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I’m not saying that anyone who ever posts an internet comment is nuts. But...

Wednesday, 17th February 2010

Hugo Rifkind gives a Shared Opinion

It caused quite a stir for a while, and then it just faded away. Nobody could work out whether this really did qualify as an affair or not, and so in the end everybody just gave up thinking about it. We, as a species, do not have this sorted. In essence, David Wright is just like that huge, bald, potentially philandering man. He must know what he did was wrong, but he probably doesn’t see it as having said the same thing directly into the face of, say, Eric Pickles.

The internet remains a half-world. We aren’t quite sure of the rules, but we know they aren’t the same as everywhere else. We commit thoughts we hold for half a second to a medium that will last forever. Regardless of how it should be, the web is not the world.

So when people tell me of a new, grass-roots momentum in politics, and then tell me that this momentum is web-based, I start to feel both queasy and doubtful. ConservativeHome, LabourHome, all the rest — I often suspect the views expressed in the comments on such sites are actually representative of nobody at all, up to and including the people who are online expressing them. I wonder if they are like the comments everywhere else, or the letters page of the Daily Express, or David Wright. Full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing.

Hugo Rifkind is a writer for the Times.

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Geoff Miller

February 18th, 2010 6:41am Report this comment

Basically, everything is fine.

Happy now?

Austin Barry

February 18th, 2010 8:38am Report this comment

"They’re in the comments. And nobody even notices, because down there, madness is par for the course."

I agree. We're all quite barmy down here.

Stuart Seacole Smith

February 18th, 2010 10:05am Report this comment

Ah, that's better - just pulled the pencils out of my nose and taken the silver-foil down from the windows. Now I see the light! Eternal thanks dear Hugo for showing us bottom of the page window-lickers the way - the country is doing great, and no doubt ideally placed to go from strength to strength on the global scene. Such a relief. I feel strangely serene. Almost grandiose.

terence patrick hewett

February 18th, 2010 5:21pm Report this comment

Up to a point Lord Copper; except..except..

"...for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey".

Cogito Ergosum

February 18th, 2010 9:36pm Report this comment

When I get out (occasionally) I cannot imagine the people I meet as anything like the silly bloggers on the Internet.

OldS.B.

February 19th, 2010 8:41am Report this comment

"..They’re in the comments. And nobody even notices, because down there, madness is par for the course. ."
Welcome to you Hugo, there's a vacant throne over there....

John Patrick

February 19th, 2010 10:01pm Report this comment

You are right. There is a lot of anger out here and it is probably just too easy to post 'comments'. I do it myself as you can see now. We all have our pet hates: there seem to be an awful lot of anti-bigots out here and my pet hate is anti-Catholic bigotry, so I tend to respond to some of the more hateful comments - just to set the record straight. But I agree it is probably a complete waste of time. My Lenten resolution is to spend less time reading news sites online - it is not good for my tendency towards anger ... or my blood pressure.

John Patrick

February 19th, 2010 10:02pm Report this comment

Sorry that should have read 'anti-Catholic bigots' - leaving out words is another reason why I shouldn't do this.

djw2009

February 21st, 2010 6:02pm Report this comment

Hugo, you are right to an extent. The comments are an attempt to influence debate, but realistically speaking does the editor of the Speccie read all the comments? or give a damn what we say? One nice exception - in case you are bottom fishing through the comments on your article - is Norman Tebbitt who does read and reply to the comments on his Daily Telegraph blog. Actually Peter Hitchens on the Mail replies to comments on his blog too.

The real reason though is the inchoate sense of powerlessness to see the Conservative Party dominated by people whose core philosophical values are no different to those of the Labour Party. Yes! What about immigration? I can spell immigration, you see, and yes, I want it stopped! And I want withdrawal from the EU, the return of hanging, the abolition of income tax, and much else. I do often refrain from commenting, because I realise how pointless it is, but the blogosphere gives one the opportunity to vent. And why shouldn't I vent when I see my country being handed over to others, and every political party and journalist shilling for the multi-culturalists? Basically, Hugo, you can lie secure in your bed - there will be no revolution in our lifetimes - but if there were, most of the political class, including the journos, would be denefestrated. Actually, it is around 5 years since I paid for a copy of the Spectator or the Daily Telegraph - I refuse to fund "treason" - and will only ever read it for free online - it is only because it is free that I even noticed your article. Thank goodness I am not subventing your salary!

Frank P

February 25th, 2010 6:53pm Report this comment

djw2009

A considered and apt response to a pompous hack, who like most of them, thinks they have a divine right to form 'public opinion' without the right of reply, unless carefully controlled by editorial dictate.

Piss off Rifkind, like djw2009 I cancelled my subscription, too, some time ago; not as promptly as s/he did though ; I lived in hopes for a while, after the take-over, that I was reading the runes wrongly, but his prescience was admirable. At the moment, you are living on the contributions of the gullible, so continue to take the piss at your peril.

I quite liked your Dad, btw, but I guess mater spoiled you - and public school did the rest.

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