The other day, Guido wrote another of his self-congratulatory posts on the number of hits he gets. He asked why it was that blogs from the right were more popular then those from the left. As I was in a bit of a cheeky mood, I decided to have a little troll in the comments so I wrote that the reason was that:
I checked back a couple of hours later but no-one had responded. Then I forgot all about it. I remembered again today and had another look but still no-one had responded. How disappointing. Perhaps my admission that I was looking for a "shiny troll badge" gave the game away. Or perhaps I hit a nerve with some of Guido's regular comment swarm.
Anyway, it also occurred to me today that some of those from the right who's opinions I respect and who I know do regularly read views which challenge their own opinions might have seen that comment and thought that I was being serious about right leaning people generally. Just to be clear, I wasn't.
I do have some thoughts on the reasons why blogs like Guido's are popular and I may well write about it once I arrange these thoughts properly.
In the meantime, as Tim points out lower down the thread, it is worth remembering that the Scum is Britains best selling newspaper. If you were to argue that this is because of the quality and robustness of their political arguments, I'm afraid I'd have to point and laugh.
Tags: News, Politics, Blogging, Media
Right-wingers are narrow minded bigots who never bother to read anything which might challenge their opinion.As I said, it was trollish, and deliberately so.
I checked back a couple of hours later but no-one had responded. Then I forgot all about it. I remembered again today and had another look but still no-one had responded. How disappointing. Perhaps my admission that I was looking for a "shiny troll badge" gave the game away. Or perhaps I hit a nerve with some of Guido's regular comment swarm.
Anyway, it also occurred to me today that some of those from the right who's opinions I respect and who I know do regularly read views which challenge their own opinions might have seen that comment and thought that I was being serious about right leaning people generally. Just to be clear, I wasn't.
I do have some thoughts on the reasons why blogs like Guido's are popular and I may well write about it once I arrange these thoughts properly.
In the meantime, as Tim points out lower down the thread, it is worth remembering that the Scum is Britains best selling newspaper. If you were to argue that this is because of the quality and robustness of their political arguments, I'm afraid I'd have to point and laugh.
Tags: News, Politics, Blogging, Media
5 comments:
That wasn't a troll, that was narrow abuse. Why should anyone rise to that??
For examples of trolling, I recommend going to yahoo.com , click on a news item and then the "Discussion" at the bottom of it. A lot of the posters are doing nothing but trolling each other, it's a good place to pick up the essentials.
As for Guido, I'd guess he's popular because once in a blue moon he has some real tit-bit and the rest of the time it's r.wing gossip. Blowing his own trumpet is his style and his entertainment. Why not??
I find there's hardly any U.K. l.wing blogs and a plethora of r.wing ones. It's a r.wing society. If it wasn't, you'd probably have Tommy Sheridan as your First Minister and possibly Prime Minister of GB.
Well, it might have been narrow abuse but that's surely what trolling is all about. As Wikipedia puts it, "a troll is a person who... intentionally tries to cause disruption, most often in the form of posting inflammatory, off-topic, insulting, or otherwise inappropriate messages".
Anyhoo, the point wanted to make was that it was tongue in cheek.
As for Tommy Sheridan, he's too far left for me and I suspect most people who consider themselves on the left would say the same. In fact, I think part of the left's problem is that the right dominated tabloid media has spread the perception that everyone on the left shares an extreme position. The myth is that we all agree with everything Galloway and Sheridan say. I'd compare it to the idea that everyone on the right actually agrees with the BNP. That's a complete nonsense of course but if all the big tabloids decided to constantly pedal that message, it'd gain traction surprisingly quickly.
I find there's hardly any U.K. l.wing blogs and a plethora of r.wing ones.
Really? Where have you been looking? Does it depend on your definition of the left? (There are certainly some Marxist bloggers out there, as well as both pro- and anti-New Labour left-wing ones) Guido is good for the occasional bit of gossip, but frankly being the UK answer to Matt Drudge is guaranteed to get the rightwing noise machine onside (especially if they keep kidding thenmselves that they're voices 'aren't heard' in the mainstream media).
Yike! too many grammar errors in that post...
redpesto:
If you want to give me some l.wing blogs please do but first we should ask the indulgence of curioushamster if we're going to talk about other blogs. If he wants to edit this out that's fine. I give him enough stick and few carrots for his trouble here.
By the by, if only there were a Brit equivalent of Drudge I'd spend some time there for the news. Guido is a very different show, he's "knockabout".
" Does it depend on your definition of the left?" of course it does. My definition seems to start at this blog, maybe includes deficient brain, and then there's lenin's tomb. That's about it!! I wouldn't count anything with "Labour" in it and I've looked at quite a few. Even more depressing are the old Boxers like Bop Piper.
Crews like harry's place are r.wing without knowing it.
I Googled your "nic" to see where you'd maybe been posting. Then I Googled mine to check the veracity of my method. Scary!! I'd forgotten I'd been to some of those places. It's also far from comprehensive so I assume the same for you.
Give it a go. If you come up with any places that aren't shown up on Google for "redpesto" and you count them l.wing I'll take a look.
Thanks.
Post a Comment