Blogs are Beginning to Frighten the Venal and Corrupt - Updated

I just read the whole article.

I'm glad he's an outgoing adviser... Patronising git.

You beat me to it. What a fine well balanced rant.

"But rather than work out these dilemmas in partnership with their elected leaders, they were encouraged to regard all politicians as corrupt or "mendacious" by the media, which he described as "a conspiracy to maintain the population in a perpetual state of self-righteous rage"."

Now say sorry...

Having recently spoken at an International Conference on New Journalism where I was asked to speak as a blogger, the article linked made me think of something that I brought up during my presentation that went something along the lines of: "Journalists can, and DO have blogs of their own as it allows them the freedom of speech that they cannot always enjoy when at work."

So it's not just bloggers that should be dissed, but journalists too. In fact, diss anyone who dares voice their own opinion.

"Diss"? What kind of language is that? Can we expect textspeak from you next? You have been hanging around with "Yoofs" too much I fear...

"We have a citizenry which can be caricatured as being increasingly unwilling to be governed but not yet capable of self-government," Mr Taylor told the audience."

Excuse me! I skimmed through the article before being brought up short by this.
'Scuse my language but *fuck you*

"citizenry" ok wont go into that but do not caricature me. If theres any reason
that Im unwilling to be "governed" it cos you are a bunch of tossers.
Re-spinning this as an internet problem just shows how divorced you are from
what the electorate thinks. Fine; take the BBC to court if they dont toe the
line but you might find that a bit harder with the internet.

Idiot

jono

He may have a point ... take me for example:

In 79 I voted for Thatcher. In 97 I voted for Blair.

Not exactly well-informed behaviour eh?

The only conclusion I've been able to draw from this record of stupidity is never trust my political judgement in any year containing both a nine and a seven. I should be banned from voting.

Oh - and that I'm a twat to myself.

He should count himself lucky he's not in South America. With this level of bullshit and arrogance the traditional way of political change is a bullet in the head.

I'll settle for the old Bill come January...

The appalling shock experienced by our cloistered political class whenever they're exposed to opinion in a genuinely democratic forum is always amusing to behold. Once dragged beyond the sacred confines of the corporate boardroom or editorial suite, they are forced to endure the vulgar tempest of public hostility.
And so they whine, 'it must be the media', unable to grasp that we might be capable of independent thought without the benefit of the corporate media or their academic apologists.

Well, guess what Matt, Britains's had an independent culture of popular resistance for several centuries now. It's not discussed in polite society or elegant restaurants, and it's certainly absent from the Labour party, but it hasn't gone away because Tony's thrown his toys out the pram.

Blogs need more reach.How many hits do you get in a month here??How many people read the Sun and believe it??or the Telegraph??or the BBC??or Sky etc etc etc.
The internet is mightier than the sword,,,potentially!

I seem to recall a similar kafuffle a hundred years or so ago when women got the vote, lots of voices talking about the end of democracy. And again before that when commoners (that means people without land or title) got the vote.

Basically whenever there is a chance that the population will be politically empowered the government attacks the source of empowerment.

The internet has done more for freedom of information, political debate and ordianry people re-engaging with politics than anything since the printing press, only widely accepted after a few hundred people had been killed by the state for printing stuff it didn't want printed.

let us not overreact to the ramblings of a paid government stooge and instead delight in our new found voices which exposes government lies, corruption and their criminal behaviour. The government wont be happy until they tell you what to think and are confident you are thinking it.

Well, thank you Matthew for confirming how "venal, stupid, mendacious politicians" are. In fact, if you all weren't such (b)liars we bloggers would have much rather spent our time watching stupid videos on youtube.com - oh, but wait! that's what you want - a dumbed down citizenary...

some of them do. my own website, not really politics based, gets readership levels that rival newstand magazines. the internet is mightier than the sword but blairwatch falls into the trap of being a niche site. there's a great amount of space for a big british progressive blog in the market like the daily kos but no one has done one, the only really large political blogs are guido and ian dale and they are both right-wing with lenins tomb being the only really big left-wing and thats a bit too far left.

jono_me's sensibilities were snagged on the same nail as mine were.

"We have a citizenry which can be caricatured as being increasingly unwilling to be governed but not yet capable of self-government," Mr Taylor told the audience.

