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House rules - again
So there's software out there which can filter out comments from unwelcome visitors? I like the sound of that.
Just to reiterate: I'm not going to print comments which are discourteous or exhibit an unhealthy obsession with immigration and/or Muslims. As I've said before, there are plenty of political sites where cranks can talk to themselves for as long as they wish. Some people also don't seem to understand that I like to run items which might contradict something that's appeared earlier. That's part of the pleasure of blogging, as far as I'm concerned. My truism of the week comes from David Brooks's column on the Baghdad surge:
Life is complicated. The reason we have democracy is that no one side is right all the time. The only people who are dangerous are those who can’t admit, even to themselves, that obvious fact.
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Chris
June 27th, 2008 11:43amThat's your prerogative Clive. I'm guessing that you're snowed under with posts citing these topics. Legal considerations aside - to dismiss a profusion of such posts might be to miss a point. They represent voices which might be distasteful but which are growing and growing a sense of grievance at not being listened to.
If what you're in effect saying - to use an analogy - is 'Mine is a cricket column so I don't cover rugby,' then fair enough. To continue the analogy, if yours is a Sports column and you eschew football, I'm at a loss to understand why.
Rod Liddle elsewhere in this month's Spectator talks about Harry Cummins, his sacking from the British Council and the 'green ink scribblers' - and concedes that at times they have a point.
It's your blog - you will see fit to edit as you will of course, and thanks for the explanation - I just hope you remain reasonably open minded.
Clive
June 27th, 2008 4:10pmEr, but I do write about it. (As I'm the son of an immigrant, I probably have a greater incentive to think about the subject than most of the readers.)It's just that I don't think it's remotely interesting to bang on about it every day. Nor am I interested in recycling saloon bar scare stories or ludicrous conspiracy theories. Most of the commenters who address this issue on the Spectator's sites have closed minds and, worse still, a habit of saying the same thing over and over, regardless of the context. In short, it's boring.
Chris
June 27th, 2008 7:45pmUnderstood Clive. Thanks for your reply - I hope I didn't come across as presumptious. I'm not altogether sure about the state of mind of the other commenters you refer to - some are batty but some are genuinely concerned. My partner, btw is a lovely African woman from Zimbabwe - so I don't do the foam flecked red eyed invective when it comes to immigrants.