things that make me needlessly cross
Ok, so there are things in this world that make me quite inexplicably and irrationally angry. And, in the spirit of getting to know myself a little better, I've decided to put some of these things under the spotlight. Today's bug bear is people who leave comments on the comment page of the Guardian website. I can't quite explain why, but they all make me want to take a sledgehammer to my computer and then march up to Farringdon and pelt shards of glass and hard drive at unsuspecting left of centre journalists.
Why? Why? Why? They're all so fucking sanctimonious and predictable. They refer to the journalists by their first names "Nice article, Polly. I wonder what care for the elderly's like in Sweden?" If you really give a shit, why not do a little bit of research by yourself?
Or "Yet another brilliant example of how Blair betrayed us ALL, John." Fuck off. I've heard it all before, and it was boring and politically illiterate the first time.
It's like they live in this secret little Guardian clique, circa 1977, where anything that isn't a complete fit with their world view can be ignored or booed at with about as much intellectual bravura as the typical audience response to a drag queen at a pantomime.
And I bet they're the kind of people that whenever the Guardian does step out of its (actually pretty narrow) political comfort zone, treat it as some kind of personal betrayal. "I can't think what the Guardian is doing interviewing this scientist who supports animal testing." Surprise surprise! It's part of the free press, not some Laura Ashley era Pravda.
Don't get me wrong, I like the Guardian and I read it, although not to the exclusion of all other newspapers. But any misconceptions that it's the holy grail of investigative journalism and the voice of all reason should be mocked and spat at.
I could, of course, just not read the comments pages, but...oh there's another story.
Why? Why? Why? They're all so fucking sanctimonious and predictable. They refer to the journalists by their first names "Nice article, Polly. I wonder what care for the elderly's like in Sweden?" If you really give a shit, why not do a little bit of research by yourself?
Or "Yet another brilliant example of how Blair betrayed us ALL, John." Fuck off. I've heard it all before, and it was boring and politically illiterate the first time.
It's like they live in this secret little Guardian clique, circa 1977, where anything that isn't a complete fit with their world view can be ignored or booed at with about as much intellectual bravura as the typical audience response to a drag queen at a pantomime.
And I bet they're the kind of people that whenever the Guardian does step out of its (actually pretty narrow) political comfort zone, treat it as some kind of personal betrayal. "I can't think what the Guardian is doing interviewing this scientist who supports animal testing." Surprise surprise! It's part of the free press, not some Laura Ashley era Pravda.
Don't get me wrong, I like the Guardian and I read it, although not to the exclusion of all other newspapers. But any misconceptions that it's the holy grail of investigative journalism and the voice of all reason should be mocked and spat at.
I could, of course, just not read the comments pages, but...oh there's another story.