Modern journalists

Hector Drummond Posted on by

When I was younger I used to spend some time with journalists. In those days the mantra was ‘work hard, play hard’. Now it seems to be ‘work hard, complain hard.’ And the former mainly consists of the latter. Complaining hard is about all they seem to do. Trawling Twitter for controversial statements.

In fact, journalists don’t even do that any more. That would take far too long. No, they just follow a few prime SJW outrage Twatter accounts, and pick up on what some Twats have already laid the groundwork for. That’s it. A few wannabees may go and do some actual field work, by which I just mean, for example, visiting a place where alleged harrassment took place, but they’ll abandon that as soon as they get a proper journalist job. Looking at your favourite Twatter accounts and sending off an e-mail asking for a response is much easier, and means the newspaper can hire intern-level journalists and pay them less (unless you’re Laurie Penny or Owen Jones, who do the same thing but with what passes on the left for panache, so they get paid vastly more).

Even The Daily Mail and The Telegraph have become like this, it’s not just the political operatives posing as journalists at The Guardian and Indy.

And now a commentator at Samizdata claims that a lot of journalism is being written by automated software, or partly-written by automated software:

Narrative Science, in case you haven’t heard of it, is a company that makes computer-generated journalism software. A few algorithms can pull together sabermetrics (baseball analysis), website data, and photo/graphics and compose a sports story: or election information, financial reports, market research, and local news.

I don’t know if this is true (most of my old journalist friends I haven’t seen in years, and I’ve heard that most have left the trade), but it’s almost worse if it isn’t, because then what excuse do the humans who write the daily piffle have?

It also explains Cathy Newman’s performance interviewing Jordan Peterson: Cathy Newman is a hologram programmed with stock Channel 4/Telegraph Women’s section responses.

‘So you’re saying I’m a computer program?’

Yes Cathy, I am. Finally you got one right.

‘In our hearts the needle of the seismograph has already stirred’

Hector Drummond Posted on by

Let’s hope that the UK never gets this bad, even though the commies in the UK are pushing it that way:

From Richard Pipes, The Russian Revolution 1899-1919, London: Harvill, 1990. p. 194:

To the historian of this period, the most striking — and most ominous — impression is the prevalence and intensity of hatred: ideological, ethnic, social. The monarchists despised the liberals and socialists. The radicals hated the ‘bourgeoisie.’  The peasants loathed those who had left the commune to set up private farms. Ukrainians hated Jews, Muslims hated Armenians and the Kazakh nomads hated and wanted to expel the Russians who had settled in their midst… Latvians were ready to pounce on their German landlords… Since political institutions capable of resolving these conflicts had failed to emerge, the chances were that sooner or later resort would again be had to violence…

It was common in those days to speak of Russia living on a “volcano.” In 1908, the poet Alexander Blok used another metaphor when he spoke of a “bomb” ticking in the heart of Russia. Some tried to ignore it, some tried to run away from it, other yet to disarm it. To no avail: “whether we remember or forget, in all of us sit sensations of malaise, fear catastrophe, explosion… We do not know precisely what events await us, but in our hearts the needle of the seismograph has already stirred”.

Theresa May’s image problem

Hector Drummond Posted on by

 

There’s a problem Theresa May has, which may be fatal (politically fatal, that is.) The problem is this.

She comes across as a Thatcherite to people who don’t like Thatcher. So they will never vote for her, even though she’s much closer to them politically than they realise.

 

 

 

 

 

But she doesn’t come across as a Thatcherite to people who do like Thatcher. She comes across as a pathetic Euro-elite wet. So they’re reluctant to support her. A lot of them voted for her grudgingly in the last election, but only because the Conservatives were supporting Brexit. They’re even less keen on her now.

 

 

 

 

Contrast this with Jeremy Corbyn. His base think he’s a Commie, which he is, and they love him for it. But he’s also managed to convince a lot of less radical types that he’s a Remainer of some sort, so they’re supporting a man whose policies they  wouldn’t like at all if they really had more of a clue of what he has in mind.

 

 

 

 

So who looks like they can get their base out, plus some others? Who’s winning the image war? Well, it ain’t Theresa May, is it?

Failing to put your stamp on Brexit

Hector Drummond Posted on by

Boris Johnson told The Sun: “Leaving the European Union will be a monumental moment in British history, so let’s deliver a commemorative stamp that shows the world we’ve got Brexit licked.”

