Google Suspends Ad for My Book Questioning Atomic Bombings--Claiming It 'Promotes Violence"

Posted: 7/18/11 10:15 AM ET

Perhaps Joseph Heller or some other master of dark comedy would have enjoyed this. I just received email notice from Google that it has suspended an online ad for my new book, which raises questions about the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945, killing over 200,000 people -- claiming that it "promotes violence."

Of course, quite the opposite is true, but no matter. And there's a deeper irony.

The book and e-book, Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and The Greatest Movie Never Made probes the U.S. suppression of unique color film footage, shot by a U.S. military unit, in the atomic cities for decades. The two-minute trailer, posted at You Tube last Friday, describes this and shows brief excerpts from the hidden footage, at its start and finish.

Yet the letter from Google's "ad words team" explains: "Thank you for using Promoted Videos. Unfortunately, one or more of your promotions has been suspended." And: "At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain the promotion of violence. As noted in our advertising terms and conditions, Google may refuse any ads or terminate any of your ad campaigns at any time, for any reason."

As for policy: "Promotion of Violence: Unacceptable Content: Google strongly believes in the freedom of expression and therefore offers broad access to content across the web without censoring search results."

The video itself has not yet been pulled from YouTube, but one wonders if that's next.

Of course, the irony is that the very subject of the book, and trailer, is the U.S. hiding content that revealed the full effects of the new weapon, helping pave the way for a costly nuclear arms race and a proliferation of other nuclear dangers. That was the ultimate "promotion of violence."

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