Columbus Day gets no respect. Be honest, how many of you are actually celebrating it? That’s what I thought.
Even Google doesn’t care (or maybe Columbus Day just isn’t PC enough). The logo on Google’s homepage today is celebrating Paddington Bear’s 50th birthday instead of a drawing of the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
We’ve been getting some concerned e-mail asking us if we know what’s up:
Isn’t Columbus Day more important than a bear?
Does Google even like America?
Yeah, Google. Do you even like America? Everyone knows that Paddington is a Commie-terrorist bear.
We all love the idea, the ideal of America, but that’s not the same as overtly approving imperial conquest and the annihilation of native cultures. Unfortunately, a celebration of Christopher Columbus, the man, is perforce a celebration of slave-running and the violent imposition of Catholicism on an unwilling populace:
http://www.unde...iq/columbus.htm
Personally, I’m happy to celebrate the bear.
You’re fun at parties, aren’t you?
That’s a good point. Besides Google celebrates America with a July 4th logo.
Because to some (many?) people, Columbus discovering American isn’t exactly a good thing…
Columbus was one of the founding fathers right?
As was Abraham Lincoln
No
it’s for google.co.uk only.
No, I grabbed that logo off the U.S. homepage.
no it’s on google.com, too.
They didn’t do anything for 9/11 either…
Commies.
what do you suggest they do for that? it’s not exactly something to be celebrated….on something trivial enough to have as an icon all day surely.
I’m not sure why we even celebrate Columbus Day. When do they make Hitler’s birthday an official holiday, too?
Showing respect to a well known murderer is absolutely ridiculous, to say the least. Then again, we DO have Andrew Jackson’s picture on the $20 bill… and GW running the “new show”.
Thank god for Paddington’s birthday! Much more well deserved!
Columbus and Hitler .Draw comparisons on sensible things !
Both started the genocide of an entire group of people.
Both stole land that didn’t belong to them.
Both tried to justify it with some kind of “manifest destiny”
Allen Varney summed it up. I was about to write the same thing. Most colleges don’t take Columbus day off either. When you have to choose a holiday between MLK Day and Columbus Day, you always go with a civil rights leader over the rapist/murderer.
C’mon Google where’s the Columbus Day logo? Maybe rotate them…. Make everyone happy.
Go Google for supporting the birthday of something that I grew up with!
And yeah, it’s just for the .co.uk it seems. .ca is celebrating Thanksgiving day!
I happily celebrate the campus being closed and not having to into work…
…to GO into work…
Isn’t Columbus Day just an America Holiday? Paddington, however, has a worldwide following. Since Google operates worldwide then I think it’s more appropriate.
Celebrating Columbus Day, in my humble opinion, is comparable to celebrating the Nazi invasion of Poland. Millions of Native-Americans were killed by the Europeans and the diseases they brought (95% of indigenous population of the Americas quoting Wikipedia).
Do you work at Google?
Yeah, but the Nazis lost, and we won America. History is all relative to whoever writes it.
I have both Native-American and European heritage. Did I win America? Did I lost America? I am proud of both heritages in many ways. The genocide of Native-Americans, though, is not one of the things I am proud of.
You “won” America? Who are “you”? …then again, who was trying to “win” America, besides the white settlers? Native’s welcomes most of them, while others DID fight because they saw what the white settlers were doing to other Natives.
It’s like quickly invading Mexico, right now… most would not have a clue what was going on and would show hospitality. So when you kill those people, what did you win?
Is this a case of “ignorance is bliss?”
Celebrating Columbus Day, in my humble opinion, is comparable to celebrating the Nazi invasion of Poland.
Ergo America is like Nazi Germany. Gotcha.
I can see a lot of similarities between present usa and nazi germany
I can see a lot of similarities between present usa and nazi germany
For example?
most people have to work on Columbus day, even the stock market is open. Columbus didn’t even discover North America so I say Google is in the right to do whatever they want today.
http://www.techNmore.com
Google is making their Social Statement of the Day. In the process, they make a lot (but not all) of their users angry. But when you become big and arrogant, those are the kind of business risks you can afford to make.
Oh shut up you damn cry baby. Not doing what you want them to do makes them arrogant? Some people are complete idiots. I’ll tell you what, when you have your own multi-billion dollar company, you can decide which days to celebrate with a special logo, until then, stfu.
Google can do what they want today.
Not at all surprised by the arrogant response here. No debate or discussion. Just call me an idiot and to “stfu.” The “sftu” response is typical of the fascist left who want to regulate, intimidate and shout down those they disagree with….But I”ll keep talking and if the fascist left takes over they can lock me up, charge me with hate crimes, torture me and put me in prison camp because I believe in freedom of speech (even Google’s when I disagree with them).
If anything, the left would be communist, not fascist. Fascism is for righties.
Sorry, Fascism is a left wing thing. Conservatism, Classical Liberalism, Libertarianism, etc. are right wing and the right wing is about individual responsibility and freedom.
