Google is drawing flak from creationists over the recent Google Doodle of Lucy the Australopithecus celebrating the 41st anniversary of her discovery.
Lucy is a primate considered to be an early ancestor of humans, where 47 of her 206 bones were unearthed in Ethiopia back in 1974. Thanks to the discovery, scientists were able to determine that she was able to walk upright.
41 years ago, scientists unearthed a fossil they named Lucy. Today she walks (upright) on our homepage #GoogleDoodle pic.twitter.com/zdpYgkkDum
— Google (@google) November 24, 2015
Interestingly, her name is believed to come from The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
As everyone can imagine, Google Doodles are fun, informative, and occasionally interactive or animated twists on the search engine's logo. The subject of Lucy may have seemed innocuous enough to use as a Doodle, but apparently, it rubbed some online users the wrong way. Offended proponents of creationism took things to Twitter, where their tweets started out with skepticism and quickly escalated to angry reactions.
@google I cant believe it. Intelligent people who still want to believe in Evolution. Its a THEORY people, not proven science!!! — Ellen Gray (@4696_MamaEll) November 24, 2015
@Iale2014 @4696_MamaEll There is NO fact in theory, this is why it's called a THEORY. It's an idea. No facts there.
— jessncatz (@jessncatz) November 24, 2015
@google fuck off google preaching we went from a monkey to a man. People need to hear the truth not lies!!!! — Charlie G (@charliegillno1) November 24, 2015
@google So your home page is saying all humans came from monkeys? You have no proof just a made up theory to avoid the truth of creation.
— 2SoundOff (@2SoundOff1) November 24, 2015
While anger levels have been steadily rising, at some point, some people have blown up.
The hypocrites at #Google are showing their prejudice again; preaching evolution & monkey worship while shunning Christian & Jewish holidays — arieliondotcom ن (@arieliondotcom) November 24, 2015
IM NOT A FUCKING MONKEY @google MAYBE WHITE PEOPLE CAME FROM MONKEYS BUT COLORED PEOPLE BEEN NATIVE TO THIS PLANET.
— ~FRE$CO~ (@1KingSco) November 24, 2015
I might be bugging but is it just me or did Google mock the black race by making a monkey revolve into a man? #Google thats not cool at all! — Ms. SaSsY CHERYL (@NaturalbeautyEP) November 24, 2015
END THE MONKEY WORSHIP NOW, @google OR ELSE
— santa dad (@kbkinderparty) November 24, 2015
One scientist complained about the Google Doodle, but for a different reason. David Winter pointed out that the progress of evolution is not as linear as Google shows.
Thanks @BEACON_Center for fixing today's google doodle https://t.co/ZFwuD9gPsr pic.twitter.com/ncBOhK1KuR
— David Winter (@TheAtavism) November 24, 2015
This isn't the first time Google has faced criticisms over its Doodles, as white supremacists got angry over the company's Veteran's Day Doodle that featured various races earlier this month.
To wrap things up, it's worth mentioning that Google is by no means biased, as the search engine did give a creationist answer to a question about dinosaurs in the past.
