Media: September 2008 Archives

I've long bemoaned the poor standard of discussion on newspaper websites, with slavish, abusive and irrational SNP supporters usually the main culprits. A challenger arrives today, though, on this Telegraph article (note: I hit the complaint button, so the comment may disappear). 

Now, plenty of cybernats use appalling comparisons, with Brown normally compared to Mugabe using the super-clever phrase "ZaNu Liebour", but this comment goes right to the classic idiot's favourite - Hitler. 

In case anyone's not familiar with Godwin's Law, the original states that as time passes in an online discussion, the probability of a Nazi analogy tends to 100%. More recently, it has been redefined to mean that anyone making such an analogy automatically loses whatever argument they're engaged in. I hope we can all agree that's what's happened here.

Note: I am not related to this particular "James", before anyone suggests otherwise.

Now we're to have a proper Scottish TV channel, we need a Scottish version of the Daily Show. I am a massive fan of Jon Stewart, who mixes absurdist satire, rigorous fact-checking and whimsical face-pulling in equal measure. But who would front it up over here?

As a recent convert to RSS, sometimes there's just too much to read. Make time for spEak You're bRanes, though. It's like the Cybernats times Private Eye's Dumb Britain, filtered through the Daily Mail, and is of course a Chris Morris reference. The content comes from the BBC forums. The final part of this is magnificent. And here's a little Day Today, just because.