Stupid conservatives and their bullshit. While it is kind of offensive to those particular to say, Christianity or patriotism, their innate ability to take one thing and stretch it into a mantra of hatred is unparalleled.

Google has no responsibility to represent this country's holidays and is on it's own time, god damn it.

while I fully agree with you sentiments I believe you're missing a few zeros in your estimate of the size of of the US population

Sorry, I obviously meant 300m. I'm actually surprised I made such a mistake... I think it was cos I was down converting from billions (0.3).

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Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

while I fully agree with you sentiments I believe you're missing a few zeros in your estimate of the size of of the US population

Our own internet? The internet was created by Tim Berners-Lee (English) and Robert Cailliau (Belgium). We wouldn't even have a Google if it weren't for Europe. Your ignorance is embarassing.

Fact checking before calling out ignorance is always worthwhile. I've been beaten to pointing out that, though.

If I'd been smart, it would have been a useful website and now I'd be rich. Evidently, I'm not.

Heh, all it would've taken was a collection of web links you liked-- that's what Yahoo started as.

>>the U.S. did indeed create what we now call the Internet

That's true. Al Gore (president of the moon) created it, it blossomed in 1000 Universities world wide and became ugly once AOL popularized it. For the record, I created my first web page in 1992 or thereabouts. If I'd been smart, it would have been a useful website and now I'd be rich. Evidently, I'm not.

While I agree that America isn't the end-all-be-all of invention and awesomeness (beer, mathematics, music were not invented here), the U.S. did indeed create what we now call the Internet. It was originally called ARPANET, and like many of our inventions, it was originally meant for our military.

Tim Berners-Lee is credited with creating the World Wide Web, something no less important but ultimately different from the Internet.

Finally, conservatives are a bunch of whiners, so they can take it and shove it just like they've told the rest of us to do for the past eight years.

But patriotism is taken too far in the US to the point where if you don't display it you're unpatriotic - that is the basis of the smear campaign against Obama. We should be proud of the accomplishments of humanity as a whole, not just those associated with the country in which a person resides. SamuraiSaint well demonstrates the bigotry associated with nationalism, as well as ignorance in general. Google is trying to expand people's knowledge of historical and current events... marking Memorial Day simply isn't relevant to their goal, nor is it necessary.

The US has a culture that favours entrepreneurs and that should be celebrated but that shouldn't be done by berating other countries, particularly those that have made equal or greater technical and social advances. The progress made by the US is done so upon the back of (and in collaboration with) other countries, not independent of them.

If all you other countries are so great why dont you design a decent serach engine or a decent operating system or your own internet.

Our own internet? The internet was created by Tim Berners-Lee (English) and Robert Cailliau (Belgium). We wouldn't even have a Google if it weren't for Europe. Your ignorance is embarassing.

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Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

Well, put it this way; If I'd invented something awesome and world changing, I'd be proud that I'd achieved that. I'd thank the circumstances that placed me on the road to create such a thing, which could be partly due to my country but also possibly despite it.
However, if I saw some guy from my country whooping about how much better his bit of rock is than some other guy's bit of rock and using my invention as a justification for this, I'd be horrified.
As such, I'm humbled by the things that some of our species have achieved, both those from my country and everywhere else. I'm heartened when I read how humble and utterly non jingoistic so many of these people are. In fact, many of the people I admire are the exact opposite to the kind of flag worshiping sheeple who use the great works of others as justification for their own misplaced feelings of pride.


This comment was edited on Jun 15, 15:52.

It's a pride in American ingenuity in general, that's all.

If I were a German, I'd be damn proud of all of the engineering feats my countrymen have come up with!

If I were Russian, I'd probably be proud of vodka!

SamuraiSaint:
It's true that many great and admirable things have been accomplished by people who live in America. However, to suggest that everything of worth originates there is insulting and myopic.
Beyond that, I fail to understand why people feel they have the right to take pride in the accomplishments of others because they live on the same piece of rock. 99% of US citizens are not responsible for the microchip, moon landings or southern comfort.
You can admire the achievements of others and be humbled by them but to take pride in them in any sort of meaningful way would suggest that you helped. If you did, well done. If not, go do something worthwhile before blowing the trumpet of others.

Those godless commies put up a Daddy's Day logo today! The heartless fiends! 4/20 and Guy Fawkes Day definitely deserve special treatment.

Look for all this screaming to escalate when 'Bama and the Left sweep the elections in a few more months.

yeah like we need to sit arond worrying who we are going to offend by showing patriotism.

If all you other countries are so great why dont you design a decent serach engine or a decent operating system or your own internet.

Because virtually every major technology used today was either developed or advanced to the state it is today by Americans or people who moved to america.

people like you and most others have completely lost it and have already bought into the idea that we should all live in one giant world socialist state. And that all your podunk countries that accomplish nothing for anyone should have authority over the USA..

Ridiculous.

I tend to agree. The article seems to make emphasis on the fact that Google chose not to alter its logo on Memorial day. I think this is far less offensive than the deluge of ads I see on TV and hear on the radio telling me that I should buy a car or a mattress because its Memorial day, completely drowning out the original meaning of the holiday.

And no, Sputnik is not a "Hey, communism is great" message, but rather the first step in the age of space exploration, no different from the Wright Brothers' flight. Just because it didn't happen in the US doesn't mean its anti-US to observe the anniversary of it. We had our own Sputnik anniversary celebration at Ladd observatory last year, and no one accused us of being communist. Sheesh!

LMAO. There are so many wankers out there that take any opportunity to moan. Google has always celebrated quirky events, not massive US-only holidays. The US already has over-zealous patriotism... I think we can all do without Google pushing it as well. I'm not Russian or Italian but I'm far more interested in the anniversary of Sputnik or Da Vinci than well promoted events like Easter or Memorial Day.

Considering the political climate I think it's wise NOT to mark Memorial Day, as it's likely to offend some of the 6.4 billion that live outside of the US. Should Google really pander to 300,000 people? Google marks plenty of US holidays... marking them all would take away the novelty.

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Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn