Google has been defining the word ‘Jew’ primarily as a demeaning pejorative By Andrea Widburg
The word “Zeitgeist,” per the definition that Google automatically provides at the top of the page when you search for the word, means “the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.” If I had to define one aspect of the zeitgeist on the left, I would say, with great regret, that it’s antisemitism. Suddenly, that problem is everywhere, including Google definitions. Until about midday today, when one typed the word “Jew” into the Google search box, the definition that was automatically returned and that occupied pride of place at the top of the page was a vicious and ancient pejorative.
Fox News has the story:
A search for the word “Jew” on Google Wednesday temporarily had the engine telling users that the word is an offensive verb.
The top definition that appeared in search results — up until around 1 p.m. ET, described the word Jew as to “bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way,” with the origin being “in reference to old stereotypes associating Jewish people with trading and moneylending.”
Farther down was the noun definition for Jew, which Google describes as “a member of the people and cultural community whose traditional religion is Judaism and who trace their origins through the Hebrew people of Israel to Abraham.”
The screen grab lends power to that narrative:
After approximately 1 p.m., Google updated the definition so that it now opens with the noun defined in classic and objective terms:
So, how did this happen? Fox News explains that, according to Google’s support website, third-party experts provide the definitions. Fair enough. In the case of both “Jew” and “zeitgeist,” the definitions used are identified as coming from “Oxford Languages.”
On the same site, Google also explains that “Our partners label these terms as vulgar, derogatory, or otherwise offensive to provide proper context about them.”
Wait a minute! I don’t see anything in the first image, above, warning people that the definition that appeared is “vulgar, derogatory, or otherwise offensive….” It’s just presented as a garden-variety verb.
It gets worse. Google adds, “We only display an offensive definition by default when it’s the main meaning of the term.” So, until someone caught Google in the act, Google had as its “main meaning” for the word “Jew” a pejorative verb that is one of the classic antisemitic canards.
When I prepared this essay, although Google had fixed the definition, it apparently had not yet responded to Fox News’s request for comment. For now, we don’t know what happened, and I’m willing to bet that Google’s eventual explanation won’t tell us much. As for me, I see this as yet another oozing sore revealing yet another leftist preoccupation—and Google is an unabashedly leftist company.
You see, it turns out that this isn’t Google’s first rodeo when it comes to redefining words to suit the leftist zeitgeist. This past August, Google redefined the word “fetus” to exclude the word “baby”:
While Google quickly backed off its antisemitic algorithm, it’s noteworthy that it hasn’t changed the definition of the word “fetus.” I can make a guess as to the reason for the different approaches.
On the left, antisemitism is the zeitgeist, for it’s an ideology that, rather than hovering around the fringes, has moved to the heart of the Democrat party. Nevertheless, it’s still a belief that dares not speak its name. When it shows up a bit too obviously, leftists tamp it down immediately lest it alienates those of my co-religionists who stubbornly cling to a party that is increasingly open about its antisemitic attitudes. Babies, however, don’t vote, especially aborted babies, so there’s no impetus to walk back a telling definition.
At a technological level, Google is an extraordinary company that makes quite amazing products and services. At an ideological level, it’s a worrisome behemoth that has way too much power and frighteningly totalitarian instincts, instincts that, throughout the 20th century, marched hand in hand with antisemitism and population control through abortion.
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