Via Mr Eugenidies and Samizdata, an excellent story about a spat brewing in the land of blog…
The Daily Kos – not a place I’ve been to before published a story about a near miss. In it, the contributor referred to it along the lines of “how the Daily Kos saved my life”
I just got a call that someone “crashed my gate” and drove through my house, driving through my office and my daughter’s room (her crib turned up in the backyard). Had we been home, there would have been a good chance that I would have been working at my desk, and she would have certainly been sleeping in bed. Instead, though, I was here and she was staying with my folks, so the family’s fine.
Harry Hutton over at Chase Me Ladies picked up on this with his usual verve. And satirises the entry thus:
I am not easily moved to tears, but this post had me crying like a baby. Just think… he could have been… and the little ones are safe?… thank God for that!
Kos once saved my life too. I was reading a post about Senator Joseph Lieberman, and it was so dull that I got up to run my head under a cold tap. Just then this assagai comes flying through the window. Zulus! Fuck! If it hadn’t been for Kos, I could have wound up in a cooking pot. I’ll always be grateful to him for that.
Anyway, so we formed a laager, called for reinforcements and went all Rorke’s Drift on their arses, and it all ended happily with a glorious slaughter of tribesmen. That was the day Boris Johnsons won the Victoria Cross.
You just have to read the response and comments section of the Daily Kos to realise that, er, they just don’t get it…
This is not a joke. This is the rising tide of eliminationist language that I’ve seen for a lot of years on the right. It starts as chuckles among unformed or unaware or unprocessed minds, and can quickly metastasize into action. In a metaphorical sense it already has, with the cutthroat way Republicans do business in the political arena. Then it turns into jokes that reflect some wishful rage with a wink and a nod.
Pretentious just doesn’t come close. I rather like the Samizdata reference to humourless dolts. Mind you, anyone who can come out with such unadulterated pompous drivel deserves an award for being Pseud of the Year. Yes, it was obvious schoolboy style humour. It was satire, it was mildly amusing, but Jeez, talk about an over-reaction.
Grow up boys, it was just a joke and once more, the USA and the UK remain divided as much by their sense of humour as by the Atlantic ocean.
Still, it provides a little light relief in an otherwise quiet week.