Tarek Fahmy: Cultural Critic

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Eid!!

It came to my attention through an overseas friend that when you do an image search for Michelle Obama using google Germany <www.google.de> a very offensive image of our beautiful first lady appears number one in the image search. When you do the same search using google.com (US version) that image does not appear at all.

Right away, we did google searches using other countries codes like:

• http://www.google.co.uk/ (England)
• www.google.fr (France)
• www.google.cn (China)
• http://www.google.com.eg/ (Egypt)
• http://www.google.co.il/ (Israel)

In all google searches the offensive Michelle Obama image appears first (except for France; it appears second). When you use the American based google search engine the image is censored completely!

What ever happened to freedom of speech? While this image is totally offensive it belongs on google; especially the US based google service. Other countries that we always blame for censorship have that image readily available on their google search engines.

I love the irony in this world. The American google is censoring images just like other ‘googles’ worldwide. This is probably politically influenced and not only a google thing. Meaning this image was probably censored and removed form the US google because of political pressures from up top.

Is this so called freedom of speech that we Americans always proudly boast of a thing of the past? If this blatant violation of freedom of speech is happening then what else is ‘the state’ censoring? What other supposed promised freedoms are they trampling on?

I value my supposed freedoms in this great country of ours but when I notice censorship I start to think about freedom as an illusion; as smoke in mirrors and not really an actual reality. Concerning censorship, is this any different from the Chinese? They outwardly censor the internet for their citizens. If the Obama image is censored in the US, then what else is censored on google and the Internet in general?

Here are snapshots from different googles worldwide:

- GOOGLE USA:

- GOOGLE CHINA:

- GOOGLE FRANCE:

- GOOGLE UK:

- GOOGLE EGYPT:

- GOOGLE ISRAEL:

You are hungry and you want to eat lunch. You could go to Burger king and overload on their calories and fats or you could eat a can of sardines and one loaf of whole wheat pita bread at a fraction of the calories and the cost.

BURGER KING:

Whopper

SARDINES: CANNED / FROZEN / FRESH

Sardines

As you could see, the whopper is a whopping 670 calories and the sardine lunch will be a little over 300 calories. I didn’t even mention the sought after Omega 3 fatty acids and low cholesterol. I eat sardines for lunch often. I opt for Moroccan sardines because of taste and cheapness. I buy the sardines preferably in water. If that’s not available I buy them in olive oil but never in tomato sauce or other flavors. These sauces are not tasty and they inflate the calorie count.

Season the canned variety lightly with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper, onions, and chilli peppers. You could also buy them fresh, hard here in the Northeast. I buy them frozen and grill them. They are very tasty! If you want to loose some weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle, try incorporating sardines in your diet.

I like this better then the remix - much better!!!