GOOGLE home page crass and insensitive, not to mention unnecessary!

[DaveinJapan]

Okay, so I've been for the past couple of hours staring at a LUGE athlete screaming downhill on the Google homepage. Given the fact that a guy DIED recently on the luge course, is it really necessary for them to display THAT particular graphic?

It only serves as a sad reminder afaik, and hardly in the spirit of Olympic esprit (OR, did they do that on purpose, as a sort of tribute? if so, that still strikes me as weird!).

Several hours ago, the graphic was the 5 rings and an olympic flame, which was fine and nice and good. What kind of a moron decided to switch to a luger heading down the hill for their next graphic!?

Just sayin.

[Yurovsky]

1. The local late news showed the ACTUAL CRASH video...

sure, they warned viewers that they might find it "graphic", but for crying out loud, it's like watching a damn snuff movie. THE GUY DIED! Whatever happened to respect for the dead? Just because the guy is from Georgia (that's in Asia, for you freep trolls out there), doesn't make it OK since the parents probably aren't watching your show.

It was offensive and I've emailed the station to let them know how disgusted I was by their "news" coverage.

[MonkeyMama]

16. The Today Show played the video this morning also...

I thought it was disgusting.

[DaveinJapan]

2. Why the unrec?

Sincerely wondering...are the people unreccing the thread thinking that Google did the right thing? Or that it's stupid to bring up?

or what?

[Quantess]

17. Maybe it's perceived as

starting a new thread to whine over something trivial.

I tried to recommended your thread just because I don't think it deserves a negative integer.

[DaveinJapan]

18. Thanks for the rec.

It didn't seem trivial to me, I was rather shocked actually.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. ever consider they might be doing it IN HONOR of the guy?

and the sport that he obviously loved? why the fuck do most people ALWAYS see the negative possibility? what an awful way to live and think...

sP

[DaveinJapan]

4. I did think of that...but if so, why wouldn't they put up something other than

a luger screaming downhill.

No "rip"? No "in memory of"? No further info whatsoever.

No, it doesn't SEEM like a memorial at all, and if it is I STILL think it is in poor taste since they gave NO further info.

To me it just looks like a "go Olympics!" graphic featuring a luge athlete at high speed (how is THAT a cool memorial in any case!?).

And as of 7:21est it's still up there.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. yeah, cause Google is big on words in their page graphics

and you HAVE to have a big ole RIP for it to possibly be a memorial or honoring in any way. i am sad for you that you see the world this way...finding the negative where you have NO FUCKING CLUE what, why, when or how this graphic was designed or why or when they decided to use it...

sP

[WhiteTara]

7. so I just went there and it seems weird that

there are bandages over his eyes. It is a weird front page graphic to memorialize a tragedy.

[Nickster]

9. It's the faceshield portion of his helmet that you're seeing.

[WhiteTara]

13. thanks for the explanation n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. Looks to me like he is soaring into the heavens. n/t

[DaveinJapan]

6. Perhaps that was their intent...

http://www.google.com

Judge for yourself.

It seems rather unnecessary to me. But maybe you're right and the intent is a memorial (seems like they could just show a picture of the guy, rather than a speeding luge run which is the thing that killed the guy!).

Sorry if I've misinterpreted all of this.

It certainly made me feel uncomfortable and served as a rather shocking reminder every time I clicked on Google all night long (if that was their intent, than...I guess they succeeded!).

[elehhhhna]

12. oh golly. it does look like a dead guy. creepyish.

[WeDidIt]

8. IT was probably preplanned as the Luge event starts today n/t

[notadmblnd]

11. was it taken moments before he died?

if it were, that might be a little macabre but if it is a past picture- no, I don't think it's wierd

[msongs]

14. gee who recalls media showing 9/11 video constantly? Once woulda been enuff right? nt

[TexasObserver]

15. It's a very subtle graphic barely recognizable as luge.

Dave.

What are you doing, Dave?