Comments on: The Guardian Godwins Itself Over Gogarty

By: Not about a book… « creamandwrittenbyawoman

Not about a book… « creamandwrittenbyawoman — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:29:13 +0000

[...] of the best troll comments I have ever read. It also prompted some really good blog entries (like this which I won’t even attempt to add to). wouldn’t it be great if we had somewhere we [...]

By: Flitcraft

Flitcraft — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:42:17 +0000

Check out what would seem to be Behr’s own blog post on it, for the thinking behind his piece

http://rafaelbehr.typepad.com/rafaelbehr/2008/02/me-gluttony-pun.html

The punters responding at CiF haven’t half been trolled.

By: Barthanh

Barthanh — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:31:35 +0000

But who met Max at Mumbai, or even the welcoming committee at Goa…?

If only I’d been there…

BTW, the Guardian’s lack of responsibility for this farcical (for some) and excruciatingly sad, painful and embarrassing (the others) situation is risible, and they accuse others of hiding behind keyboards… Hah!

By: Romdjoll

Romdjoll — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:38:32 +0000

Oh yes, thank you! So good to know I’m not alone – Daddy Gogarty’s sniffy “I hardly ever write for the Guardian” was enough to make me throw my newspaper across the room in disgust. Like that is any sort of defense. Before getting to the comments section on his post I thought it was some kind of post-modernist joke about the yoof of today or something, I was looking for the line “I can has liver damage?” in there somewhere. Thank you Mr Brownlee for telling it like it is when the Grauniad and its sister paper don’t have the sense to be honest.

By: How not to launch a travel blog » Upgrade: Travel Better

How not to launch a travel blog » Upgrade: Travel Better — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:11:50 +0000

[...] the paper refuses to back down from the position that their blog idea was a bad one. Brownlee is on the case, again, and hits the nail on the [...]

By: Niko

Niko — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:26:26 +0000

Andy, as a Canadian, might I suggest that rather than always take your diet of “information” in ready masticated, digested and regurgitated form, you perhaps make up your own mind?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian

By: Niko

Niko — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:20:35 +0000

The content alone of young master Gogarty’s writing proves he has the mind of a typical 19 year-old British male.

What terrifies me is that though his writing style also lacks maturity and deserves neither the (former?) kudos of The Guardian nor profesisonal publication anywhere, it’s still better than much of the ‘journalism’ found in today’s print media.

Do we call it highmonobrow?

By: JET

JET — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:27:50 +0000

I’ve completely missed this scandal – such as it is. Is there anywhere I can read up on it (preferably with a high snark level)?

And “naval-gazing” – is that like a being a train spotter, but for boats?

By: Jakkar

Jakkar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:35:42 +0000

My only comment is that a politically oppressed timewarp -would- in my opinion be a fascinating experience, and I would indeed get some pleasure out of witnessing it before it’s gone, assuming I survived customs inspections.

By: rhys

rhys — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:59:18 +0000

Andy, I think the point of this furor is that people usually expect a lot more from the Guardian.

As an American I think you should be particularly interested in the newspaper, as they often report on a lot of things in America that don’t get the attention they need from your local media sources.

By: One Man and His Blog

One Man and His Blog — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:43:04 +0000

This Is a Post, Not a Blog

Ectoplasmosis: PPS: Note to print journalists like Rafael Behr deigning to comment on the Internet — nothing makes you look more clueless and out-of-touch than when you refer to a post as a “blog.” Ectomo is a (we)blog. The article you are…

By: jo

jo — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:04:32 +0000

I’d just like to say thanks for expressing so articulately exactly what I also feel about the whole Maxgate incident. It’s been exceptionally badly handled by the Graun – Caroline’s article today made me spit with rage.

What are the chances they’ll listen, though?

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:02:46 +0000

As an American, I’m not much aware of The Guardian’s reputation, though I’d managed before this to get the impression that it was not a publication of the highest standards. This episode cements my initial impressions, I will now avoid the paper with the same distaste that I now avoid the New York Post and Daily News. Thanks for the interesting coverage of otherwise mind numbing proceedings in the soon-defunct newspaper industry.

By: Subspace

Subspace — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:54:17 +0000

Ectomo’s coverage of this has been ideal. It is the duty of the elders to mock the youth, else how will they ever learn?

I’m fed up with commenters over at the Guardian assuring themselves that Max was overly terrorized and then ripping into the editors for publishing him: Max is getting precisely what we all want him to have. For better or for worse he is the idol for bloggy hatred: the nauseating sludge that collects at bottom of the internet’s creativity. I think all of us that avoid Livejournal are offended not that Max exists, but because his dreck has leaked out and into the clean areas.

Max is going to be fine, unfortunately. He’s the popular kid that tripped on stage in front of the whole school – it won’t have any bearing on his being a affluent shit for the rest of his life. He’s going to reference this moment as an influential and humiliating one, but in reality it’s just another reason for him to play-act at having character. Most rich folks aren’t so lucky.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:03:07 +0000

Scratch that last bit of my previous post. He’s still a well-to-do white kid. His life isn’t ruined. But the rest still stands; his life would have been a lot better if the Guardian had told him the truth.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:55:42 +0000

I sort of feel sorry for the kid. The Guardian should have had the balls to tell him, politely but firmly, that his blogging didn’t deserve to be put in the spotlight. But, instead of hurting his feelings a little and giving him some tough love, they let the internet give him twice the tough and none of the love.
As a result, any potential Gogarty might have had is gone. Maybe he would have made a wrong turn, discovered the real world, actually learned something, and been able to write an article worth reading when he came back. But that chance, slim though it was, is gone now. The Guardian ruined a kid’s life because they weren’t brave enough to tell him what he needed to hear: “No.”

By: Will Ellwood

Will Ellwood — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:17:05 +0000

Anything that points out the wrongs of the Guardian is fine by me. I’ve been a staunch reader of the paper since my mid-teens due to my parents reading it. But my god it’s getting shite recently.

Good work man. You’re getting far angrier about this then I can be arsed to.

By: Damien

Damien — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:53:01 +0000

Ectomo’s so sexy, when it gets angry.

Seriously, though, I think a professional and erudite vitriolic expression, directed toward the enshrining of mediocrity in the media is exactly that for which we must call, if we are to keep those who come after us from becoming blithering, drooling, reality television-enslaved morons.

More-so.

That is to say, “Damn the man. Save the Empire.”