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Dan Savage didn't just make this change on Google, he actually made the change on the English language as a whole. Santorum is the only name for the substance,
by lmkg 15y ago
Dan Savage didn't just make this change on Google, he actually made the change on the English language as a whole. Santorum is the only name for the substance, and there are large groups of people who are aware of the neologism but do are not (or were not) aware of the person or the history of the term. Santorum is just as valid as any other neologism that's been around and alive for the better part of a decade.
The point is, the Google bomb isn't the only "artifact" of Dan Savage's campaign. If this association were something that only existed in Google's SERPs I would be more inclined to agree with your point, but it's not. Google is not the only thing, and arguably not even the biggest or most important thing, that was affected. The association with the term is real, for a very real and meaningful sense of the word "real."
Now, I will agree that the association is over-valued due to the Google-bombing, and most users this month are better served by politician than the term in the results page right now, but that's an issue of poorly-ranked results, rather than artificially-constructed results, which is qualitatively less troubling.
- ams6110 15y agoChanged the English language? I'd never heard of this guy (Savage) or this definition of "santorum" until today. Merriam-Webster doesn't know of it either.
- botker 15y agoDitto.
- adriand 15y agoYou're absolutely correct, and this is by no means the first time that a word has been coined as the result of people being upset with a politician. The word 'quisling' means "A traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country", and it was coined by The Times in Britain in reference to Norwegian Vidkun Quisling, who helped the Nazis conquer his country. If Vidkun Quisling were alive today, would he have a legitimate complaint against Google if searches for his name brought up the dictionary definition I just quoted?
- fr0sty 15y ago"Quisler" is a non-sequiter. Quisling was a quisler and Obama championed obamacare and Savage wanted to create a vulgar definition of a man's name. One of those is not like the other... If "Quisling" meant "a man in drag", "pile of manure" or something less tasteful then you may have a point.