With numerous opinions swirling around about the Syrian refugee crisis, Google is making sure that everyone knows where it stands on the issue. By bringing awareness with this little trick, Google is providing its users (which is nearly everyone in the world) with a shortcut to information as well as ways to help the refugees.
Being as gullible as I am, I found this link to what I thought was a Google search engine that would tell me my future. With finals coming up, I needed any indication that I was going to make it through. So when I stumbled on the search engine, my excitement was building.
Yet, as I'm typing the question "Will I pass all my finals", a different question was automatically typed in for me. To say the least, I was confused but very intrigued. "Where can I find a safe place?" I didn't even know that the place I was in was dangerous. Still thinking that I was in for some fortune-telling, I looked at the other questions presented.
Each question presented to me was something I could at least answer in somewhat of a positive light. Though I'm in another town for college, a lot of my family is still in the Central Florida area. Most of my siblings and both my parents are in Orlando, and I can see them whenever I want. I'm accepted or at least tolerated in a lot of places, I couldn't imagine a world where no one, nowhere will accept me. Having absolutely no place to go that's feasible to get to is horrible. Plus, I have hope and belief that my children will have a safe future, if not at least a stable future. I have never lived through a war that was happening in my country.
Google conned me completely, but left me thinking of something other than my own future. Reading that "60 million refugees ask themselves every day if they have a future at all" reminded me that I have the luxury of knowing that I have a safe place in multiple spaces. They also provided links to donate and to tell their social media followers and friends about the issue.
I clicked around and found that Google provided an honest approach to what was really happening, showing pictures of what Syrian refugees look like and giving viewers an idea of what they have to go through just to find a place to sleep or rest.
Not to mention, for those who lack information about the refugees or want to know any updates about them, there are videos available about the topic.
This way, Google is providing information for those who either don't know where to start or have no idea that this is even an issue. While it's a very indirect way of doing so, it obviously attracts people to some important information.
