Google is not our friend. They actually qualify as anti-friend, pro-hater. Why do we keep empowering them to do more and more evil? They’ve gone full circle from their early days when their motto was “Don’t be evil”, all the way to ‘evil is whatever we say it is, so shut up.’
Part of creating an alternative channel of communication, is breaking the habit of using the old ones.
For a start, stop saying “Just Google that”
It is my fervent hope that you will never utter that phrase - ever again. Not only is it not a verb, it’s not the even the best search engine out there. New ones are starting to emerge1, and they’re actually better than Google because they don’t spy on you, don’t manipulate your search results (in order to manipulate your mind and beliefs, and even unfairly shift the outcome of elections) and they don’t demonetize users.
Just think about that. These guys have so manipulated us that we aren’t even outraged by their anti-freedom, repressive practices. They spy on you. They manipulate your mind. They allow you to create a for-profit enterprise using their advertising tools, and then cancel what may have become your very livelihood, without recourse, for some supposed but often unspecified violation of their ‘terms of service’. In my mind that makes them a criminal mob, not a business.
By the way, if you aren’t aware, Google is YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Photos, and many other apps and services. And search is the foundation on which the whole thing is built. That’s because their revenues derive overwhelmingly from ads, and if customers ever stop getting results on those ads, they’ll leave, and take those revenues with them. If they ever have a serious competitor in search, there will be an entirely new ballgame.
They’re not the only evil one out there, of course. Facebook (now Meta), which controls Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR, Onavo and Beluga is another evil enterprise. Mark Zuckerburg, who reportedly “donated” $500,000,000 to a “charitable” org to use in “securing” the last election. How’s that for evil?
And just to complete this troika of transnational malefactors, we have Microsoft. Bill Gates, who tops many lists of the most evil men on the planet, is theoretically no longer in control of Microsoft, but he’s left it in the hands of people who are playing on the same team, so to speak. And it continues to make him filthy rich, and able to inflict his wicked depopulation agenda on the world. Vaccines, anyone?
So let me circle back. Let’s start with one small step. A single computer user makes the decision to de-googlify himself. He installs a new default browser, and sets Brave as his default search engine. From then on, he no longer feeds the beast so much. And he tells his friends what he’s done. And he says he’s done it because Google is not a verb.
A drop of rain, a trickle, a deluge and a flood. It could happen.
Bing is fast and slick, and works by default on the Edge browser, but I wouldn’t trust it anymore than I do Google. DuckDuckGo is my personal favorite, (I use it with Mozilla’s Firefox browser) but Brave may be even more secure, and Brave has it’s own browser, and should work on other browsers as well. But do your own search. There are plenty of alternatives, and most will let you import your favorites and settings from your current browser.
This just popped up. It's dated May 11, which is four days before this article, but I honestly didn't see it until today. How Google Brainwashes Kids, Controls Public Policy and Swings Elections.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/google-brainwash-kids-policy-elections-cola/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=03c1479f-95bc-408c-957b-382680c85b4b
Disgustingly, Duckduckgo is now beginning political censorship!
Read this:
DuckDuckGo Updates Search Engine, Will Penalize Sites ‘Associated With Disinformation’
“The search engine DuckDuckGo has begun penalizing sites linked to “Russian disinformation” amid the Russia–Ukraine war, according to the company’s CEO.”
https://thinkcivics.com/duckduckgo-updates-search-engine-will-penalize-sites-associated-with-disinformation/