I read this today. A comparison between the Google Smackdown and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

On 9/11 -

I watched the second plane fly into the World Trade Center live on television on 9/11. My sister had called to tell me the first plane crashed. It was about 10:30 at night here and The Other Half and I sat down and watched the live footage on cable. I was horrified to see that plane fly into the tower right in front of my eyes. I was stunned. So was the rest of the world.

A New Fear Was Born -

A few days later I had volunteered to paint houses for a charity organisation that housed women trying to leave abusive situations. About an hour into the painting I heard a plane approaching and I looked up – not with happiness, not with joy, but in *fear*. The terrorists had achieved what they wanted right there – they wanted to create fear.

Change Can Be Forever

The actions of the terrorists changed things forever – from airport security to the laws of several countries, to creating wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I would suggest some of these changes were not seen in the crystal ball of the terrorists. I’d suggest that the anti-Google feeling and the amount of anger their actions would create was not seen in the crystal ball of Google, either. For some, there will be no going back to how things were.

My reply to that post was as follows:

Did you seriously equate the Google Smackdown with what happened Sept. 11 and the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? Do you honestly believe that Google removing pagerank is equal somehow to lost lives? Would you actually look a survivor of 9/11 or a surviving family member in the eye and compare losing pagerank to what happened to them? What about a war widow?

Wow.

Just wow.

Good on you for creating “controversy” and driving traffic, though. Shoot, if Giulani can campaign on the graves of the dead, why shouldn’t someone else compare their lost lives to lost pagerank?

You know, I would poke my own eyes out before I would support my own president in his ongoing “war”, but I have to say that I am deeply offended by your comparison.

Please remove the link to my site from your list. Thanks.

I am literally shaking with rage. I CANNOT even imagine that someone would actually print something like this up and then, for God’s sake, promote it for traffic.

I wrote this in the PPP forums where people seemed not to have read the post (I hope):

Am I the only one so deeply offended by that post that I am shaking with rage? Am I the only one that is disgusted by the comparison to a pagerank reduction to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on 9/11?

Wow.

I left my comment regarding it on the post.

I’m seriously done with this business. When people can honestly compare an insignificant pagerank reduction to the DEATHS of thousands of human beings then the obsession with Google has gone too far. What happened on 9/11 changed the lives of millions of people irrevocably. The flippin’ Google Smackdown pales in comparison. I’m pretty sure the people that were personally effected by the terrorist attacks and the events following would agree with that assessment.

I have seen some really ugly things in the marketing sector of the blogosphere. Almost as ugly as the political sector. I’ve rolled my eyes and mentally marked people off my “must read” list because of stupid reasons for not commenting and considering themselves above other people because of their precious pagerank. But this takes the cake. This is beyond pale. There are comments on that post where readers are congratulating the author and agreeing with her assessment.

Am I too easily offended? Possibly. But I’ve lost a friend because of the events following 9/11, I’ve got friends in mourning now, and I see my country (and others) torn apart because of the real terrorists. How many lives has Google taken with their pagerank reduction? How many lives have been ruined? When will this precious flippin’ pagerank debacle take center stage in my nightly news? Why isn’t my Senator all over this atrocity?

Because when compared to other things it doesn’t matter. Yeah, PPP bloggers are losing money in advertising. How many died? Sure, some people are losing search engine traffic. Did Google somehow maim them physically? Are people actually going to be damaged forever and ever because they no longer have a pagerank?

I may be too harsh here, I admit that. I’m actually take my time between paragraphs. My anger is overwhelming me. I experienced that pagerank drop and guess what? I haven’t been devastated, my family is still intact, and I’m going to wake up tomorrow in the same condition that I am in today (God willing). Col. Keith Nepsa is still going to be dead because he was in Iraq fighting the real terrorists. And, no, those terrorists don’t work at the Googleplex.

I suppose I’ll calm down eventually. Still, I’m done with that kind of thinking. I feel dirty just from reading it. It doesn’t matter if you support the “war” or not, the fact is people actually die because of terrorists. Google’s not killing anyone and they didn’t cause 9/11. They aren’t even in the same class as Al Qaeda, to which they were compared. Are you kidding me?

Pitiful. Just pitiful.

Everyone has their line and that was mine. Gah!

(crossposted)