I had to explain to my dad, who was 60, why some of this shit wasn't right. But for people who've grown up in recent generations to act this foolish? BAH.


I need tea. And sleep, clearly.

[tobymalfoy.livejournal.com]

Not to defend Google too much, because if nothing else they apparently have a shitty offensive-words-filter, but text ads in Google Adsense (which is basically what they are using in Gmail) are usually not created/copywritten/checked by Google staff. Especially not with well established advertisers. So the party responsible for the contents of that add and it's association with rap is the advertiser. Which in this case appears to be either eBay or someone selling stuff via eBay.

[lilac-way.livejournal.com]

Cracka is the same as faggot is the same as spic as the same as chink. No matter what you try to disguise it as, a slur is a slur is a slur.

Great -- then can we as a fandom (or society, even) stop using "retard" and "retarded" as a synonym for "stupid?" As the sister of a man with Down Syndrome, and the mother of an Autistic child, I cringe everytime someone uses the word in this manner in fanfic. Try substituting faggot or spic or chink for retarded in that sense and see how people feel.

And yes, I realize I am alone in beating this drum. No one else seems bothered by it.

(here via friendsfriends, btw.)

[parlemer.livejournal.com]

That's completely ridiculous. I would think that a company as large and successful as Google would show a little more tact. I hate it when people casually use derogatory words towards each other, esp. girls calling each other "slut" and "bitch." It just makes people think that using those words is okay... and it's not.

[slodwick.livejournal.com]

Just pointing this out, because I pay attention to the Gmail ads a LOT: I know that in the past, when reading email or searching for anything on Google, no matter what the search in question is, I've seen sponsored text ads for ebay that say: (insert term here) - www.eBay.com - Great deals on (insert term here) Shop, or something similar. I've noticed this because I thought it was sort of funny that some of the weird shit I talk about in emails appear to have a whole shop devoted to it.

And it's not necessarily always related to anything I was specifically searching for or talking about; sometimes, Google's ads will infer, based on your text, things that might be related. Hell, I'm not positive how Google's ad algorithm works, but I suppose it's possible the person setting the ads up (ebay, I guess?) indicated that when certain text appears in emails or searches that their product is related somehow.

I'm not saying that excuses anyone, or that you shouldn't change email services if you choose, and I could be completely wrong, but I think in this case, you could have just as easily got an offer to peruse any number of other supposed ebay "shops".

[hobbit-feet.livejournal.com]

The fact that there even is a "Nigga Shop on eBay" appalls me.

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

I just want to reiterate that it may actually be the choice of the advertiser to be linked to rappers names, etc. You have to buy that space and choose how and when you want to be linked. We do that at my job all the time for terms that relate to the sites we create. So, while Google should definitely get your anger for not paying attention to that sort of thing, they are probably not the reason it showed up in your e-mail.

Either way, it still sucks.

[rubymiene.livejournal.com]

I really don't think this is gmail's fault. The advertising algorithim isn't a person, it's based on what's written in the advertiser's website and/or keywords provided by the advertiser. Google has way to many ads to personally approve each and every one and how it shows up. That doesn't mean you shouldn't complain to Google and encourage them to pull the advertiser and/or add a filter, but they didn't *choose* to connect 'nigga' with rappers.

[deploystarpower.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes, really. I can't see how Google would dare draw a connection between Biggie Smalls and the word "nigga". Certainly not in this fashion:

"You bought to die, nigga wait, keep yo hands high"
"I stopped trustin niggaz since gotti got caught"
"Me and my nigga lance, took kim and cees advance"
"Niggaz spit be counterfeit, robbery come actually"
-- Notorious B.I.G. - Rap Phenomenon

"Twist cabbage off instinct niggaz don't think shit stink"
"Recently niggaz frontin ain't sayin nuttin (nope)"
"Packin, askin who want it, you got it nigga flaunt it"
"Them niggaz ride dicks, Frank White push the sticks"
-- Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotize

Nor, frankly, can I imagine how they could draw a link between The Roots and this horrible word:

"A few stacks be the price for a nigga's head"
"I don't know, who's this nigga that you try to be Och"
"Philly never scared and them niggaz ain't timid there"
"Will have us niggaz sinnin with orders"
-- The Roots - In The Music (Game Theory)


I'm with you, hackthis. I think Google are bang out of order and we should let them know how we feel.

[zoetrope.livejournal.com]

I completely understand your rage. I hate the fact that essentially any social progress has turned from something that has meaning and import, to something that is a drag, and just so, so uncool. In my more paranoid moments I attribute this to the bigoted amongst us turning the movement against itself so that it will have less impact and they'll slowly be able to be racist/sexist again.

I hope you'll let Google know why you are moving accounts as well. You never know, it may have an impact. Google seem to be at least a little responsive. Or maybe that's just their excellent PR department ;)

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

Apologies for deleting the earlier comment - circumstances et cetera. :|

In from friendsfriends.

[thecuckoo.livejournal.com]

Despite using many, many Google products, I've invariably shied away from Gmail because of the context-(in)sensitive ads. It just skeeves.

At any rate, if you really want this to get some play, I HIGHLY recommend sending a copy of your email to Google to the good people over at Consumerist.

tips@consumerist.com


They've been riding Wal-Mart for 16 weeks on those totenkopf T-shirts, so I'm sure they'd give this the spotlight.

[moonystone.livejournal.com]

Is it just me, or are people getting increasingly unaware of slurs in language? Maybe I'm just overly sensitive due to what I have to listen to when working in a school where the children (or their parents) come from everywhere in the world and feel 'proud' and 'cool' when applying slurs to themselves.

Yes, it is an often-practiced tendency by minority groups to take offensive terms used to describe them and make them their own. Be that as it may, it shouldn't be taken over into everyday language, and especially not used for official names like ebay shops.

[vylit.livejournal.com]

I'm really shocked that google would be that *dumb*. I'm sorry, hon, but if you find a good email service, let us know.