The left wing ideologies ( Socialism, Communism, Modern Liberalism, Progressivism, Fascism, Marxism) are against the individual and they insist (by force) the interest of the government over the individual – all with central control by elites.
Conservatism isn’t perfect and some Republicans have abandoned Conservative principles, but it’s a heck of a lot better than anything left wing where people suffer and want to escape it.
Our relative Conservative society/culture is why people have wanted to come here over the decades and other country’s relative Liberalism is why people try to escape those places. Fences are used to keep illegals from coming into the US; fences, etc. are used to keep citizens of left wing countries from escaping their own countries!
Read up on Fascism. The background and who supported it are quite a bit different than how the media and the left wing portrays it. The “Progressives” were enamored with Fascism in the 30’s.
Not at all surprised they’re not acknowledging Columbus Day. It’s not just insufficiently PC it’s very politically incorrect.
And what were they supposed to do for 9/11? Planes flying into the two “o”s or something? Seems like taking a pass was more respectful.
LOL
Columbus wasn’t the first to discover America, so, speaking as an American, who cares about Columbus day. Government employees, that’s it.
I would like to celebrate this day, but they didn’t give me the day off work so I can’t celebrate it.
Columbus Day is controversial in the United States. Paddington bear is not. That’s all there is to it.
I’m not commenting on the morality of their choice, but seems like a pretty clear case of just being cautious.
Who cares about the Columbus aspect of this … YAY PADDINGTON! Seriously, I love that bear. Always have, always will. SO KEWL to see him get some props. Where’s my marmalade?
+1 Allen and Alexander. We shouldn’t be celebrating ‘days’ because of some age old tradition without thinking about why we are doing so.
And I don’t work for Google.
I am pretty sue that Google likes America. But this thing could be just the thing to bring Google down. Beargate.
Nice Shining Path reference
But Paddington split Darkest Peru for London in the ’50s, and at that age he’s likely to be a Conservative Party member. Probably hates commies.
I haven’t thought about Paddinngton in years. Nice to see him up there.
The Conservative Party would have condemned Paddington as an illegal immigrant I find it very hard to believe he would support them.
I’m sure they would be on the receiving end of one very hard stare from Mr Paddington Bear.
Paddington was much cooler than Columbus. I heard there was a measure in the eleventy-billion dollar bailout in the US recently to get that bear a real compass so he could do some serious exploring, but it was dropped because they needed that extra $100 for someone’s executive severance package.
Meh. Paddington would have discovered Atlantis, imo.
I for one “celebrate” it as a day of mourning.
“I haven’t thought about Paddinngton in years. Nice to see him up there.”
Ya, me too. I’d rather be thinking of Paddington, rather than 400 years worth of genocide and theft anyway.
I think apart from the genocide that started with Columbus, the other problem with Columbus Day in the United States is that he never even set foot here. What we should celebrate the French explorers like Louis Jolliet.
haha, go google
http://gatesand...s.blogspot.com/
paddington is secretly a gun runner, thats how he finances his printing press. paddington used to sell guns to spain which were used to conquer the americas which in turn allowed for the modernization of the highway system. this in turn led to a massive outpouring of cheap but effective weaponry which led to mexican drug gangs. during this time padding was beefing up his counterfeit raincoat operations when in 1983 the now famous archeological discovery of montezuma was unearthed. this was the first hard evidence that spain had paid paddington’s company for the guns originally used in the aztec slaughter. paddington went nuts and scapegoated columbus as the perpetrator thereby fueling the speculation that columbus actually didnt discover the americas and was an evil guy bent on gold and ethno-genocide. flash forward to 1996 when google starts to become big on the scene and their home page is actually secretly established as a telecommunication tool for the cia and m6. ever since google incorporates images on special days to appease the us gov’t’s need to publicly send combat signals to divisions engaged in warfare. so therefore actually displaying columbus on columbus day would force combat divisions to attack and take hold of spain. by displaying paddington the us is communicating that current operations are green lighted and we are to partner with the brits on chemical warefare missions where we have secretly sold counterfeit raincoats to be used as gas suits and we are to keep a cool calm and tempermented demeanor while stopping for tea every 2.5 hours and in turn the pr machine will print that all this was a training exercise in tomorrows paper. just saving the world people….one bear at a time….
ooh, for Columbus day they could have incorporated an Italian mistaking Hispaniola for the Orient! oh oh, or maybe infecting American Indians with small pox. Not sure how that would work. Maybe the L would be Columbus, and then the G could be an Indian keeling over. I guess the O’s would be smallpox encrusted blankets. We have until next year to figure it out.
Is this news?
I know, seriously.
Am I the only one who grew up in South Dakota and had Native American Day instead of Columbus day? (yes, the state changed the name of the federal holiday).
Oh, wait. I probably am the only one who grew up in SoDak
Google is becoming World’s most liked So why care about Columbus?
Yes!But is shameful because we have to regard our nation day.M I right?
