In a shameful act of corporate hypocrisy, Google on Thursday will host a fundraising lunch for Sen. James Inhofe, the delusional or dishonest Oklahoma Republican who famously declared that global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."
It'd be unconscionable for any organization to lift a finger to help the antiscience lawmaker translate his medieval beliefs into public policy or spread more dangerous misinformation on the gravest challenge of this generation.
So writes
San Francisco Chronicle columnist James Temple in today's Dot-Commentary for the Business Section.
Mincing no words, Temple goes on to call out the courting of Inhofe by Google as "galling" and "disappointing." More importantly, he is alarmed by how this lunch is "fitting into a pattern."
It seems that Google is cozy with The Competitive Enterprise Institute, giving them $50,000 for their annual fundraising dinner. The CEI is a libertarian organization
that, according to Temple, "works feverishly to discredit the established scientific consensus on humans' role in climate change." In addition, Google is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (we all know what they represent..).
Has Google shed its signature "Don't Be Evil?" If not, they must do so immediately as it certainly no longer represents their company ethic.
And we must let them know we don't appreciate their betrayal of sound science and human welfare. We can all give up our gmail accounts and stop using Google search.
We can let them have a time out in the corner until they have shown some corporate responsibility and respect for their users.
Temple sums up the Inhofe fundraiser quite nicely:
"He is not the type of person whom reasonable, thoughtful people invite over for a meal. This is the type of person whom reasonable, thoughtful people - people who supposedly cherish science, data and reason - call out as dangerous and unfit for public office.
Google should cancel the lunch, publicly denounce Inhofe and apologize to its users.
The stakes here are real."
Indeed.
Update: As requested, here is contact info:
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA
telephone: +1 650 253 0000
fax: +1 650 253 0001
To reach the Board of Directors: directors@google.com
Update 2 : Link to petition "Hey Google, Don't Fund Evil"