Charles Foster Kane's Declaration of Principles (from a 6/19/40 revision of the script)- "I'll provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tall all the news honestly."
- "People are going to know who's responsible."
- "And they're going to get the news -- the true news -- quickly and simply and entertainingly."
- "And no special interests will be allowed to interfere with the truth of that news."
- "I will also provide them with a fighting and tireless champion of their rights as citizens and human beings."
It seems as if every time I make another visit to the "Ten things Google has found to be true," I keep flashing back to the scene in Citizen Kane where Kane forges his declaration in front of Leland and Bernstein. Why do I keep visiting this site? I suppose the main reason is to remind myself how such "declarations of principles" can be corrupted, as much in word as in deed. Anyone who knows the "ten things" knows that "don't be evil" isn't there; what the "thing" actually says is, "You can make money without doing evil." I am too much of a literary analyst to view this as picking nits. As a point of grammar, an injunction is not a "thing found to be true;" but it is still nice to know that, at least as far as their philosophy is concerned, Google is not trafficking in injunctions.
Citizen Kane, of course, is a study in the corruption of principles. Leland keeps a copy. When he finally walks out on Kane, we learn that he made a check on his copy each time one was violated. Will this happen to the "ten things found to be true." At the very least, we might want to reclassify them as "ten things worthy of serious debate;" but I suspect that such an attitude would not resonate with the Google lifestyle. Still, someone ought to be reflecting on that list. Maybe that someone will also be the someone who eventually does unto Google what Google is trying to do unto Microsoft!
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