But last night Business Minister Margot James– who is responsible for postal services – branded the issue “divisive” in a clear Government split.

Asked why the Royal Mail would not produce Brexit stamps when they did after we joined the European Economic Community she said: “I don’t think it was such a divisive issue then.

Of course it was a divisive issue then, you sleazy Remainiac. Half the country was dismayed at us joining the EEC, but they were ignored as the Establishment had got the result it wanted, so it was Stamps Ahoy in 1975.

You and the Postal Service mandarins only consider it divisive now because you lost.

Margot James — another name to be added to the ‘Sack ASAP’ list.

Commies always end up with mass slaughter

Hector Drummond Posted on by

At least 10,000 people died in Tiananmen Square massacre, secret British cable from the time alleged
Secret document suggested death toll was much higher than later reported, while claiming wounded students were bayoneted as they begged for their lives and the burnt remains of victims were ‘hosed down the drains’

Tell your friends that it’s not all right to be a communist.

from https://twitter.com/SallyMayweather, via https://twitter.com/cthulhupotamus.

DickPoundLand

Hector Drummond Posted on by

In times gone past I could have easily condemned the Poundland tweets for being unnecessarily crude and not family-friendly. But after years of humourless leftist hectoring and soft Stop Funding Hate-style fascism all we can do is applaud them. Well played sirs, well played. You’ve made the SJWs look like idiots, while getting them to give you oodles of free publicity.

I notice the SJWs aren’t declaring that they’ll never shop in Poundland again. Most of them wouldn’t be seen dead in such a place anyway, so there’s no point them declaring a boycott. Can’t see Poundland’s regular customers paying any attention to some bearded hipster declarations on Twitter.

I was in a Poundland myself last week. It’s not the greatest shop. Most of the stuff there is barely worth a pound. But occasionally you get some bargains. Bought a bread knife for a pound last year that’s still going strong a year later. it’s not a knife I use all the time, I’ve got a few, but it’s still impressive for a pound. I’ll definitely be back in in the New Year. It may not be a shop where the clientele dazzle me, but at least I don’t have to look at any SJWs.

The new Lucozade review

Hector Drummond Posted on by

I thought I would finally give the new recipe Lucozade a go, following its battering from social media.

I went to Tesco to buy some, but it wasn’t clear that what was on the shelves was the new formula Lucozade or not, because it said ‘Original’ on the bottle. Was this old stock of the real Original, or were Lucozade pretending that nothing had changed? A look at the ingredients confirmed a lot of artificial sweeteners in it, so this had to be the new recipe. So a black mark straight away for the new owners, Suntory. If you fundamentally change the formula, be honest enough to say so. If less sugar is so great, then why not advertise it on that basis?

It got worse, even in the shop. I had asked some people who were also looking at the Lucozade shelf if they knew whether this was the new formula which had less sugar, and they said (incorrectly, as it turned out), ‘Oh no, the new one is that one,’ pointing to a bottle called Lucozade Zero. So people are getting the idea that the bad publicity about the new taste of Lucozade is only about the no-sugar version, a misaprehension that Suntory seem to be in no rush to correct.

Anyway, at home I gave it a go. To start with I was… well, I wouldn’t say pleasantly surprised, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I’d been primed by the likes of Delingpole to expect something that tasted like it came out of the anus of a diseased baboon, but the taste was definitely in the range of normal soft drink taste.

But the more I drank, the less I enjoyed it. After half a glass I didn’t want any more. There was something unpleasant about it. Lucozade has always been a slightly weird taste, but this was just wrong. So that’s the end of Lucozade for me.

And here’s the thing. Even if they fix it, like Fanta managed to eventually fix Diet Fanta, what would be the point of drinking Lucozade any more? I only drink it when I’m poorly, or when I’m exhasuted from lack of sleep and have something I have to do despite that. Taking so much sugar out means it’s no good for that purpose any more. And I’m as sure as hell not going to drink it for pleasure. So unless it can be used for boot-cleaning, that’s Lucozade done with for me. Another simple pleasure in life ruined by SJWs. Fuck you SJWs. Fuck you all.

The left can’t tolerate old battles being revived

Hector Drummond Posted on by

I tried to leave this comment over at Frank Davis’s blog, on a post of his about why Theresa May has said nothing about the smoking ban, but his comment system doesn’t want to let me. (Have I mentioned how much I hate modern comments systems?) [Update: It’s now got through.] I thought it was worth a post of its own anyway.

