Maybe it’s because I’ve had to learn how to find Creative Commons images for use in posts, but I always thought that the outrage over Google image searches was silly. I mean, I get that there is such a thing as copyright, but when Germany can’t recognize that an image search isn’t a violation of the law, then there has to be a mental breakdown somewhere. Likewise, when my Australian friends sue Google because a search of their name in the images tab happens to bring up pictures of the violent criminal that attacked them…I mean, what the hell?

Now, having said all of that, most folks are at least smart enough to know that you shouldn’t go plucking around the internet, yoinking pictures without doing at least a cursory inquiry into what that image is and who might own it, all for the use of your for-profit eBook. But, as Brig C. McCoy writes in to tell us, most folks doesn’t equal all folks. Meet Doug Sehorne. Doug’s an evangelist who wrote a book called Bible Principles Of Child Discipline (from the Book of Proverbs). Oh, and hey, here’s the cover.

See the problem? No, not the horrific plain white text over the blue background. The image Doug Sehorne used for his book on how to go about raising your children Old Testament-style is a mock photo from ABC’s Modern Family. In case you’re not familiar with Modern Family, the show includes a functional homosexual couple with an adopted child. A bunch of people pointed this out to Doug, at which point he promptly apologized, admitted he should have known better than to just use images from TV shows, and thanked everyone very much for the help.

Nah, just kidding. He melted down faster than ice cream in Hell. From his Facebook page:

FALSELY ACCUSED!

Well, I just got a phone call about the picture I used on my Book about Child Discipline. Evidently it is from a wicked TV show involving a gay couple! Here is the situation.

1. I do not even have a TV and have not for 35 years.

2. I never heard of the TV show.

3. I got the image from a search on Google images, which I assumed were not copyrighted, etc.

4. Everyone who knows me, knows I would never condone such wickedness as sodomy or even TV.

Okay, show of hands: who wants to take advice on raising children from this guy? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Now, Doug’s book, which advises parents that they cannot raise children without a good and sturdy paddle (and, no, I’m not making that up), used a copyrighted image for the cover and this was his response to being called out on it? Lord knows (get it?) we’re not big on the restrictive nature of copyright, but you have to at least take a look at what you’re using. Not having a television (because it’s apparently wicked? WTF?) is no excuse, since he clearly has a computer and that image had to have come from somewhere.

Apparently you can’t teach evangelicals about copyright without a good and sturdy paddle.

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