Our national day? That would be, and should be, the Fourth of July. When our country was truly “founded”.
who cares about Columbus. Talk about a holiday to a guy who deserves nothing… he was a ruthless tyrant, cutting off the hands of indians who didnt produce the gold he SWORE to the king and queen of portugal was soundly there. He was plucked from his administrative role, shipped back to europe, and died penniless and without honor in a tower — right where he belonged. he didnt discover america, he just landed in the caribb by mistake on his way to the glorious west indies.
besides, its been proven that other explorers from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, were here on North American soil WAY before Columbus.. but no one gets the press that he gets.. mainly because when he showed up he proclaimed EVERYTHING he saw as his property. Thanks for introducing wide-spread epidemics too. Sorry folks just not feeling it. Do your homework. Trust me. McGraw-Hill left out a LOT while we were being educated in our younger years.
columbus day? pffttt.. please. gimme a break. what another white-washed-anglo-saxon holiday.
name another.
Way to go Paddington! A significant part of my childhood was spend with ‘The Bear’
Haha, I laughed outloud at the last sentence of this post…some of the comments are pretty good too.
Paddington was definitely more a part of my childhood than Columbus. I’m all for a cute bear graphic over some ships, even if he does turn out to be a communist bear
UP WITH PADDINGTON!
he’s awesome i read his books all the time in school.
Google Christopher Columbus, Google Paddington Bear.
Now which character would you rather spend this holiday with?
I love Paddington Bear! He is symbolic of many people’s childhoods and is such a sweet little bear. I just want to hug those little pixels on the screen!
I just hope that Google doesn’t start using their home page logo for ad placement… $1 million per day ad placement… another 1/3 billion dollars in revenue opportunity… we’ll see how greedy they get over time.
maybe i’m too young to know who the hell paddington bear even is but screw google for being PC hippies. cheers to columbus.
Yup! Cheers to the genocide of Native Americans!!!
Perhaps Google did not know that today is Columbus Day. They have forgotten other holidays before, like Memorial Day. So this is nothing new.
Columbus was a salvage animal who raped and killed indians at the spanola.
you mad?
yea, this is screwed up, the 12th is really Columbus day, which is my birthday, so I celebrate it.
Paddington >> Columbus, for sure.
hahahaha… go Google! paddington > columbus
It’s a strange parallel actually, that Paddington bear traveled from South America to Europe, while Columbus traveled from Europe to South America.
to the Caribbean moron.
If I had to choose between an encounter with Paddington or an encounter with Columbus, the bear would win.
And there we go again..making issues of non issues, while the planet continues warming and ecosystems continue disappearing, economies continue going bankrupt,,
I think its perfectly OK to focus on a cuddly bear rather than someone who lived by the spirit of his times and ended up doing a lot of harm. Burying our head in the sand and pretending the world will be better seems to be the spirit of our times anyways
Leif Erikson anyone? Did they put a logo up for that? don’t forget the Chinese were here before Colombus barely missed here. I don’t approve of Colombus’ actions, but at the same time, how many of us would have thought differently in that time? It’s so easy to have a paradigm shift when you’re looking back 600 years.
What are you saying? That just because it was 600 years ago – it was OK for what he did? What about the millions who lived at that time that didn’t agree with it? Times have changed, yes… but it doesn’t mean that murderous ways have. It also doesn’t mean that people were OK with it back then either.
Then again, if you’re asking us if we thought it would be OK to kill Native’s if we were living at that time – I’d have to say NO, since a lot of us DO, in fact, have Native blood. I come from 4 grandparents who all had close to 1/2 blood Cherokee (and not the “hey, I don’t like being white – so I’ll say I’m part Cherokee”, Cherokee
, all born in Oklahoma, which is why I made a comment about Andrew Jackson being on the $20 Bill.
I think this is the most genius thing that google has done. Why do we want to celebrate a moron that thought he was in india! And anyone who says that Columbus was a true American SHAME ON YOU unless you like murdering and enslaving people. History books LIE for politics
Amendment II.
Ratified December 15, 1791
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and Arm Bears, shall not be infringed. Paddington won’t hurt anyone as long as you don’t provoke him. : )
This may come as a surprise to many of you, but Columbus was a man of the MIDDLE AGES. It’s only by virtue of 500 years of religious wars, political revolutions and cultural paradigm shifts that we don’t still think the way he and his contemporaries did. Very few living in his era clean up terribly well. But STOP comparing him to Hitler. You’re not only trivializing the Holocaust to make your insipid point, you’re ignoring the fact that the destruction of Native Americans took centuries and wasn’t the program of a single individual, government, nation or culture. The vast majority of us living in the Western Hemisphere today have ancestors who took some part in that destruction, although many of you seem to reason that pinning it all on one guy can somehow alleviate that shared dishonor. At the end of the day, no amount of damning him is going to render him historically irrelevant, no matter how shrilly you scream it. History is a zero-sum game. If you’re an American, your liberties and your numberless possessions and creature comforts have been, are and will continue to be, purchased on the backs of others. It’s perfectly okay to be uneasy about that and say that we should change it. But don’t pretend that you have nothing at all to do with it when you are, in fact, one of its chief beneficiaries.