 

 

Smoking bans are a cold potato, as you say. They’re part of the fabric of society now. But anyone who dares try to overturn them will find themselves roasting in hell. Leftists will sometimes, for expediency’s sake, taken a softly-softly approach to changing things as they are now, in order not to frighten the horses. If they’re a politican they may even pretend that they don’t support the change (eg. as many leftist politicians did a few years back on gay marriage).

But try to change course on something that they thought was done and dusted, and all hell breaks loose. This is why Brexit has caused such a storm with the left. They thought increasing integration into supranational entities was a done deal, it was a battle they thought had been won, ancient history, and the alternative should not even be thought of, hell, should not even be conceived of, any more. It’s like reaching a checkoff-point in a computer game — no matter how many times you subsequently die, you never go back beyond that point.

This is all part of their modus operandi – they can tolerate tussles for a few years over their latest battle, but once that battle has been won, there is no going back. The public must never be allowed to see that ‘advances’ the left have won can be reversed, because then they might start to think that maybe other things that were set in stone can be reversed too.

The left don’t want you even to conceive of things being different. This is how it’s been since Lenin. It’s why they’re so keen on thought control. People who don’t conceive of alternatives won’t fight for them, because who is going to fight for a cause they never think of?

So the greatest sin that can be committed, in the eyes of a leftist, is for someone with some power or a following to bring an old battle back into play again. That’s why even people who had previously seemed nice and relaxed and sensible suddenly start acting like unhinged, foaming-at-the-mouth loons when something like Brexit happens. They were happy before because the future looked like going their way. Take that assurance away and their true colours show.

So if Theresa May was to seriously talk of overturning the smoking ban she would be quickly be reduced to a smouldering pile of ashes. Not just the leftists, but at least half the Conservative party would rise up and smite her, leaving only a small, smoking pile of ashes. That’s why you’ve been hearing nothing from her on the subject.

Alison Saunders and her pals should go to jail

Hector Drummond Posted on by

Scotland Yard has announced a ­review of all current rape and sex abuse investigations after a second trial collapsed in less than a week amid claims that police withheld crucial evidence.

A review? There should be a criminal investigation, and mass arrests, starting with Alison Saunders. Men who are clearly innocent have been arrested, and evidence that clears them deliberately supressed, in order to fit the modern feminist narrative.

So many men have been fitted up recently that nobody believes it any more when a man gets arrested for rape. Pity the victims of real rape.

Anti-communists should stop talking like this

Hector Drummond Posted on by

The world’s most heinous tyranny was not an apparition or a deviation from Marxist ideals, Solzhenitsyn demonstrates; it was, rather, the inevitable consequence of expecting perfection from imperfect human beings.

I see this way of criticising Marxism (or Leninism) a lot, and while there is defintely truth to it, I do not like the way it’s commonly put, because it implies that the Marxists’s conception of a perfect person is right. It implies that a perfect person is as as the Marxists and Communists describe — eg. thinking only of others, without selfish desires, etc. — only we are too imperfect to ever get there. But the Marxist conception of a perfect person is weird and wrong. We don’t ever want people like that. We are imperfect, but our imperfections aren’t a matter of  having individual desires, and caring for our family. It would be more accurate to say that “the world’s most heinous tyranny was the inevitable consequence of trying to mould people into grotesque shapes”.

(Besides, Stalin imprisoned and killed millions of his own followers who were dedicated to his brand of Marxist-Leninism. He wasn’t really that worried about perfection. If there was the slightest possibility that you could be a threat to him, it didn’t matter how much of a good Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist you were.)

Dominic Grieve: whining traitor

Hector Drummond Posted on by

I have received death threats, and I blame the vitriol of the pro-Brexit media

Dominic Grieve

People on the right have been putting up with death threats for years. This happens openly on Twitter. When does The Guardian ever report this?

And doesn’t it ever occur to Tories like Grieve that The Guardian only runs pieces from Tories when it suits The Guardian’s own agenda? It’s never because the Guardian editors’ say to each other, ‘Hey it might be fair, in the interests on balance, to run a piece from a Tory letting them say what they want.’

(Actually I’m sure Grieve does realise this. He just doesn’t care, because stopping the referendum result comes first.)