Is there a Google Doodle in Your May Day?

May 1, 2012 2:36 PM

Google is famous for it's many "doodles", some of which are nation-specific, and some are global. For International Worker's Day (aka May Day), Google has created an appropriate doodle, though it is not shown to visitors from the U.S.
posted by modernnomad (49 comments total)

I'm assuming it's not available in the US because otherwise Google would lose the support of people who think usage of the word 'workers' implies Communism.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:38 PM on May 1, 2012 [15 favorites]

Because, we're all entrepreneurs on this bUS.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:41 PM on May 1, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm assuming it's not available in the US because only Communists celebrate labor day in May instead of September.
posted by Slothrup at 2:41 PM on May 1, 2012 [4 favorites]

I don't see it in Canada either.
posted by Stagger Lee at 2:43 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

The irony is that the violence against the working class commemorated by May Day occurred in the USA.
posted by Renoroc at 2:44 PM on May 1, 2012 [10 favorites]

Yeah, here in the U.S. I'm just getting a big picture of St. Joseph.
posted by resurrexit at 2:45 PM on May 1, 2012 [3 favorites]

OH MY GOD I I THINK I GOT SOME COMMUNISM ON ME.

Dude. A little warning next time, I almost started a union.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:46 PM on May 1, 2012 [55 favorites]

Perhaps appropriately, when I turned off NoScript on that Washington Post page, it crashed Firefox.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:46 PM on May 1, 2012

My first reaction was, "Well, maybe it's because most people in the U.S. have no idea what International Worker's Day is, and they didn't want to confuse people."

Then I thought, "Well, who the fuck was Eadweard J. Muybridge? John Q. Internet didn't know him, either."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:47 PM on May 1, 2012 [5 favorites]

It's either already past midnight across the Atlantic, or it's just about to be. I show Google Brazil with the 'worker' icon at this moment. Google Chile is celebrating this guy.
posted by gimonca at 2:47 PM on May 1, 2012

Argentina is giving me the 'worker' doodle as well. Most other Latin American countries are giving me the Ramón y Cajal graphic.
posted by gimonca at 2:51 PM on May 1, 2012

Hmm... through my VPN in Amsterdam I get nothing (of course yesterday it was Queensday) I changed the homepage to google.de and got the worker graphic. Google.fr has no doodle.

Google.com.mx has Ramón y Cajal's cumpleaños.
posted by birdherder at 2:52 PM on May 1, 2012

Italy is showing me the worker at the moment. (Admittedly, this is kind of fun.)
posted by gimonca at 2:56 PM on May 1, 2012

I would love to hear their logic behind the graphic/country code choice here.
posted by Stagger Lee at 2:56 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Google knows which side its bread is buttered on, and who has the dough...
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:56 PM on May 1, 2012

And because in the US "Labor Day" isn't a day of recognition of the labor force or one many workers have off, it's a "sale-a-bration." Kill me now.
posted by fiercecupcake at 3:00 PM on May 1, 2012

Of course, today President Obama proclaimed May 1st "Loyalty Day".
posted by Catblack at 3:00 PM on May 1, 2012 [3 favorites]

On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to the common good, to the cornerstones of liberty, equality, and justice, and to the unending pursuit of a more perfect Union... On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.

Isn't it pretty to think so?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:05 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to the common good, to the cornerstones of liberty, equality, and justice, and to the unending pursuit of a more perfect Union... On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.

Is it just me or is that entirely creepy in concept?
posted by modernnomad at 3:06 PM on May 1, 2012 [13 favorites]

Of course, today President Obama proclaimed May 1st "Loyalty Day".
posted by Catblack at 3:00 PM on May 1 [+] [!]

I don't use the word Orwellian lightly, but...
posted by Stagger Lee at 3:06 PM on May 1, 2012 [27 favorites]

Doodles are one of those things that are done mostly by someone deciding to do them. They definitely end up being different in different countries for a variety of reasons. May Day isn't really a holiday in the US, so it's not surprising to me that there isn't one. This is probably the only year I've ever thought about May Day and its only because of the Occupy posts here on MeFi.
posted by wildcrdj at 3:08 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not a fan either, Stagger Lee, but this isn't exactly a new thing.
posted by brundlefly at 3:09 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

I note that the linked Washington Post article neglected to mention that the anarchists who were hanged in the aftermath of Haymarket Square did not throw the bomb. How do we know? They were the speakers at the rally!

(Note the Haymarket Square FPP that was the last post dated April 30.)
posted by hoyland at 3:09 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to...

I totally read rededicate as reeducate on the first pass.
posted by delmoi at 3:09 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Is it just me or is that entirely creepy in concept?

Obama didn't invent it.

And yes it's stupid, and a weird hold-over from the cold war.
posted by empath at 3:10 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Well, who the fuck was Eadweard J. Muybridge? -- A Gentleman's Honor.
posted by crunchland at 3:13 PM on May 1, 2012

On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to the common good, to the cornerstones of liberty, equality, and justice, and to the unending pursuit of a more perfect Union... On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.

I'm just going to come right out and say it: the jackboot has received an undeservedly bad rap. It's so useful when you need to crush things!
posted by Ritchie at 3:16 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Loyalty day? Jesus.
posted by maxwelton at 3:46 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Hey, my apologies to everyone, but *I* didn't proclaim it, the President did. I just noticed he had and added it to this thread.

I personally commend the movement that 100+ years ago gave us 40 work weeks and 8 hour workdays. Wish it had done some more good, but it is odd timing for Obama to word it so now, and from every year hence, while the rest of the word celebrates International Worker's day, it's going to be "Loyalty Day" in the US. It's like having your Orwell with a side of McCarthy.
posted by Catblack at 4:04 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

To be fair, the US has always been the place where Enlightenment ideals go to die.
posted by "Elbows" O'Donoghue at 4:05 PM on May 1, 2012 [4 favorites]

The only way I can see through this conundrum is to declare loyalty to what this country says, while demonstrating loyalty to what it does. In other news, it's Tuesday.
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:21 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

It looks like Loyalty Day has been around for some time and has been trotted out by the last seven presidents, as well as Obama himself last year. I agree with the general disgusted reaction, but at least it's not a fresh new example of the handbasketry afoot.
posted by luftmensch at 4:22 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Loyalty Day's not on May 1 by coincedence:

The holiday was first observed in 1921 as "Americanization Day," and was intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day on May Day (May 1), an internationally celebrated holiday for the commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886.

On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.

Couldn't we do that on Consitution Day?
posted by kirkaracha at 4:33 PM on May 1, 2012 [5 favorites]

I find it amusing that presidents since Eisenhower have proclaimed Loyalty Day, except Johnson (during the worst war in the time period, when loyalty would presumably be needed) and Nixon (who accused his enemies of disloyalty to the US).
posted by Triplanetary at 4:38 PM on May 1, 2012

Am I the only person in the world who finds Google Doodles incredibly annoying no matter what they're of, and wishes he could turn them off forever?
posted by Fnarf at 4:53 PM on May 1, 2012

May Day: A Brief History of the Holiday in NYC

Indeed, the 1% has tried to repress this history again and again, but May Day is as American as apple pie and as "New York" as a slice of pizza. The 1% has employed various tactics and opportunities to enact this repression: the Cold War, the hysteria of McCarthyism, the passage of anti-union laws, the expulsion of progressive labor leaders from unions. Accordingly, this political repression can be seen in the pathetic attempt to "forget" May Day by renaming it: it was first renamed "Americanization Day" in 1921, then "Loyalty Day" and "Legal Day" in 1958.

Apparently Americanization Day started on July 4, 1915, kicking off the Americanization movement, and was moved to May 1 in 1921.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on May 1, 2012

Catblack: "Of course, today President Obama proclaimed May 1st "Loyalty Day"."

Christ. I instinctively looked to see if that was on whitehouse.org. It wasn't.

How appropriate that they turn "revolt day" into "loyalty day".
posted by dunkadunc at 4:56 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

How appropriate that they turn "revolt day" into "loyalty day".

Brought to you by the Ministry of Truth.
posted by pompomtom at 5:02 PM on May 1, 2012

Why don't we get Google Worker's Day in Canada? Is it because we're rapidly becoming a tiny black & white version of the US?
posted by sneebler at 5:23 PM on May 1, 2012

Am I the only person in the world who finds Google Doodles incredibly annoying no matter what they're of, and wishes he could turn them off forever?

I'm the other way around: I like them but almost never see them. Try using the search box in your browser, if it has one. I so rarely see the google home page that I never know what the google doodle is until someone mentions it to me.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:25 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

When I was a kid, May Day was the day you went up to your friend's house, left a basket of candy on the porch, rang the doorbell, and ran away. But I think that's a Midwest thing that's probably died out by now.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:31 PM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Fifteen, that's a Midwest example of pre-4/19 thinking.
posted by rokusan at 5:34 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

No doodle from .ae nor from my .ca or .us proxies.

(That Mexican one is damn pretty, though.)
posted by rokusan at 5:35 PM on May 1, 2012

but it is odd timing for Obama to word it so now, and from every year hence, while the rest of the word celebrates International Worker's day, it's going to be "Loyalty Day" in the US. It's like having your Orwell with a side of McCarthy.

Just in case it got overlooked up thread it was cited that this isn't actually correct; the creepily Soviet-sounding Loyalty Day was not first declared by Obama just now. It's been on the books since the 20s and has been observed by the last seven presidents (excepting Nixon and Johnson).

Still, puts things into perspective--this is what the US thinks of how the rest of the world celebrates the labor struggles that gave us the eight hour workday.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:19 PM on May 1, 2012

"creepily Soviet-sounding"?!? The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics LOVED May Day-that's when they paraded all of their tanks and missiles and goose-stepping soldiers through Red Square. You know, the Worker's Paradise of the Soviet Union.

But what do I know? In my neck of the midwestern United States we celebrated May Day not by showcasing state-sponsered violence but by by making anonymous gift baskets for friends. Because we were so Orwellian.
posted by TSOL at 12:03 AM on May 2, 2012

but May Day is as American as apple pie

So it's British?

and as "New York" as a slice of pizza.

Oh, Italian then.
posted by Quantum's Deadly Fist at 1:45 AM on May 2, 2012

OK, Rice-A-Roni, then.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:57 AM on May 2, 2012

"creepily Soviet-sounding"?!?

Sorry, but "Loyalty Day" sounds creepy. It's a fact.

Not to say "International Worker's Revolution Day" or the equivalent wouldn't sound creepy, too--but "Loyalty Day" is pretty Orwellian sounding.

"May Day," on the other hand, has a nice ring. "Walpurgisnacht" sounds kind of creepy too, but more in a horror-show sense than in a "creeping totalitarianism" sense.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:32 AM on May 2, 2012

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics LOVED May Day-that's when they paraded all of their tanks and missiles and goose-stepping soldiers through Red Square. You know, the Worker's Paradise of the Soviet Union.

We're not in the cold war anymore, by the way; I'll be glad to take a loyalty oath if you like, but you go first.

In reality, the soviet system never actually tolerated real, independent trade unions either.

Unlike labor unions in the West, Soviet trade unions were, in fact, actually governmental organizations whose chief aim was not to represent workers but to further the goals of management, government, and the CPSU. As such, they were partners of management in attempting to promote labor discipline, worker morale, and productivity.

So, yes, their "Workers' Paradise" was Orwellian, too, but what does that have to do with anything?
posted by saulgoodman at 6:39 AM on May 2, 2012 [2 favorites]