Google vs Michael Moore

I’m glad the blogosphere has caught on to this.

This is a total shame on Google’s part. If Moore was to do a part 2 of the documentary, he can use this episode as the beginning.

As I just blogged(http://www.zaid360.com/?p=200), it is sad the best google can do with this huge problem facing our nation is offer PR services to fool folks into thinking there is no problem.

Duncan, you’re going to get fired from TechCrunch. The quality of your reporting is downright awful. The Myspace vs. Facebook article was bad but this is pure drivel.

Seriously, Duncan Riley needs to be fired. How has Google come out against Michael Moore? I went and read the blog post and it’s basic PR - some radical filmmaker with a huge gut who should lose some weight makes a highly biased movie and big pharma/healthcare companies should counter with good marketing. What’s so bad about that?

Google has hardly come out against Michael Moore the man or even Sicko the movie nor does the Health Advertising Team represent the official opinion of Google as a company.

Please resign Duncan. Your reporting is downright terrible. You’re biased and don’t back up anything with facts or data.

TechCrunch is already going down the shitter but this is the limit.

Here’s a fact: about 18,000 people die every year in America primarily because they cannot afford insurance.

May be you can explain how some adwords PR campaign is going to help fix this.

Leave Duncan alone, he’s doing fine.

Maybe you can learn English Zaid. Just maybe. 99% of the fools on here are like you:

1. Over-idealistic
2. Terrible at grammar/diction
3. No idea of how the real world works (see point #1)
4. Extremely opinionated with little logic to back it up

Where is your data from Zaid? Michael Moore himself? It looks like that UNC education isn’t paying off. Do you know that people in Cuba don’t actually get very good healthcare. Of course, if Michael Moore shows up, they are happy to put on a show that no normal Cuban could ever dream of in terms of health care quality.

Michael Moore is a showman. He has a few valuable points. The healthcare system needs fixing but you, Duncan, and the rest of the lost-in-the-clouds types need to learn to use logic, facts, and a dose of the real world.

The entire world does not revolve around self-important bloggers.

You have to admit, a Moore film on Google, Microsoft and Apple (and Oracle, simply because of Larry) might be absolutely hilarious!!

David
agree

Sanity
Mars called, they want you back. Every one else called it the same way, check Techmeme for proof.

From Lauren Turner’s brilliant blog post:

“Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.”

Lauren then goes on to encourage healthcare interests to contact Google about how they can place “text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network.”

So let me get this straight. Moore’s film paints a picture of the healthcare industry as being money and marketing driven. Lauren at Google claims this really isn’t the case, and goes on to encourage the industry to contact Google about the company’s great marketing solutions. I wonder what pills Lauren has been taking because her argument is just brilliant.

I’m going to email Google about its solutions and see if they can help Drama Holdings S.A. create a campaign for our upcoming prescription drug. If I get a response, I’ll post it on my blog.

What???
Google is pointless and the one who should be fired is the guy who wrote the article about how to counter bad press!
Well, maybe some extremists like Ben Laden should ask for Google’s help to get a better reputation!
And, for the facts, U.S. is ranked 37 in healthcare around the world. And that’s a fact. The most powerful country! Even Canada (and I am canadian) have a better healthcare system (almost free and universal).

Michael Moore is a moron. Plain and simple. He has a skill of twisting the facts, and that’s about it. Perhaps he should get himself to the Gym and shed a few pounds. Might save the rest of us some money on our healthcare.

So which healthcare provider do you work for Sanity?

One of Moore’s Cuba patients snuck out of her hospital room during her stay and walked back into the hospital without the cameras and got the same attention she did with the cameras.

The mere fact that one of those people has to pay $120 for a single prescription inhaler that only costs Cuban’s $0.05 for the same exact product should be cause enough for riots in the street.

The problem is people like you and marketers and PR people and lawyers have sold this country and it’s people out for a paycheck and will do anything to defend “their” goodie basket while their neighbor rots.

Our healthcare industry doesn’t just need “fixing”, it needs to be torn down and rebuilt because it’s a corrupt pile of nonsense that only favors people with money.

The United States has become the laughing stock of the world. We’re like a giant crying, spitting, farting juvenile pimple on the ass of the planet and it’s people like you who continue to promote it.

The world IS the blogosphere and it should revolve around them! They represent the people. Not the corporate owned media of the United States which represents 3 company’s views which are bought and paid for and shoves complete nonsense down the throats of citizens all day. And this Google post further emphasizes that point; “the huddled masses got you down? Our marketing experts will help silence the dissent against your company by manipulating the information they seek to show you in a more positive light”.

The person that wrote that should be hung.

Duncan - your inability to address any of my points shows how sad you are. When are you resigning? Do you know how to use logic? What about simple arguments? You are a writer and you can’t use logic. Your grammar is awful and you can’t even spell properly - “every one” vs. “everyone” - where did you go to college? You’re a complete and utter retard.

Joe B - do Canadians know how to spell? It’s Bin Laden and you might want to learn grammar as well.

You fools can’t even argue or speak proper English. God knows what our healthcare system would be like if we let idiots like you run it. It’s bad enough already.

#4
“Analysis: ‘Sicko’ mostly accurate, needs context”
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH.....index.html

It says a lot about *your* education when you counter someone’s argument by attacking their grammar. Ha.

