(AND A FEW LAUGHS)
Of course it is not just right-wing bloggers who are happy to circulate lies and misinformation. Right-wing newspapers do that too. British Spin exposes the predictable hostility and inaccuracy of the Tory press in London to the free choice of devolution being offered to the North of England.
Meanwhile I notice on Technorati that at least 30 blogs are running with the false ‘EU blogging’ story (see below). So far just two of them have bothered to link to the rebuttal here. It does make you wonder why they are so afraid of even the suggestion of accountability doesn’t it?
Also: Nick Barlow makes some good comments on the europhobes: Yes, it’s that wonderful time when they all gather in a circle to reinforce their prejudices based on the flimsiest of facts while screaming ‘lalala we can’t hear you!’ at anyone who tries to stop them. Sometimes these circle jerks are known to summon up one of their patron saints (St Glenn Instapundit or St Andrew Milkyloads) to scatter down blessings and referrals upon them.
So, what’s this one all about? Like many other right wing circle jerks this one is centred a whole new Euro-myth, giving them the chance to rail against ‘our would be masters’ in Brussels and bring out the old Stalin and Hitler comparisons. Look on the bright side, at least they haven’t gone for the Paisleyite idea of branding anything related to the EU as the work of the Devil and/or the Antichrist (who may well also be the Pope).
And another thing: British Spin sums the whole matter up in three short paragraphs:
My position is simple. I demand the right to write factually incorrect, distorted articles which smear, abuse and damage others reputations without providing any opportunity of redress or coherent debate.
Further, I demand the right to be incoherent without vile irony attending, incomprehensible without contemptuous clarification and obnoxious without satirical reproof.
I demand my right to display my ignorance without fear of correction. This is the very essence of the internet. It is where I stand. I can do no other.
And yet another: Matthew Turner has some breaking news: “An organization that isn’t the EU today didn’t pass legislation that in any case wouldn’t have made it illegal not to allow a right-to-reply on blogs.”
The journey complete
Yep Nick Barlow was right in his prediction of the ‘circle jerk’.
Instapundit is now posting the ‘EU and the blogs’ story, telling Fox News presenter Bill O’Reilly that “Your whining sounds a lot like what we’re hearing from those European bureaucrats who are trying to bring the Internet under control because it’s a threat to their position. Is that the company you want to keep?”
By tomorrow night this will be on Fox News with O’Reilly probably expressing surprise at himself for his support of an EU crackdown.
