How a Gesture Could Get Your Google+ Profile Picture Yanked 262
SharkLaser writes "It turns out that Google has started to remove Google+ pictures that have persons giving the middle finger in it. 'Our policy page states, "Your Profile Picture cannot include mature or offensive content." Your profile photo was taken down as a violation of this policy.' Google+ is supposed to be a universal social network and 'identity service,' and to allow sharing like in real life — a public venue for free expressions. Since the middle finger is such culturally-specific issue, will Google+ also start to remove things like showing the palms of your hands to people (considered an insult in Greece), showing the soles of your shoes (insult in the Middle East), and patting someone's head (an insult in Buddhist countries)? A good number of Google+ users have started to change their profile picture to include the middle finger to show support to MG Siegler, who got his profile picture removed by Google."
Some other examples of culturally specific offense (Score:5, Informative)
(yes I know there is a lot of overlap between these sites)
7 innocent gestures that can get you killed overseas [cracked.com]
5 common american gestures that might insult the locals [matadornetwork.com]
Top 10 Hand Gestures Yu'd Better Get Right [languagetrainers.co.uk]
List of Gestures [wikipedia.org]
Will these be banned by the Google Censors as well? Or don't the Google Censors use Google to easily find lists of gestures that are culturally specific?
Re:V Sign. (Score:3, Informative)
The V sign is only offensive if facing backwards. Palm toward viewer = peace sign. Back toward viewer = "Piss off" gesture.
Completely reasonable (Score:4, Informative)
They want profile pics to be inoffensive. The middle finger gesture is offensive, and intentionally so. They're not going to remove things that might offend specific foreigners because those foreigners make up a vanishingly small segment of their user base. To complain about this seeming contradiction is to commit a line drawing fallacy.
Re:Google is an American (Score:4, Informative)
Someone has to create civility.
Whoa, whoa. No good can come from that attitude. Who decides what is civil? It doesn't really fit into, "it's an American value" mantra, I'm sure many of the people showing their middle fingers in those pictures ARE Americans. I'm an American and I'm considering joining the profile protest even though I'm not the type of person who would throw that out there normally (and my family has my google+ info, so it's going to be annoying explaining that to the more conservative among them).
If you don't want to be associated with people who would post pictures you consider crass, don't visit their google pages. Don't go trying to "create civility" by censuring them.
Re:Other Offenses (Score:4, Informative)
Who shows their teeth when smiling?
People who never had to wear braces in middle school. That's when I learned to smile with my lips closed.
Re:Other Offenses (Score:4, Informative)
If someone can't be social without showing their middle finger then they need to learn some social skills.
Or perhaps they just have different humor than you? Perhaps they do have social skills, but different ones than you? It might be difficult to believe, but society's (or your) standards probably aren't objectively correct.
Not only that, but this middle fingers in pictures likely aren't directed at anyone in particular. Who exactly would be offended by such a thing? How many people? How many people would be offended enough by some picture that isn't even directed at them specifically to stop using/never use Google+?