-Zaid

Dear “Sanity,” I enjoyed your post immensely, especially this line: “…some radical filmmaker with a huge gut who should lose some weight makes a highly biased movie…”

A “radical filmmaker,” huh? You say that like it’s a bad thing. Radical filmmakers make some the best, and most important films.

Then there’s your “…with a huge gut who should lose some weight” comment; personal attacks are the last–or, more likely, only resort of a weak argument, which, of course, you’ve made crystal clear.

But my favorite comment of yours is when you call “Sicko” a “…highly biased movie,” particularly when combined with your other comment: “You’re biased and don’t back up anything with facts or data.” How about you do a quick Yahoo search and do a little fact-checking yourself? Search this: “Sicko” “fact check”

Choose a few links, take 30 minutes to do a little reading, and ask yourself why YOU’RE so biased.

Irrespective of whether Moore is right, you’re all missing the point. Duncan’s article is pointing out a really heavy-handed attempt by a Google person to capitalize on Moore’s work by offering to “fix” the health industry’s image problem for a few bucks.

The article is not about whether Mr. Moore is right or wrong. Its about whether Google (as represented by Lauren who supposedly posts in the name of Google and thus willy nilly represents their corporate stance) is doing a good thing or not. I’m with Duncan, this seems like a tasteless and idiotic thing to do.

Techcrunch “…is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies.”

Maybe that should be changed to “… a weblog dedicated to obsessively reporting new products and features of MAJOR tech companies such as Apple, Google, Myspace, and Facebook.”

By the way, “Sanity,” if you wish to argue the finer points of proper grammar, perhaps you should do so only after looking into the correct usage of punctuation. You’ve erroneously omitted several commas and quotation marks, and you’ve also placed hyphens where there should be none, while omitting others where they should be placed. More importantly, though, you’ve reinforced my point about people who use personal attacks rather than debating facts…

I’m in the majority, I believe, in thinking Google made a mistake. This could paint them in a very negative light and if it gets enough attention it could have a major long term impact in perhaps unforseen ways.

And as former resident of the U.S. who now lives in another country, I can tell you first hand that the quality of healthcare can be dramatically better at a fraction of the cost.

@ 12 - Thanks for providing your facts Zaid.

@ 13 - I’m glad you enjoyed my comments. I’m also glad you referred me to “Sicko” fact check given that 8 of the top 10 results are just a replication of the CNN Story.

Here are a few other nice facts:

1. “— The United States ranked highest on patient satisfaction, followed by Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden.”

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....2#11291249

2. Problems with the UK System: “Nevertheless, Ellis agrees that resources are finite. The NHS is already rationing health care, and often unfairly. She concedes that free treatment for every medical condition is an impossible ideal.”

Source:
http://marketplace.publicradio.....06074.html

3. Obesity is one of the biggest driving factors in higher healthcare costs and lower life expectancy, disease rates, morbidity, and lower quality of life. The United States has the highest obesity rate in the developed world.

It was a bit of a personal attack on Moore. Honestly though, Americans need to be healthier. Even if we had the same healthcare system as everyone else, our healthcare system would still be far more expensive. We are a fat country. It wouldn’t hurt Michael Moore to be a bit more of a role model. This is just like Al Gore promoting an Inconvenient Truth while having private jets, a huge heated pool, etc. Hypocrisy is the true sign of weakness.

Source:
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/23/34970246.pdf

Read it bloggers. Learn about your world. There is life outside of the 415 and 650 area code.

Google is trying to do two things at once, two things that are not always compatible. First, they are a public company and their job is to make money for the benefit of their shareholders. The health care market is HUGE and Google sees an opportunity to get some more business from that sector.

But, Google is also the company of Don’t Be Evil. Here’s an article from Wired in 2003 - Google vs. Evil — http://www.wired.com/wired/arc.....le_pr.html
And you would have to be living in a cave to not know that the US healthcare system is totally F*cked Up. With a capital F. And Moore uses emotionally manipulative tactics to get the point across, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. (That’s called good filmmaking.)

Google could have reached out to the health care folks without going after Moore. It would be more accurate to just say… With the film Sicko in theaters and bringing publicity to problems in health care… you need to get your story out… use Google. Nothing wrong with that.

I was hard on Duncan for his Joost cheerleading, but I think it’s right to point this out.

Why are right wingers so angry and feel the need to be right, even when it is contradicted by the facts. Two such facts: 1)The US spends more on healthcare per person than any nation on earth, yet their system is never in the top twenty in terms of quality. Look at any of the metrics to see my point. 2)People die because of lack of insurance. Why defend something that is inferior? Just so you feel superior? Or are you merely trolling, you know the old internet saying ‘what happens when average joe gets and audience plus anonymity…’.

Google’s forte is HOSTING ads, not acting as a PR firm. Lauren is one of the many youngsters at Google who need monitoring and with limited life experiences, shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions alone. This is a major faux-pas for Google. I think the don’t be evil slogan is long dead at Google. Time to move on to search engine 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever?

Speaking of life experience, I don’t know if these statistics still hold true (from 2004) but from the photo’s I often see of Google people, it doesn’t look like it has changed much.

“The average age of male employees at Google is 29.7 years and the average age of female employees is 28.4, according to the complaint, filed in Superior Court for the State of California for the County of Santa Clara. Only 30, or less than 2 percent, of Google’s 1,900 employees are over 40, the complaint states.”

