Why is Google so judgmental? Map shows state search suggestions
A blogger has put together a map that shows Google’s auto-complete suggestions for each state when you search “Why is X so,” and most of the results aren’t pretty.
The map shows you Google’s auto-complete suggestions for each state when you hover over it, revealing the kinds of things we’re all searching about each other.
Some of the suggestions are nice, such as for California, which gets “Why is California so awesome” among its results, but most of the results reveal how judgmental we can be about each other. Just look at New Jersey, whose results include “so bad” and “so hated.”
The map was put together by Renee DiResta, who on her blog says she is an associate at an investment firm. DiResta said she put the map up because in election years blue and red state “tropes” dominate news cycles, and she wanted to find out what exactly we all think about each other.
DiResta notes that most of the results are about culture, weather, politics and economics.
Under culture, she notes that people are googling things like why are states so backwards, bad, boring, crazy, dangerous, hated, racist, stupid, trashy and weird. And sometimes, we google more positive questions like why a state is so great, which Montana, New Hampshire and New York each receive.
Auto-complete also shows what people tend to think about states when it comes to political issues. Oregon, Washington and California, for example, each get “so liberal?” as a suggestion while Arizona gets racist, conservative and crazy for its results. It also gets “so hot” as a fourth result.
Check out the map here and see what others are searching for about your state.
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