THE QUIET PART JUST GOT LOUDER: GOOGLE'S FASCIST CALENDAR CLEANUP
When a tech giant can't figure out how to remember Black History Month (but can rename the Gulf of Mexico), it's time for a history lesson in corporate fuckery.
GOOGLE JUST QUIETLY ERASED Black History Month, Pride Month, Women’s History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Indigenous Peoples Month from its calendar app. Not with a bang, not with a press release, not even with one of their cutesy doodles.
Just *poof* 💫 — they’re gone.
And in case you’re wondering if maybe this is some innocent technical update, I’m thinking not, considering they also changed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”, so . . .
Welcome to capitalism’s sweet sway with fascism, folks. A well-rehearsed waltz where profit always leads, and human dignity gets righteously stepped on.
“Wait, the billionaires are bad?!” gasps Cynthia from her Soul Cycle class.
Yes, Cynthia.
They are.
And there are no plot twists here.
It’s just the same tired chapter they keep photocopying, with different logos slapped on top. When fascism comes a’knocking, capitalism doesn’t just open the door — it busts out the posh plates and asks what wine would pair best with selling out humanity. “I think a new Chardonnay, Todd. Something crisp and ethically bankrupt.”
(And don’t worry about those pesky ethical concerns showing up on the quarterly reports — they’ve got a whole marketing department ready to rebrand human rights violations as *strategic community standards and evolving market-aligned value propositions*)
So, want to know why none of this is surprising? Let’s have a quick corporate hellscape history lesson *Jo taps board* . . .
While the Holocaust was happening, IBM — yes, that IBM — was creating punch card systems to help Nazis track concentration camp victims. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola wasn’t about to lose those sweet, sweet Third Reich profits, so they invented Fanta specifically for Nazi Germany (as apparently white supremacists love a hint of zest with their fascism). And over in Detroit, Henry Ford was adding Nazi medals to his collection like they were Happy Meal toys while his German factories used slave labor.
No, I’m not making this up. Yes, this all actually happened. And yes, as you know, these companies are still going strong today.
And if you think companies have learned anything since then *Jo taps board again*, then let’s not forget all the corporations that kept doing business in South Africa during apartheid while claiming they were “encouraging change from within”.
Narrator: They weren’t.
None of this is ancient history — it’s all just capitalism showing its whole ass, as it always has and always will.
“But corporations have rainbow logos during Pride month!”
Yeah, and Google had Black History Month on their calendar until five minutes ago. The second the political winds shift, watch how fast those rainbow logos disappear. Corporate solidarity lasts exactly as long as it’s profitable, not a millisecond longer.
And it’s not just that companies cave to fascism — it’s that they try to gaslight us about it afterward. Google’s explanation? They’re “returning to showing only public holidays and national observances” because maintaining cultural moments wasn’t “scalable or sustainable.”
LOL.
This is the same company that can predict what you’re going to buy before you know you want it, serve you targeted ads based on conversations you whispered three rooms away from your phone, and probably knows your breakfast order better than your favorite diner does. But sure Jan, maintaining a calendar was just too technically challenging.
This is all why class consciousness isn’t just some academic theory — it’s a survival skill. It’s understanding that no matter how progressive a corporation pretends to be, its true allegiance will always be to profit. Always.
The second a fascist regime makes inclusion bad for business, watch how fast those DEI initiatives vanish into thin air.
*Poof*, part deux! 💫
And before someone says “but they have to follow the law” — can we please acknowledge how these same companies somehow find endless creative ways to avoid paying taxes, dodge regulations, and exploit workers. But now their hands are magically tied when it comes to standing up for human rights?
So what do we do?
Well, first, we stay alert. When companies start erasing marginalized communities from their platforms, that’s not just corporate cowardice — it’s an enormous canary in the glowing radioactive coal mine.
Second, we remember that real change has never come from corporate boardrooms. It comes from organized workers, from mutual aid, from community solidarity, from people who understand that our liberation is bound together.
And third? We keep receipts. Because when this fascist tide recedes (and it eventually will), watch how fast these same companies try to rebrand themselves as champions of progress. Yay Google-flavored Pride!! 🌈
Yet that’s when we’ll need to remind them — and everyone else — about that time they couldn’t even wait until the end of Black History Month to delete it from their calendar. How they erased it while folks were literally in the middle of celebrating it, because profit mattered more than people.
The mask is off.
Again.
And those fuckers can delete it from their calendar . . . but they can’t delete it from our memory.
Satisfying things to do with your phone:
Go to Google…
Easy breezy Resistance task: Flood Google with this:
1. Google Gulf of Mexico.
2. it says Gulf of America
3. Click three little dots to the right of it
4. hit "Send Feedback"
5. hit "Gulf Of America"
6. hit "Inaccurate content".
7. hit "Incorrect", then tell them its name: ‘This body of water is the Gulf of Mexico’
8. Repeat task often :)
Remember when Google's motto was "Don't Be Evil"? I find that pretty fucking hilarious these days.