Sanity: Duncan’s doing a fine job. You may disagree with the topic he chose, but I for one find it interesting that we discover here how Google is deepening its sales in vertical market segments through specific teams. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the Entertainment team was doing exactly the opposite !) I think that is good reporting.

In fact, what I’d really like is for Michael to assign a reporter to do longer stories (rather than have all of them do a bunch of short ones.) Deepening this topic would be especially interesting, for instance, to all the budding entrepreneurs here trying to monetize their startups through Mike’s favourite means: ads. Finding out more about how the best drive down the sales process would be very interesting. I also read this other blog (www.startup-review.com) for stunningly detailed articles (I’m not affiliated with that blog); it’d be great to see a guy like Duncan be free to do the same kind of reporting here.

I think “sanity” (aka grammar bitch) is “Lauren Turner”

It’s funny reading comments from a bunch of tech nerds who know absolutely nothing about healthcare rabble on like know it alls.

@23: It’s funny reading high sounding comments from a purported know-it-all who can’t provide a iota of information, let alone any arguments, on any of the sides of this issue.

After today, I can’t stand to visit techcrunch anymore. After 200 Apple articles, and then this, its horrible. This site used to be about talking about startups and innovative ideas. Now its become just another piece of the biased liberal media.

Socialism doesn’t provide the best quality stuff, and does not encourage research and innovation, as proven time and again. I watched the movie Sicko. Its clear Moore chose the worst of the US scenarios and the best of the Canadian scenarios. And a big part of his movie was that healthcare over there is free. HMOs are absolutely horrible. Everyone agrees on that. But socialism and national healthcare paid by tax dollars (not free) is not the answer.

Lets use Michael Moore’s examples in his own movie of other socialistic services in the US.
1) US Postal Service
They provide the service relatively cheap, mainly because they can’t raise prices and they have to stay competitive with the privatized versions. They’re given huge advantages, and are government subsidized, yet the lines the post office are HUGE. When you do send mail and get a tracking number, it often takes DAYS for it to appear online, and packages are often LATE. There is no insurance included in the cost.
FedEx and UPS both offer $100 insurance on all shipments and cost about the same. When I ship a package with them, I’m given up to the minute reports on where it is with a tracking number viewable online immediately. They are much better then the USPS, and the only reason we’re not always using them is because they can’t put stuff in our mailboxes legally, so they can’t match the price point.

2) Security
National security has proven to be a joke, especially for what we’re paying for it. No companies rely on the police, and private security forces are now used wherever possible as the police aren’t able to provide the level of service that people want. I work next to an army research facility, and they use a private security force they contracted over police and other federal systems.

3) Fire service
I live in Orlando, FL. This year, estimates showed that between 40-65% of the fire hydrogens in the city were NOT functional, and several buildings have burned down as a result. The city has little to no knowledge of where the fire hydrogens were placed or if all areas are even accessible to one, let alone a working one. Because of the way the system is setup, there really is no privatized version to compare it to.

Socialistic and government services really don’t work very well and are not very efficient. We need smaller government, and national health care is not the solution. Laws to force more competition and stop them from running scams (HMOs) are what we need. Make the insurance companies refund all money plus interest and a penalty when they determine someone isn’t eligible for coverage after they’ve been paying. That will really reduce the problem VERY quickly. Other similar laws could be created to stop the madness without having government-quality healthcare.

Great article Duncan. The Google person does need to get fired.
Perhaps TechCrunch can ask Google for an official position on where they stand as they are obviously no longer objective?

I can’t seem to figure out what’s Google interest in dealing with these issues.

#25: We’re socialists ? Since when ? I was away yesterday, did anything really bad suddenly happen ?

Scott at 16: I was about to post the same thing myself. High-larious.

Techcrunch should batten down the hatches, as it’s about to get a face-load of astroturf.

And right on cue, the “more in sadness than anger” astroturfy stylings of “leaving techcrunch” at 25. Textbook stuff, guys.

Oh my god. Duncan really got addicted to TC. He love to write 8am to 4am. Damn, duncan you need to take a day off.

I bet you. you refuse….

I went back and read Lauren’s post a couple of times. Lauren actually sticks to the facts and makes a reasonable pitch to the health care indsutry/providers for their (google’s) services. While if you read the post with a bias, it is easy to read it as coming out against Michael Moore/the film; however if you remove that bias (which is why I read the post a couple of times) you will see only facts.
1. The film portrays the industry negatively. Yep.
2. The film “fails to show the health care industries interest in patient well being and care.” (yeah, that’s a fact. There are healthcare companies that really do care about their patients well being. While there are plenty that are only out to make a buck at any expense, there are plenty that genuinely do care about making a difference.
3. A drug may be a blockbuster one day and a failure the next. Yep.
4. News may focus on annual sales and exectutive salaries while failing to share R&D costs. Yep…all those lab nerds (you know those PHD holding scientists) are expensive and like expensive equipment.
5. Often common, “the media may use an isolated, heartbreaking, or sensationalist story to paint a picture of healthcare as a whole.” This is a fact as well.

All Lauren is saying is that there is another, untold, side to the story, which isn’t “coming out against the movie.”

Yeah, the healthcare system in America is broken, nobody (that I know of) would disagree with that. Amongst all the bad, there are also good things that happen in our healthcare system.

