No One Likes a Hero: Reflecting on Google's Recent Press

The San Francisco Chronicle recently featured a front page article, titled "Who's Afraid of Google?" complete with a full color picture of a giant snake monster with the company's name on it. Now, we don't pretend to be unbiased here, but the article begins by recalling that Google had "pledged not to be evil" and suggests that this is at odds with the company's growing list of enemies, so lets take a look at the list:

• Microsoft and AT&T (claiming monopoly)
• Madison Avenue (unhappy about competition, or worried that Google has too much control)
• Time Warner AOL, Viacom et. al. (aka "Hollywood," the group fighting over YouTube)

This is not a complete list, however. The article fails to mention that Voldemort and the Death Eaters have also recently declared Google their mortal enemy, and are currently pursuing a lawsuit for "unfair magic practices."

Yes, that was a joke. And it's writing like that that makes my blog so famous. Seriously folks, when the forces of evil are arrayed against a company in such a unanimous fashion, doesn't that suggest that, perhaps, they have kept their pledge?

The one legitimate concern mentioned in the article is that of the privacy advocates, but these groups need to direct their attention at lawmakers, rather than law-abiding companies. See Google's response to the issue here. Still, I wouldn't want to find too much fault with a group as besieged as US privacy advocates in the time of the patriot act. It makes sense for them to exert as much pressure as they can.

Meanwhile, since this is a blog about fear, what's the motive behind the muckraking? This is far from the first major article about Google to run next to a picture of a monster. Why are journalists so attracted to stories about Google doing wrong? Or, if we say they're doing it to get attention, why are readers attracted to these stories? Perhaps I'm venturing too far into psychology now, but it seems to me that there is a fear of idealism pursued in earnest -- of that conspicuous and terrifyingly successful do-gooder who threatens to reveal our inadequacies, deprive us of our excuses, and force us to do the right thing once in a while.

How much easier, then, to accuse the idealist of arrogance and hypocrisy and go back to feeling good about ourselves.