Comments on: let’s flush the Daily Mail from the universe

By: Soren

Soren — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:12:22 +0000

Maybe I’m just a nit-picking contrarian asshole, but I and a lot of other people would really appreciate it if you gave that flawed and superficial “homophobes are actually gay” study less rather than more play. Penile erection is actually a fairly unreliable indicator of desire, let alone preference – it can signal a need to urinate, simple manual stimulation due to friction or pressure, or anger.

Further, the study is being used to make a claim on someone else’s sexuality, which is a personal, private matter of identification. It’s offensive in that context even if it’s totally accurate – it’s the orientation equivalent of the Marxist ‘false consciousness’ doctrine.

Homophobia is ultimately about proving heterosexuality. What do you think your hypothetical homophobe is likely to go out and do on reading an article that makes a threatening claim on his deeply-felt heterosexuality? It leaves him no option but to go out and beat up on me or someone I love.

By: Justin

Justin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:15:31 +0000

I first saw Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe in Youtube, and almost had a heart attack when I realised how crooked the media is in the UK, his sarcastic style is used to devastating effect in that qoute, as well it should. Those with anti-gay paranoia really need to consider Why they’re so hostile to an entire section of the population, or perhaps they just like having a good ‘Other’ to hate, now that they’re not allowed to publicly rail against ‘darkies’.

By: redpesto

redpesto — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:42:09 +0000

DTU: “Said ‘paper’ is completely off the mark to claim that there is some kind of orchestrated campaign”

Yes – but that’s only because they’re not running one against someone they don’t like (google ‘Sachsgate’ to see what I mean).

By: redpesto

redpesto — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:34:25 +0000

For amusement, here's the Daily Mail Dictionary: For example:

Large Hadron Collider: Doomsday machine created by EU leftists designed to rip open a hole in the space-time continuum which would exterminate all life on planet Earth. However, it broke last year, so the end of the world is delayed until 2012.

Alternatively, try this fun little 'automatic Daily Mail headline generator' e.g. 'Have Muslims given the Royal Family swine flu?'

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:40:58 +0000

Why there’s nothing ‘Natural’ about Jan Moir’s face

http://notsowunderbar.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-there-is-nothing-natural-about-jan.html

By: DTU

DTU — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:53:45 +0000

The level of (justifiable) hate now directed towards the DM from, well, pretty much everywhere is astonishing – for heaven’s sake, I only learnt about the original article via a climbing forum! (It’s not exactly high on my reading list…)

Said ‘paper’ is completely off the mark to claim that there is some kind of orchestrated campaign – do they have no idea of the decentralised concept of this new-fangled ‘internet’ thingy? No idea that no-one is in control? That, given enough people spiting their fresh cup of tea across their monitor screens when a friend forwards them a link to this article that they a) might just go and complain straight off, and b) will probably go ‘hey, have you seen _this_’ to another friend… and so it gains its own momentum.

Another case of ‘old media’ fatally holed by their technological cluelessness and slowly sinking… a process they’ve only hastened by torpedoing themselves with their own thinly veiled bigotry and hate…

…so much for me thinking that the DM was ‘merely’ some kind of self-parody of middle-class ‘British’ paranoia and anxiety… no-one’s really that nasty, are they????

By: Fiona

Fiona — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:14:45 +0000

I don’t know why, I just felt really sad reading that blockquote text…