After this blog having rested in my blog for almost 16 years, someone has gone crying to Google that the book review is offensive, and now it sits under a warning banner that has to be clicked through in order to read it.
https://bookchase.blogspot.com/2007/08/guardians.html?zx=65b4fa2355aaf41e
The Guardians is a novel that I felt was advocating for an open border between the U.S. and Mexico all those years ago. I gave what I believed to be a fair review of the book, and responded to those who disagreed with my assessment at the time in what I believed to be a courteous manner. There was no anger shown on either side.
In my opinion, this is just another example of censoring or limiting the availability of any opinion that disagrees in the very least little bit with what is acceptable in today's timid culture where everyone has to fear being jumped on for something that offends even one of the new woke warriors out there - even if it is almost two decades old and was posted in a whole different world than the insane one we live in today. What are they so afraid of?
It's also a reminder that posting on social media is just not worth the effort anymore. Thanks for that, Mr. Google.
EDIT: A second post from even earlier was deleted a few days later. I submitted a request to Blogger for a review of the post for re-instatement without changing a word. Less than 24 hours, back it was with no comment from anyone as to why it was ever deleted in the first place. Bots apparently don't have great judgement, but human eyeballs agreed with me that the whole thing was silly.
I'm so sorry, Sam! Who goes trolling for posts from two decades ago just to hate on them? That's so crazy! And your reviews are always so fair and thoughtful. There are too many haters in the world. I for one love your blog and all your posts.
ReplyDeleteHi, Lark. Coincidentally, I see that's a post you commented on at the time. This whole thing just seems lame. If I reported everything to Google that "offends" me these days, that's all I'd be doing. :-)
DeleteHi Sam , I am so sorry to hear this. I love your blog and I have found your posts very thoughtful and wonderfully written. It's scary too that google would take seriously someone who scrolls through our posts to pick fights.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy. I haven't been able to blog for a while now, and this kind of thing is doubly irritating because of that. It's just such a waste of energy that could be used productively that I can't understand for the life of me why people spend their time looking so hard for something to complain about. It all seems very petty to me, and it's definitely not a post that I ever thought would come back to bite me almost two decades after it was posted.
DeleteWow, this is just infuriating. I can't believe who would bother to go around flagging old posts (that are purely your opinion and well-written to boot) as offensive. Similar thing happened to another blogger I follow but now she puts her book reviews on FB. She had posted a list of book titles on her blog and Blogger took it down for having offensive language. There wasn't a single offensive word in any of those titles... I just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this could be flagged by some kind of software or AI - all without a human pair of eyes even seeing it. That's the only thing that makes sense to me. I find "Trigger Warnings" like this one to be stupid. It's just all gotten completely out of hand now, and it kills me to know that some lives have been ruined by a relatively handful of nuts.
DeleteI don't know if you've heard the latest over here... Roald Dahl's books are being altered so that they're more socially acceptable and naturally people are up in arms. What the heck is the matter with these so called 'sensitive' people? It infuriates me. Really sorry this is happening to you, I think these people need to get out more. It worries me to be honest and I'm glad I'm (almost) 70 and not 17.
ReplyDeleteIt worries me, too, Cath. I saw the changers to Roald Dahl's books last night on a TV program - and all (including me) think it's a totally ridiculous move. The cynic in me wonders if the publisher did it just to bring attention to the books so that he could sell new copies to all the woke fools out there. They didn't amount to much did they, really? Changing "fat" to "enormous" seems MORE offensive to me, not LESS.
DeleteI just heard about this, too. It really aggravates me. Surely we're intelligent enough to realize that in past years different words and terms (and attitudes) were acceptable and common. And to explain that to children who read the books. I don't think it's ok to change author's words, it's like erasing history because we're embarrassed by how we used to be.
DeleteExactly so, Jeane.
DeleteFB blocked my blog for a few months a few years ago over something offensive but I was never told what it was that caused the offense. It's all a bit arbitrary.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the most annoying part of this, Carol, the not knowing exactly what's just come out of nowhere to put you on the "bad guy" list all of a sudden. And their whole appeal process (if you actually care enough to go through it) is ludicrous.
DeleteThat is a shame, Sam. I am sorry you had to deal with that.
ReplyDeleteTracy, if I were still actively updating the blog several days a week, it would really bother me. As it is, it just makes me grieve a little less about having had to almost completely put it to bed due to circumstances beyond my control. But even then, it makes me angry that the world has allowed this silliness to become the new norm.
ReplyDeleteToo much of our online lives seems to be under the control of algorithms. Tedious. Infuriating. And usually caused by people with too much time on their hands and not enough brain cells to know how to use that time in a worthwhile manner.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Cathy. It all becomes very tedious when you try to toe the new magic line without placing a toe on the wrong side of it. But they keep retroactively moving the line, so there's not much chance (in my case, for sure) of staying 'legal" forever. i surrender - and don't even care anymore what they think.
DeleteI just received an email today telling me that Google has completely deleted a 15-year-old book review of mine. The book? A non-fiction tome by Anne Seagraves, Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West.
DeleteLooks maybe like the bots have taken over the whole Google review process. Live and die by just key words, I suppose. That's ridiculous and makes me wonder why we bother anymore. The whole world is turning in one big Nanny State.
DeleteThat's Crazy! Sorry Sam. How nutty.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was some sort of purge going on at the time. A few others were caught up in it, too.
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