Fire hydrogens?

What’s a “fire hydrogen”? …sounds explosive to me.

So, what’s wrong with having a personal opinion and expressing that in your blog, even if you are an employee of Google? Michael Moore has a perspective; he expresses his opinion in [mostly] entertaining ways.

Sensationalism works. Get ‘em talkin’… then move on.

lol @ the ‘We Love Feedback!’ text and yet a complete lack of comment boxes.

a true capitalist health care system would provide a much bigger pool of advertisers for google. instead of being limited to the 3 drugs approved by the FDA, thered be hundreds. how would they all get their message out. they all couldnt buy shelf space at the 7/11 or CVS - theyd have to buy google ads!

I am not an American, so my interest in Michael Moore, Sicko or US healthcare. But I am someone who makes a living out of Google Adsense, and even for me, the writeup by Google appears as a bit cut-throat - some guy points out what might or might not be true, and you jump in and say, guys now solve your problems by advertising with us!

Lauren comes across as an overly enthusiastic employer who naively believes that Google is about to change the world by partnering with established players in the health care industry. And by golly, she’s been talking to people in the health care business are they’re all just wonderful!

I doubt that she understands what drives decision making in the boardrooms of large corporations and, sadly for her, how her remarks would be interpreted as the voice of Google. It would have been safer to promote Detroit as the center of automotive quality than to stand up for corporations in health care.

When you have sales people posting stuff like this you see the slow shift on priorities at Google. It’s all about making money at any cost. I’m afraid the “do no evil” mantra is slowly being erased.

For the most part, I agree with Jacob Levy (see post #14), who identifies this as an apparent attempt by Google to capitalize on a polarizing film.

Sadly, this thread has largely deteriorated into vitriol and ad hominem attacks.

The truth is, people make TONS of money on polarizing issues. TV viewership increases when someone like Michael Moore is on the air; commentators like Bill O’Reilly produce best-selling books.

And not surprisingly, Google wants to get in on this financial action: make money of the liberals who advertise their films; make money off of well-heeled pharma companies who want to disseminate their response.

I think it’s reasonable for any media company, including Google, to sell advertising space to people who want to present their views.

However, I think Lauren Turner’s attempt to cash in was a bit too obvious and clumsy, and frankly, I didn’t think the post was especially newsworthy.

Seems the people who are taking swipes at this article writer and insulting other commenters… are coming up with the same line, effectively “Moore is fat” as if it’s an important factor for them.

Not sure what that means… just an observable pattern.

“Whilst there may well be reasonable grounds to attack anything Michael Moore puts together”

more like a raging republican is at loose!

Moore for President!

I am a Googler, and this stream of comments really drives home some very important thoughts: the huge responsibility to very carefully select the placement and timing of our opinions; and how incredible it is to be employed at at a company that carries such weight.

Zorba - Lauren would never get fired for what she did. At Google we are expected to speak up. You may not like what we say, but the ability to say it is key.
Johnson - The Don’t Be Evil stance is not dead. Get to know some Googlers and do some research into google.org, INSTEDD, Google Earth Outreach, etc. By the way, something else we at Google believe in: Making money is not always evil.

googler_in_VA .

You said : t Google we are expected to speak up.

Maybe you didn’t hear of Mark Jen , who was fired from Google for speaking up in his blog

http://news.com.com/Google+blo.....72936.html

googler_in_VA

“By the way, something else we at Google believe in: Making money is not always evil.”

Yeah, but “HOW” you make it - is!

SANITY, shut up, We get real healthcare in Cuba FOR A POOR COUNTRY, we do very well, if we had more money like in america we would be better, but in Cuba healthcare and education is free. Nobody dies because is unisured, we have multiple problems, political and social, but we do have good healthcare and we all have high education. And the ones who come to this Country (see Miami) we go to School, we make money, we build business and we work hard, and Miami is what it is now, because of the cubans. We might not even speak English in Miami, that strong we are. But back in cuba, we were poor and we were frustrated because of the political situation, BUT WE HAD HEALTHCARE for everyone free. And for our standards, it is a good healthcare. If you compare it with this Country were people work two and three jobs and still have no universal healthcare it’s sad, how can you call yourself a GREAT COUNTRY if millions of your own people can’t affor a visit to a doctor or medicines. At least Michael Moore is saying something about it.

Duncan,

Usually I agree with you. In this case I don’t. I am a very liberal person, I always vote democratic (although in an ideal would I would vote for a canidate that actually means something — rather than simply the lesser of two evils) however Michael Moore is an exploiter.

He really does display the healthcare industry at its very worst, ignoring all the good aspects about it. Idealizing the healthcare industries in other countries, which have their own advantages and disadvantages. He fails to recognize that the industry has a lot of very good people. People who deeply care, on a very personal level for the patients they are charged with caring for. He makes all the good folks in healthcare look like a pack of hungry wolves that go not after meat, but after wallets. He ignores the fact that while insurance companies are businesses, that exist to make money, they also save a huge number of lives every single day.

This is typical of Moore’s other films. While I am NOT a fan of George Bush, I recognize the few good things he has done. Michael Moore is a manipulative weasle and nothing more. He rallies peoples emotions and fears and creates a mob-mentality, one that is not productive, not healthy and simply not good for anyone. His messages are one-sided and he completly neglects any other arguements.

