What A Stupid Question

Last Updated on: 19th September 2014, 10:07 am

It’s amazing how
worked up
people will get over a damn map.

The link above goes to a poll and an article about whether or not Google Maps and other online mapping services are good or evil because of what they can enable folks to do.

On one side is a group that says the things are the devil because they can allow child predators to find kids without all that pesky driving around. On the other is the company behind a site that allows people to find child predators…yes, you guessed it, without all that pesky driving around.

It seems the aim is to get people feeling strongly one way or the other about what really is a stupid question when you think about it. From the sensationalistic title of the piece (Are Google Maps good or evil?) to the wording of the press releases, everybody from the journalist on down is trying to create an issue where none exists. Maps are neither good or evil. People are the problem. A steak knife is meant to cut up yummy food, but in the wrong hands, it’s evil. Same with a map. the service itself is fine, the issue is how its customers choose to use it. We don’t want molesters getting their hands on our kids, but we don’t want guys like
Stephen Marshall
running around killing people like
Robert Stewart
either. Neither side is 100% right, and I wish that they and the media would stop trying to scare people and go back to reporting on facts.

Thankfully though with more than 2200 votes cast, the mission to frighten seems to be a failure. the neither option is crushing the competition. It’s nice to see people not falling for something so dumb now and then.

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