T N. oh my god - black acrobat man dancing??

McNabney P. Trust me, I couldn't make these titles up - and the photos are worse.

McNabney P. Yes, it's that bad.

T N. is it bad to say it's both bad and slightly amusing (in a ridiculous way)?

Chris O. The problem with this photo library is really that they simply don't have anywhere nearly enough images to disguise any overt bias. And remember, they have to pick the key phrases for each image which they believe people will use, not the ones that they'd like us to use. If they know or believe that most people searching for "drug dealer" are expecting a photo of a black man, they pretty much have to supply that photo or lose their money. It's not their role to be politically correct, it's their business to supply what they believe their customers are most likely to be looking for. If they believed that most people searching for "drug dealer" wanted something else, it would be their business to supply that. But again, the main problem here is that they simply don't have anywhere nearly enough images to offer anything more than a best-guess approximation as a result.

Does Google fare any better when it comes to avoiding stereotyping? Here are the top sub-categories in Image Search for the term "African" :-

masks, art, animals, elephant, lion, flag, map, people, patterns;

And here are the top sub-categories for the term "American":-

flag, idol, bulldog, pie, eagle, apparel, idol 2011, dad, airlines;

Now that's bearing in mind the billions of images and the infinite number of possible search terms that Google has at its immediate disposal. I wonder how well they'd fare if they only had the few hundred images that this photographic library does?

Just for fun, here are some rather more surreal Google results:

Black man: black man in suit, black man cartoon, black man hair style, black man running, black man loves Pokemon, black man meme, black man profile, black man suit;

White man: white man stole my car, white man can't jump, white man afro, white man dreads, white man steals car, white man face, white man with afro, white man dreadlocks, white man with dreads, white man stealing car.

Scarier, a search for "drug dealing" returns "tips" as the second.most likely sub-category. And this is based on what Google knows about how people search and what they most commonly search for. Worrying, isn't it?

T N. black man loves Pokemon??

Chris O. I can't post a link, it's not family friendly. Alas.

McNabney P. Sorry Chris, but I don't buy it. That's like listing "dumb woman" and expecting to see a white woman with blond hair. Look on Picsearch or ANY reputable photo site and you'll see a ton of images that are not only p.c., but beautiful. Don't tell me that "black man in suit" should render the same exact image as "drug dealer". Racism is more excusable than sexism, and in this day and age, we should all demand better.

McNabney P. Whoops, I meant to say that Racism is NO more excusable than sexism.