Like I said, I am not a fan. I am very impressed that Google publically took a stance like this.

I’ve said my part ;-]

dan

BTW… moore for president..??? I hope you’re joking.

This is my first time posting a comment. I thought this article was great. I think the whole point was to show the irony that Google could be Moore’s next target, rather than focusing on any of the stuff that a lot of comments here said.

While my initial reaction was one of outrage, I then realized that this is not directly Google’s opinion/idea.

While this asshat of a woman may be a Google employee, she ultimately is just a useless pion in the monster that is Google. Now, if Google was to issue the same pathetic offer to help the Health Care monsters, well that would be an entirely different issue.

In this case, she is a horrible human being who really deserves to be fired (which may not be that unlikely), but she is just a moron speaking her (uninformed) mind.

“About TechCrunch

TechCrunch, founded on June 11, 2005, is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to new companies, we will profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.”

How does a couple of comments from a PR lackey about a loony filmmaker qualify inclusion in TC?

Sleep….. Sleeeeppppp….. There is no Michael Moore….
He is just a figment of your imagination…..
Healthe care is there for all of us you just misplaced it……
Prs. Bush is a genius……..
Sleep……. Sleep……….

The perception that GOOG search result pages are unbiased
and unmanipulated is now threatened with such blog posts.

It also shows the kind of pressure that is being placed on the
ad-sales folks there. The numbers in the upcoming quarters
should be interesting.

Kudos to Techcrunch for giving this issue the attention it deserves.

Shame on you “don’t be evil” Googlers.

I have yet to see the movie, but on the surface this has to be one of the dumbest decisions I have seen Google make. And the answer to the film . . . adwords. This line is great, “Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message.”

Translation, “if you have millions of dollars to spend on Google adwords, you can get your voice heard. If you have no money, forget it: your voice never will be heard. And Google can make that happen! We give people with money more voice.”

I don’t think this is what they really think, but it comes across this way to me. If they are going to jump into to taking opinions on such matters, I think it they should do so with more thought.

Lauren Turner is emblematic of the cancer that Google itself has become. She, like much of the whoring ad cabal that has invaded Google proves the rule — GOOG cannot be trusted. In fact, IT is the evil doer, Big Pharma’s hand-maiden.

Lauren Turner, is a proud wannabe Lenny Riefenstahl for Google, waving (ad)banners emblazoned with the primary colors of Google. We see a sea of happy faced, automatons toiling dutifully at their dumb terminals at Googleplex eagerly helping Big Pharma and off-shore Bermudian Insurance (money laundering, tax dodging behemoths) to defraud US citizens and carry the massive profits back into Blackstone’s and Cerebrus’ capital centers in the Isle of Jersey, Bahamian and Swiss accounts. Yes, Lauren Riefestahl, you hca done well!

Let’s look at Lauren Turner’s “facts” shall we?:

Blog post headline :”Does negative press make you Sicko?”

Target audience: “Insurance industry” ad buyers

Blog Purpose:

Poor, demoralized insurers and Big Pharma got a black eye. Feeling wounded, unnecessarily tarnished? There is an answer to your woes…. ADVERTISE on GOOGLE!!!

In other words, this post is an advertisement in and of itself. Lauren Turner, as pathetic and inane as she is, knows her audience. Lauren Turner, shill and trollop that she is, knows what gets Big Pharma to loosen its wallet. This AdSense harlot is doing the ad sales chick lap dance, softening up her targets for the kill. Lauren Turner, proverbially pole dances her way thru the empty promises of “getting the message out” & that Big Pharma is “undervalued, under heard, under appreciated. And IF and ONLY IF, Big Pharma “lays a little sugar on me” she’ll see to it, that Big Pharma gets its PR “Happy Ending.”

Lauren Turner’s Google-sanctioned blog post profiles PERFECTLY why Ma-GOOG is precisely the apocalyptic, evil-doing Leviathan that everyone fears that it might be. That it hires ex-pharma pols and insurance industry lobbyists to cozy up to the cash spigot simply to defraud Google users is beyond demonic.

True, Ms. Turner may not be removed for her actions and opinions. IN fact, she - as Lady MacBeth so wisely outlined — is the flower behind which the serpent of Ma-Goog hides. Let this be the first shot across the bow - Google is out to make money any way it can. And if that means selling arms to Al Qaeda, so be it. if that means, selling intelligence on pro-democracy movements in Burma and China resulting in the execution of students and religious leaders… so be it. If that means, selling personal data on US Citizens and acting as a proxy for the NSA and CIA, then so be it.

Keep it up Ma-GOOG. Your making daddy Bezzelbub proud.

For the record, many MANY employees at Google (including this one) are extremely unhappy about this blog posting. It was a sickening and misguided post from a junior ad rep.

Lauren sounds ridiculous. I’m not going to bother with Michael Moore. The Google angle here is silly. Someone calm this girl down. Google’s ok but has *nothing* to do with the healthcare industry.

Google wants to make money from people who become ill. Nothing wrong with that. Only in America can you get rich off the sick, dying and helpless. If I can’t make a profit from making you healthy just go away and die somewhere - and don’t make any noise about it.

I’d like to see the fire department do the same thing. Can’t afford fire department insurance? Well your house will burn down and your kids will burn to death inside. Too bad. Nothing personal. Just business.

Now the cops. We should change that too. Can’t afford police insurance? Don’t bother calling 911 - pay up or die.

Only in America. Land of the free. Land of the sickos.

Sanity, who bitches about others spelling mistakes, spells his own name wrong. It’s HANNITY.

I tried to respond by email to Lauren, the Google representative, but the email address is now non-functional. So, I will post this as an open letter:
——————————————————

Dear Lauren,

I read your recent blog posts, and I have a tongue-in-cheek suggestion: Why not market Google ads to Janjaweed militia groups, so they can repel the negative press a person receives when they search for “Darfur”? Probably because they, unlike the health care industry, can’t spill large sums of money into the Google coffers. I disagree that “advertising is a very democratic and effective way to participate in a public dialogue”. Since it involves money, and not votes by the populous, it is no more “democratic” than lobbying and large corporate campaign contributions - two other problems plaguing our nation.

As Google grows, it is harder and harder for it to live up to its “Do No Evil” motto, but I would hope in an industry like health care, where monetary interests collide with the physical well-being of real people, that your company would take extra precautions. Your posts show that you have excellent marketing skills and a good mind for PR damage control, but don’t forget your humanity. If I could recommend three films to you, they would be: “Sicko”, “Thank You for Smoking” and “Mother Night”.

I am a Google customer and I would like very much to be contacted by a Google representative, preferably you or your supervisor, to discuss this further.

@ John Knight - John, there ARE places where both of what you’ve mentioned ARE happening - TODAY!

“We” leave NO stone unturned!!!

All these “look how many American’s don’t have healthcare” stats are all very interesting.What no one seems to want to quote is how many don’t have health care insurance because they CHOOSE not to have it. How many are between jobs? How many prefer to spend money on booze and cigarettes instead of healthcare insuranc?. And finally, someone point out to me where the Constitution grants the power to the Federal Govt to take my money to provide health care for you? (Hint: is NOT the “promote the general welfare” clause”)

Hi Everyone,

I live in the United States and I have no problem with health care. I have full coverage (health, dental, vision, etc. and low co-pays); and I don’t pay a dime. I would like to take a vote to see why others don’t like the system and if they don’t why not… lets hear it guys.

This movie is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, and I dare anyone who is criticizing it to do so after they’ve seen it!

@25 Good Stuff!!!

Sicko is not just about health care. GO SEE IT! Sicko is also about democracy — what it should be, rather than how it is practiced by those who live in the Home of the “Brave.” As a former British MP points out in the film, the best way for a government to control people is by keeping them poor (in debt), fearful (the terrorists are coming), and demoralized (so they won’t protest or vote).

“Governments should fear the people; the people should not fear their government.” The French do not fear their government, so they get out in the streets in large numbers when their government does something they do not like. Americans, on the other hand, fear their government — so they come up with excuses for not protesting: “It’s unAmerican.” “You can’t protest when our soldiers are in the field.”

As for Cuban health care: Bristol-Myers Squibb had to lobby Congress really hard to be allowed to market a vaccine for meningitis B — because it was developed by Cuba, and Cuba held the patent on the vaccine. It was the only vaccine for this disease, but the U.S. government (Jesse Helms, in particular) was keeping it out because it was developed and produced in Cuba. (Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!)

Cuba spends its money on health care; training new doctors, expanding its research capabilities. And, let’s not forget, it has had to do this in an environment of a belligerent giant neighbor to the north that is doing everything it can (short of trying another invasion) to destroy its ability to thrive.

Sicko is really about changing our culture — from Me to We. We Americans have allowed ourselves to be divided, with each person thinking he can go it alone and be successful. Moore gives us the opportunity to face the fact that humans (even Americans) are social animals; that there really is safety in numbers; and that “everyman for himself” is self-destructive.

Ha ha. Thanks Lauren. “Does negative press make you Sicko?” Brilliant. We’ll be seeing this one on T-shirts. Of course, it wouldn’t be fun if she didn’t represent Google, the most pompous, self-righteous company in the universe.

By the way, the “Don’t be evil” motto has always struck me as stupid. I mean, if someone walks up to you on the street and screams “I am NOT mad! I am NOT mad!”, would you consider the guy to be A) not mad or B) mad? The phrase “I am not desperate!”, in a personals ad is usually a pretty clear sign that the person is indeed desperate.

Dan at number 48 wrote: “Michael Moore is a manipulative weasle and nothing more. He rallies peoples emotions and fears and creates a mob-mentality, one that is not productive, not healthy and simply not good for anyone. His messages are one-sided and he completly neglects any other arguements.”

Not productive? How is debate “not productive”? And to folks who slam Sicko for being one-sided in its reporting… sure it is. It’s one sided. It has to be because it’s covering the one side of the health-care industry that NOBODY else is covering. I think the other arguments that he “neglects” as you put it have been covered just fine by the right-wing media. No need for him to go there.

Looking at your paragraph as a whole, it sounds more to me like you’re talking about George Bush than Michael Moore.

Wow! While I’ve had misgivings about Google’s nefariousness, I tried to remain blissfully ignorant because I’ve enjoyed using their products. However, this is the cold wake-up for me that’s been long-coming. Now I just need to find a new homepage & mobile map - all their other features are either easily replaceable or I can just make do without. I mean, do I really need “widgets” on my homepage? And how much time and good eyesight have I lost playing Tetris on a 4″x3″ client? In fact, I’m beginning to believe the emperor just might be naked!