Yes, indeed we are unwilling to be "governed" by the likes of New Labour - I take that as a compliment. Lead by example...oh, forgot, Sociofascists don't.

"You know wot - yor Leader's a regular right down bad'un, Werk'us! And it's a great deal better, Work'us, that he'll stand down when he does, or else he'll be doing hard labouring in Bridewell, or transported, or hung; which is more likely than either, isn't it?"

Yes Matthew some people ( unthinkable i know ) do not look up to Tony and call him god

some of them do. my own website, not really politics based, gets readership levels that rival newstand magazines.

which website is that then?if I may ask?

I read whatreallyhappened every day for example.I know it has a large readership.It has been going for 15 years or so.I find it very good and in a nutshell could be said to be anti lies and corrupt leaders.

"...corrupt, dictatorial and undemocratic stuff coming from the government you advise that we just can't keep up with it."
Laugh Out Loud!
Right on the money and they can take that to the bank.....Keep up the good work quarsan and the government for being so transparent. Even the sheep people are sick of it. When Labour are gone they won't taste power again for at least another fifty years.
I'm adding your link to my blog.

R

my own personal website which i wont name has a larger readership than estates gazette, architects journal and construction news combined and is almost totally british, not international.
we scare the living daylights out of developers, councils and so on because we have a large readership and report things without any consideration for someone's publicity schedule. some people even threaten us with injunctions by accusing us of breaking commercial confidentility - thats what investigative reporting is seen as nowadays.
to give a good example i do an expose on a company. the company then gets its lawyers to threaten me with a court injunction to try and kill the story before too many people read it. i respond by saying the source was already public (it was), calling up the local newspaper and talking to them, calling up the head of the local council and talking to him. a couple of days later the story is in the local newspaper and the head of the local council is attacking this company whilst we do an expose on the company complete with their groundless legal threats :)
all of this happened because the company in question has no idea how to deal with the internet, assumed something, and then used their traditional method of shutting someone up. they made the mistake of thinking that people who run websites are not also skilled in the black arts of p.r.
the mainstream media tries to take us into the fold as do companies by offering us jobs, we get interviewed by the national press very regularly and so on. we do syndicate our material to magazines and it's published in five countries around the world this way but complete control is retained as a pre-condition.
i find however, the msm is mostly an alliance between the press and whoever they are reporting on, the press stand off looking at a story and they get something in return which is usually the press release and a p.r fobbing them off. the msm doesnt care until someone else comes along and starts printing the news six months before its officially out. this completely disrupts the balance of power between all the people who interact in our media because we are on the outside looking in.
classic examples of this are prescott and his mistresses or tony blair and his daughter. the hacks let themselves get manipulated though by buying in because they are too lazy to ever do some real reporting. the traditional media would never do what i did to the company above because they have rules, they want to get on the side of the p.r of the company so they can get information in the future.
the government advisor who has been slagging off blogs is really on about that, he doesnt like how people outside see the political class looking through the prism they do into its innards. the sad thing is that the rot in the political class is also very visible in business, they are one and the same and they are terrified whilst the msm is cacking itself over losing its readership which they will gradually do.
this is an issue that applies to almost every publisher on the internet challenging the traditional media. the only solution they have is to buy us, some do sell out like slashdot but others don't and won't because we like being on the outside looking in. things are more honest that way.

What makes Blogging so frightening for Blair and his creatures is their sheer inability to apply spin and influence on the reporting. For Blair, who whores himself to Rupert Murdoch to stay in power, an independent form of media is completely unbearable.

Mind you, perhaps Tony's friends should spend less time worrying about Bloggers and more time worrying about his state of mind. The key to spin is being consistent in your lies

But even when admitting that Iraq is a disaster Blair can't help but come out with another cracker, which boils down to "Yes, illegally invading Iraq was a disaster, but it wasn't due to our (obviously detailed) planning, but instead the unexpected tendency of the enemy to unfairly fight back."

Apologies for being a little off-topic, but what a wonderful time to apply the Thailand Solution with Bliar in Pakistan and Broon in Iraq - and what apposite places for them to have to hole up!

Name your site. Your anonymous, so nobody can shaft you...!