Making a mess of things

Have you ever Googled yourself? It's a weird experience, seeing how many times your name pops up on an internet search. When it comes to cyberspace, you have little or no control over the way you're represented or perceived.

This is something that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum learned the hard way, after one too many negative comments about homosexuality. In an interview with the Associated Press back in 2003, Santorum was asked whether gays simply needed to show a little more restraint when it came to indulging their base urges.

His response: "Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality."

Weirdly, not everyone was happy seeing homosexuality equated with bestiality and pedophilia. So activist and agony uncle Dan Savage had a brainwave. He wanted to show Santorum the power of negative associations, and called on his readers to submit suggestions for something that Senator Rick could (unwittingly) lend his memorable name to. The winning neologism was "The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." Yum.

Never one to renege on a promise, Savage built a website heralding the new term, and called on his followers to Googlebomb it. Within months, the 'Spreading Santorum' website was the number one result for anyone who Googled the crazy creationist's name.

Those who argue that the online world is transient and ever changing, probably didn't count on the 'stickiness' of Santorum (ugh...). Seven years later, and Rick is still smarting over his digital defiling, telling rollcall.com "The Internet allows for this type of vulgarity to circulate. It’s unfortunate that we have someone who obviously has some issues. But he has an opportunity to speak.”

With Santorum's name being mooted as a potential candidate for President in 2012, its alternative associations are proving to be more than a little problematic. However, political advisor David Urban believes that, “If you’re Rick Santorum and you’re making an argument that there’s certain people that wish you ill, there’s exhibit No. 1. You say: ‘You want to see my battle scars? Google my name. You don’t think I’ve been in the trenches for years? I’ve got the scars to prove it.’”

That's the standard right wing Christian approach - say something discriminatory or offensive, wait for retaliation, and then paint yourself as the victim. And I'm not sure about the wisdom of inviting a bunch of easily-offended potential voters to Google 'Santorum', if you want their backing for a Presidential run.

He may want to decry what he sees as "political incivility", but every time his problem gets mentioned, it gets a little worse. CNN tried to cover this story, but without explaining the 'sexual neologism' in question - no doubt driving thousands of curious viewers to hit the search engines. It's a little like a policeman shouting 'Nothing to see here' through a bullhorn, in front of an enormous pile-up. If you tell someone not to look at something, there's only one thing they're going to do.

The best thing Santorum can do, in this situation, is learn the value of dignified silence. And that's something we'd all be thankful for.

Top of the Popes

It will go down in history as the day the music died. Last week, and seemingly without warning, Google took the unprecedented step of deleting a number of music blogs.

Perhaps fearful that it would be held accountable for aiding the growth of music piracy, the internet giant decided on a pre-emptive strike and simply eliminated the offending sites.

Years of work were obliterated in a flash, as a host of bloggers representing every music genre received a cordial note that said "We'd like to inform you that we've received another complaint regarding your blog. Upon review of your account, we've noted that your blog has repeatedly violated Blogger's Terms of Service ... [and] we've been forced to remove your blog. Thank you for your understanding."

Their crime was to offer links to filesharing sites where music tracks (some new, some dredged up from the archives) could be accessed by the blogs' readers. As Thursday's report in the Guardian correctly asserts, many of these bloggers operated with the tacit approval of the record companies who regularly send out promos and carefully orchestrate leaks in order to ensure that their music finds the die-hard fans first.

This leaves music fans with a major problem - in the aftermath of "musicblogocide 2010", where can they go for reliable, up-to-date recommendations on the music they need to hear?

Weirdly, it seems that the Vatican is willing to step into the fray and play unofficial DJ for today's musical youth. Following the success of last year's Alma Mater, Pope Benedict XVI's debut CD, the Catholic Church has decided to branch out into playlist territory.

Still, at least this will give people something to listen to while the octogenarian ex-Nazi works on his difficult sophomore album. RedOne has booked some studio time, and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi has a few demos knocking around that the Pontiff may be interested in.

Of course I jest. But not about the music recommendations - the Holy See’s official newspaper, L’ Osservatore Romano has published a list of what it considers to be the top ten rock and pop albums of all time. Although, sadly, Britney Spears has been criminally overlooked.

The list itself is pretty surprising, featuring some inarguable classics, such as The Beatles' Revolver, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. It's a far cry from the days when rock music was decried as evil - in fact, Pink Floyd previously earned a shout-out from His Holiness in 1996 when he included them in a list of 'instruments of the Devil' which 'endangered young people's souls'.

The fact that L’ Osservatore Romano is moving towards a more populist approach should be applauded. But once again, it provides further evidence that organised religion offers few immutable truths that can stand the test of time.

As society adapts, these systems of belief need to acknowledge the changes and evolve accordingly. It's just a shame that they're quite happy to review their position on matters of popular culture, but the bigger issues, which sometimes equate to matters of life and death, remain exempt from discussion.