The layers just need a localized disclaimer: "For the satisfying of history curious only. Not to be used for the other purpose. (Prejudicing.)"
Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#12simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
Let's say Google Maps puts up an old map of some major city in your country with certain neighbourhoods marked 'negro'. How would that go down? I agree that information itself cannot be evil (and I would probably disagree with the reasons this Japanese gentleman is against the maps), but there is an editing involved in choosing which information to publish, and which not. This is poor editing on the part of Google.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#13simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
Let's say Google Maps puts up an old map of some major city in your country with certain neighbourhoods marked 'negro'. How would that go down? I agree that information itself cannot be evil (and I would probably disagree with the reasons this Japanese gentleman is against the maps), but there is an editing involved in choosing which information to publish, and which not. This is poor editing on the part of Google.
Or perhaps parts of a city are notated with a different N-word... Even though it would surely be legal to post this in Google Maps without any context, that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the problem is that this is not purely a historical document, it is an ongoing rights issue. By publishing these maps on top of modern maps, Google is facilitating the racism against these people.
respectfully, I posit that the right to information outweighs the potential negatives for which it may be used. If we were to allow what you suggest(cultural sensitivities) to be a legitimate basis for the suppression of knowledge, then clearly we should begin stoking the fires for our book burnings.
I think you're missing the point. As was indicated in the article, these maps were already available on the web. And presumably you could find them on, well, google.
This is not a censorship issue. This is about being sensitive to the outcome of your actions. Information wants to be free, sure, but some information is hurtful. And as a publisher you have a duty to at least take that into account.
Perhaps this means not adding documents with hurtful slurs in them to Google Maps (especially in a format that can easily be used to aid further discrimination). Or, perhaps a better solution is ADDING information and context to these maps. After all, the remedy to bad speech is more speech.
Obviously Google should have the right to post the maps and line them up with modern-day Japan with no further context, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the problem is that this is not purely a historical document, it is an ongoing rights issue. By publishing these maps on top of modern maps, Google is facilitating the racism against these people.
If you can hire a company to check where someone's ancestors lived, I think it's already out of the bag. You can't just pretend the maps don't exist.
Pretending they don't exist isn't the same as adding an easy-to-use tab that lines them up with modern Japan.
This would be a much different situation if, say, Google was being asked to remove links to these maps from their index.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#16The layers just need a localized disclaimer: "For the satisfying of history curious only. Not to be used for the other purpose. (Prejudicing.)"
So you're the guy who buys the Grateful Dead 420 Bong and only uses it for tobacco. :)
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#17simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
Let's say Google Maps puts up an old map of some major city in your country with certain neighbourhoods marked 'negro'. How would that go down? I agree that information itself cannot be evil (and I would probably disagree with the reasons this Japanese gentleman is against the maps), but there is an editing involved in choosing which information to publish, and which not. This is poor editing on the part of Google.
That's between the people who made or refer to the map and the people who were/are discriminated against. You don't deal with unpleasant history by erasing it and pretending it didn't happen. On the more serious issue of actual genocide, the most bitter political feuds are between the people who were hurt by it and those who want to pretend it never happened and needn't be talked about.
I don't think it's poor editing on the part of Google at all. Poor editing would be altering the historical record in order to assuage the feelings of one group who might be made uncomfortable. To run with your example, if you're going to alter the map why not go the whole way and replace 'negro' with 'happy black people live here'?
It's a sad but seemingly universal fact that when one social group oppresses another and later people ask 'why are the conditions of (oppressed group) so awful?', the self-serving response of oppressing group is 'they choose to live that way', ascribing their negative situation to some inherent defect on the part of the oppressed.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#18simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
I agree. The underlying issue is the Japanese government's inability to pass any laws protecting human rights. If you refused to hire someone in the US because of their ethnic background, your company would be in serious legal trouble. (I'm pretty sure that even paying someone to check it out would be illegal, actually.) In Japan, this is apparently OK.
Google maps are not the problem, the government is.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#19simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
But the problem is that this is not purely a historical document, it is an ongoing rights issue. By publishing these maps on top of modern maps, Google is facilitating the racism against these people.
And not publishing them (or worse, editing them as suggested above) would make Google complicit in pretending the issue doesn't exist.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#20In 14th century Venice, Jews were only permitted to live in an area of the city known as Ghetto. The word has since acquired many more layers of unpleasant antisemitic connotations, yet Ghetto is marked on tourist maps of Venice today.
Maybe Tokyo will eventually become as open about its history -- but before that can happen, quite a few people will have to stop thinking about others by 17th century Edo period standards, it seems.