Wow. Being a sort of lower middle class folk in he Ecosystem, almost a full time air breather, to get 984 page views in a day is fantastic, with the vast majority coming after 8pm. Not bad for a Sunday. I would like to thank the great folks over at Powerline for the initial referal, as well as Tim Blair a bit later, both of whom I had sent the story off to. And, a thanks to all those who have linked to it, and viewed it. This should get me up to Flappy Bird!
But, of course, as Powerline and Tim Blair, among others, have noted, Brooker apologised.
“Charlie Brooker apologises for any offence caused by his comments relating to President Bush in his TV column, Screen Burn. The views expressed in this column are not those of the Guardian. Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action – an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand. He deplores violence of any kind.”
Quite frankly, I was leaning between either not even bothering to post the apology, or posting it today. The views expressed are those of the Guardian. They published the article. Certainly at least one editor read it prior to publication. The comments were not an ironic joke. If they were any type of joke, that would be called tasteless and despicable. Maybe his normal readers took it that way. Perhaps his regular readers are fetched in the head. But, after the Guardians little email fiasco, they should have realized that alot more folks would be reading the Guardian.
Pulling the entire article, then offering an apology that isn’t even written by Mr. Brooker, reminds me more of someone caught dead to rights speeding, then having the passenger tell the police officer “He wasn’t speeding.”
PS: I also got my first angry email, as a result of the post, I assume. Not quite sure: I find nothing of any redeeming value in your article. You ought to be taken out back and have the snot knocked out of you. Since I have over 300 posts, not all on politics, I am not sure which.
Update (10:15am) NZ Bear has the Guardian story on his Blogosphere Daily News. Thanks, NZ!
A late afternoon update. It is not often that I get to toot my own horn, so, I hope this isn’t to immodest, but the Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Best of the Web picked that Guardian post up (Thanks!), and Frontpage Magazine picked up the Powerlineblog post which linked to me. Also, this is a hoot:
Il Guardian, giornale senza dubbio umoristico, ha ritirato dal suo sito il commento di un suo collaboratore che invitava a uccidere Bush. E lo ha sostituito con queste scuse sia del giornale sia del cretino (umorismo!, eh) che le ha scritte: “The final sentence of a column in The Guide on Saturday caused offence to some readers. The Guardian associates itself with the following statement from the writer.
“Charlie Brooker apologises for any offence caused by his comments relating to President Bush in his TV column, Screen Burn. The views expressed in this column are not those of the Guardian. Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action – an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand. He deplores violence of any kind”. Qui il testo “umoristico” conservato da un blogger americano.
25 ottobre
In Spanish! I hope y’all will forgive me for being a little giddy.
Woops. As reader Sidevalve pointed out, it isn’t Spanish, but Italian. That is what many semesters almost 20 years ago in Spanish have gained me.
It’s not Spanish – it’s Italian. It means: The Guardian, without doubt a humorous newspaper, has pulled from its site the comment from one of its contributors inviting readers to kill Bush. And they have substituted it with these apologies, which come either from the newspaper or from the cretin (humour!, eh) who wrote them: