September 25, 2008

Americans Search for Wizards, Cupcakes, and Sex Toys More Often Than “Financial Crisis”

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This is a fun game you can play at home. Go to Google Trends and see what Americans are searching for online more frequently than the term “financial crisis.” I have an example below, in which I set the time period to September 2008. Turns out “wizards,” “cupcakes,” and “sex toys” retain their popularity in times of national emergency.

financial_crisis_google_search.jpg

Several search terms dwarfed “financial crisis” so thoroughly that they made the chart unusable. They included:

“Bristol Palin”: searched for 17.5 times more often than “financial crisis” in September
“Puppies”: 24.4 times
“Vacation”: 28.6 times
“Fashion”: 44 times
“Fantasy Football”: 44 times
“Baseball”: 50.5 times
“Sex”: 292 times

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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