Guardian responds to pressure

Posted by H. Brandon Fry on October 25th 2004 to Politics

The Guardian has replaced the article cited below (A fen of stagnant waters) with this apology:

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.”

The message, essentially is, “Can’t you bloody Yanks take a joke?”

I’m also less than mollified by their failure to apologize for their own lack of editorial oversight and to distance themselves from that sort of dangerous rhetoric. Instead they “associate themselves” with the less than remorseful statement attributed to Mr. Brooker.

James Lileks had this to say:

You got caught, in other words. Look, you lackwits: we’re not that stupid. Of course it was an ironic joke, at least if you define “joke” as “mirthless adolescent japery along the order of drawing a Hitler moustache on your teacher’s yearbook picture.” What’s noteworthy is that it got through in the first place. Slid through like mercury down a mirror, probably. No one gave it a second thought. Stands to reason any sensible person would want the tosser done away with, no?

Finally, I feel I need to issue an apology of my own. Despite my strong feelings on the subject, it was wrong for me to call Mr. Brooker an idiot and a spite-filled, little weasel. Also rather ironic, since I was, at the same time, criticizing his name-calling toward President Bush. Those labels were not necessary to the overall point, but purely a result of letting anger rule my tongue, or at least its online analogue. I will strive to set a better example in the future.

Proverbs 10:19 says, “When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.”

Words every blogger should heed!

* 2 Comments

2 Responses to “Guardian responds to pressure”

  1. Jeremy Pierce Says:
    October 25th, 2004 at 10:57 pm

    There’s nothing wrong with calling him spite-filled. It’s the nouns that might be problematic.

  2. SCPanther Says:
    October 25th, 2004 at 11:56 pm

    Thanks for cutting me some slack, Jeremy! But remember, it wasn’t spite; it was flippant, ironic, and humorous.

    Speaking of which… I hadn’t really considered his use of the word ironic until now. Where’s the irony in lamenting that the world could use some folks willing to take a shot at the President right about now? How ironic that here we have a President who needs shooting and yet no one apparently is unhinged enough to take the shot!

    Nope. Not seeing the irony.