I’m sure the healthcare industry won’t have a problem finding loads of Doctors to come out in support of managed care.

From Lauren Turner’s brilliant blog post:

“Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.”

hey Lauren…he’s right. I guess a Billion dollar salary for insurance companies is just not enough for ya. Hey. Don’t get sick or you may die.

I guess you forgot the woman that died in a LA Hospital Emergency room because she had no insurance?

That’s a National shame and is SICKO!
http://powerplantdigitalmedia.com

Will google go down under the weight of inexperienced techies who cannot fathom the intricacies of the healthcare system?u wish
but i find it awkward that a company can have less than 2% of its workforce under 40
I guess at the end of day,its all about a giant making a misstep and the whole lot of techies overreacting to something that will die a natural death
which still leaves me in awe at the need for gore and bloodshed

So the Google Ad Team will profit off the misery of millions of Americans to further prop up attacks against the movie “Sicko”. How do you spell corporate greed? GOOGLE.

My personal opinion: Lauren is simply trying to drum up business, as a good capitalist. Her point is truly about Google; she could care less about Michael Moore — he’s just an excuse to expand Google’s reach.

I’m sure if we had access to her email, we’d see a chain that began with one from her, opening with something like, “I’ve got a great idea to get more market share out of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry…”

…and, if it pans out, I’d say Lauren’s headed for a spot bonus and a nice line on her annual performance review, huh? Because — bottom line? — Google’s ‘bottom line’ is what this is all about.

Even technology companies can be as interested in wealth and influence, as ruthless in competition and as disinterested in the ultimate effects of its growth as a Rupert Murdoch or T. Boone Pickens.

Just because the product is ‘cool’ or enabling doesn’t make it’s suppliers anything less than entrepreneurs, businesspersons — and the corporate animal is… different.

By comparison with what I assume to be Lauren’s motives (and I don’t feel I’m off base), Moore’s impetus to make Sicko was driven by the profit motive.

Woah! I mean to say Moore’s impetus WASN’T driven by the profit motive!

chtulu-dont believe all the hype that because google is reknown as the rave company,they are gonna pat lauren’s back with a free trip to the bahamas or something because she improved the bottom line

at the end of the day,what you see in those google workplaces is not what u always get,there is still some cannibalism going on

Who would not take this chance to distance itself/himself from Michael Moore. He is a nut. It’s about time we stood up and cried out that the Emperor has no clothes.

And yes, sadly, Zaid’s UNC education prevents him from not seeing the fine clothes the Emperor wears.

jr

Having spent a lot of years working with ad-sales reps and their managers, I suggest there’s likely little more here than tactical opportunism from a vertical-market sales team.

Big Health(tm) has money and the sales team sees a way to separate them from some of it by playing to their concerns. It’s hard to see this as anything more sinister than that.

They dynamic certainly scales down to most small newspapers, magazines and their local advertiser bases; there’s no reason it shouldn’t scale up to Google-esque heights as well.

Might there be bigger consequences? Yes, but when’s the last time you saw a team of sales reps think several moves ahead?

Reasonable people can disagree whether chasing ad dollars with a little FUD is evil or not. But anyone in an organization with an aggressive sales team can probably think back on one (or several!) times when salespeople and their managers wandered off the corporate reservation, message-wise.

I bet Mr. Lauren Turner makes enough money to pay for her medical needs or she would’ve taken an opposite approach. That’s what happens when successful and rich talk about successful and rich. They simply miss the point.

oops, turns out it’s Ms. Lauren Turner, sorry.

Greg Brooks, the corporate-speak aside (sorry — I’m a corporate denizen, myself, but I utterly loathe the jargon), I completely agree.

@69
“Sicko is really about changing our culture — from Me to We. We Americans have allowed ourselves to be divided, with each person thinking he can go it alone and be successful. Moore gives us the opportunity to face the fact that humans (even Americans) are social animals; that there really is safety in numbers; and that “everyman for himself” is self-destructive.”

Actually when anyone is allowed to “go it alone” and not have to give some their hard earned income to the govt to pass on to others that have no claim on that income, then people make out very well. It’s when we have people deciding how other people’s money should be spent and how much they are allowed to earn before they have to give it to someone else is when problems happen. I have not right to any money you earn and you have no right to any money I earn. I’m happy to pay taxes for the things specifically outlined in The Constitution, but when the govt starts telling me I have to give some of my money to someone else to help solve their problems, that’s when I take issue.

Care to cite some examples of where socialism has succeeded? Let’s look at one country that was probably the first to try socialized health care-the Soviet Union. Let’s look at how successful they were before their collapse. After decades of socialized medicine the Soviet Union was one of the few countries in the world with a declining life span and a rising rate of infant mortality. Sounds like they had a great system!!!

“Cuba spends its money on health care; training new doctors, expanding its research capabilities.”

Can I assume you will be heading for Cuba for your next major medical procedure? How many people from other countries flock to Cuba vs the US for quality health care?

I just replaced Google with Yahoo as my search engine of first choice.

Somethings tells me this girl WILL be fired this week. They’d be stupid not to at this point…

Boy am I sick of the bloated parasite class and cartoon capitalism in this country. I wonder if the Smithsonian has a couple of old guillotines in their basement. Does M. Moore ever indulge in hyperbole, satire, along with the wink? Ah, yeah. He’s called a satirist. By by free enterprise health care. May the ashcan cover close over your head for good.

Google is disgusting. The fact that a WEB PORTAL IS OPENLY ADVOCATING AGAINST A PUBLIC INTEREST ISSUE SUCH AS UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SHOULD SCARE PEOPLE AWAY IN DROVES. The level of bias this exposes should make people cringe at what google might be doing to stiffle other interests they do not agree with. For a while the 9.11 truth documentaries were solid stays in the top 3 and top 10 video rolls - and then all of a sudden they disappeared. Sure you might not agree with the docu’s, but does that mean google should alter the results because they don’t? Who knows what websites they’ve been targeting. Who knows what search results they’ve been playing with. Not only does google try to record everything you search and link it to you, but now they apparently want to make sure you are only exposed to material THEY APPROVE OF????

BU-BYE GOOGLE. I will be sure to avoid-at-all-costs.

Sanity’s you are a member of the Coulter school of political discourse. Resorting to insults is a sign of intellectual immaturity.

It’s hardly a sign of being overly idealistic to expect that our health care system at least match Canada’s. It’s a sign we care very much for our country and want it to rise to the ideals it was founded on. You on the other hand are willing to settle for second or third rate.

These people need the same thing as conservapedia and qubetv.

They need a techcrunch that filters out the “liberal bias” that 98.7% of the world seems to have. (the other 1.3% of the world are America’s blessed 26%’ers)

How about…

ConservaTechCrunch?
GOPTechCrunch?
ChristoTechCrunch?
PartyOfLifeTechCrunch?
FamilyValuesTech Crunch?

Google declined to provide search results to the politicized Department of Justice involving pornography —

But I don’t recall Google saying a word (and I could be very wrong here) about refusing participation in the current ‘government’ data-mining for its wiretap / eavesdropping program (or Microsoft, either, come to think of it).

For a number of reasons, I’m looking for alternatives to Google and gmail as well. Your own privacy is only as secure as you actively can make it.

For some months now, I’ve had increasing concern about the “privacy” of my email on their servers, and my intuition tells me that Google’s response (customer privacy is number one!) seems just so much marketing boilerplate.

This is all just my opinion, however; I don’t speak for anyone else.

Wow, this shows the dark side or possibly the real face of Google. Siding with the insurance companies and showing them the way to counter Michael Moore through purchasing advertising with Google, is an extremely self serving and low class gesture. It also shows that their relatively new elite status has already assumed the same selfish stance as all the other monetary elites. I have Google as a window in my browser. How can I change this to Dogpile?

ROBinDALLAS

“Sicko” is a brilliant and entertaining film. If only a starting place for why the U.S. needs nationalized health care. Socialized medicine is the only way, especially since the current administration has spent us into oblivion with their ill-gotten wars. Health care is a human right. Why should we, as taxpayers, subsidize capatilistic facists like google and kaiser, for what we simply deserve? Bravo, Michael Moore.

there’s been some speculation about data on thsi topic. feel free to check out the real numbers. http://swivel.com/graphs/show/19208504 and http://swivel.com/graphs/show/19205212. looks like the governments (local, state, federal) pay in some form for about 50% of expenditures.

You all see a lot of Cubans out posting on the Internet? The reason their prescriptions cost $0.05 is because they only make a few dollars a day, if not for the month. Their life is so idyllic in Cuba, that we should all jump up and move there - right. All of you with your PS3s, Wiis and your high end PCs that are sitting here noting how wonderful Mr Moore’s movie is… honestly, do you want to live the way Cubans do so you can have THEIR health care system? Most likely not.

Lauren Turner at Google is probably thinking how idiotic she was, but that is why it was called a BLOG. Her personal opinion obviously. Google is still there and strong as ever, and Michael Moore is still an idiot. For all of you that follow his “documentaries” (*cough* *choke* *laugh*) as reality - well, keep on smoking your happy weed. Does US health care need fixing? Yes, a bit - but Michael Moore is obviously living way too well off the money he is taking from the suckers that watch his movies. If the Democrats were so big on this, why haven’t they already passed legislation fixing the problem? Don’t they control Congress now? Anyone? I haven’t seen a peep out of them on this issue - it seems they are more interested in spending time keeping our borders wide open.

Just saw Sicko- It is inspiring and brilliant. Moore is one of the ONLY honest journalists left in the US who isn’t bought by BIG anything. What he says is nothing new to those of us who have been paying attention. Let’s hope a wide audience sees it and begins to wake up to America’s potential. As a nation, the wealthiest on the planet, it is a crime that citizens of this country have to chose what finger parts they can AFFORD to have reattached after a horrific accident. It shows how far we’ve strayed from fellowship and humanitarianism. While lesser nations in the world provide for ALL of their countrymen, our nation is focused on the “ME” instead of the “WE.” Corporate interests work hard to keep us uneducated, overworked, and afraid, in order to get the most labor out of us so as to maintain their obscene level of wealth. While other countries advocate for families and their quality time together, the U.S. “talks” about family values but ignores them. Mothers, fathers, kids WORK WORK WORK, hardly have any vacation time, rarely paid maternity/paternity year long leave, no child care, no day of rest, and the family dinner time is obsolete, etc. Corporate interests have promulagted the fallacious MYTH about how