This is essentially a free speech forum. I enjoy much of the banter which goes on between commenters, particularly the dedicated band of people who post on a daily basis. There is an important distinction between my writing, and the comments section. The proportion of readers who leave comments is well under 1%. I cannot know what percentage of the readers read comments, but I suspect it is not terribly high.
In social media I find establishment hacks – particularly journalists and Labour Party functionaries – dismiss my thoughts by referring to the comments section. “Craig Murray – have you seen the tinfoil hats comments on his blog!” being a genuine and very typical example. Well, if people wish to damn me by association with the views of other people, that is sadly an example of the low intellectual standards of the British nomenklatura of our time. The only views on here which are mine are those which I write.
I cherish the diversity of the comment threads and am fond of our little community, most of whom I have never met. I do not value people by the standard of how close their views are to my own. I am sometimes saddened by the personal animosities which arise between people.
We state some rules from time to time. This is the current set, which I just made up:
No racism. Any comment which is racist will simple be deleted immediately. The biggest problem we face is anti-Jewish comment, which I will not tolerate. We are not in the business of stigmatising anti-Zionism as anti-Jewish, but there are quite frequently distinctly anti-Jewish comments. I deleted one just an hour ago.
Similarly, no holocaust denial. I do not believe it should be illegal (I am against thought crime) but I do not wish to have it on my blog as those associated with it often have very unpleasant sympathies. That is not to say the subject of the holocaust can never be mentioned – it will never be possible to ascertain the precise number who were killed, and it is important we remember not only the Jews but the Poles, gypsies, gays, freemasons and numerous others who suffered. But the basic facts are not in doubt. It is surprising how often people attempt to insinuate holocaust denial.
Sockpuppetry. It is in practice impossible to outlaw sockpuppetry without a formal registration system, which I do not want. But the adoption of multiple identities within the same thread is not to be allowed, nor the creation of identities of which the purpose is to ridicule, attack or insult another contributor.
Fair Play. Play the ball, not the man. Address arguments, not people. Do not impugn the motives of others, including me. No taunting.
Relevance
Attempts to keep people on topic are hopeless, but do try.
9/11
We don’t discuss 9/11. There are plenty of places on the web where you can do that. It tends to take over threads.
Contribute
Contributions which are primarily just a link to somewhere else will be deleted. You can post links, but give us the benefit of your thoughts upon them.
No explanation.
Enforcing these rules is necessarily arbitrary and needs judgement calls. Moderators are precluded from explaining decisions online. If you want to complain use the contact button.
Moderators
We have, and have had, excellent moderators over many years. But almost all have found it not only time consuming but also surprisingly emotionally draining. If you are interested in volunteering and are willing for me to know both your real and online identity, please get in tough using the contact button.
Glenn_uk; “If I were more sagely”
Yes, if only !
Glenn_uk; “and you didn’t even notice”
LOL ! Be honest with yourself, what are chances that you would have realised something, anything (!), that I would have failed to realise ?!
Ps, Post https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/06/imf-and-usa-set-to-ruin-ghana/
Typifies my descent…Not saying some info is not useful. But “I pray that one day the country will escape the grip of these bloodsucking institutions.”
And may your followers pray with you.
Morning Macky.
Or morning mod, setting the prisoned comments free. Must feel great.
@Ishmael, no point trying to make it to easy for them with that second clip, I doubt that they would ever get it !
Yes, Clark joins such other “distinguished” Posters like the Habby Troll & ResDes, who both threaten another commentator (John Goss) with real life trouble over petty nonsense here.
Clark has even gone to the trouble of scouring the Net with the email adress that he extracted from me after brow-beating me for weeks into providing him with one, looking for personal info about me to use against me, and he has the hypocrisy to accuse me of enquiring about the identities of the moderators here !
I don’t know if Phil is banned or just on pre-mod, which really amounts to the same as all Phil’s posts seem to get deleted, but he really needs to be allowed to reply to all the abuse that Glenn has directed against him here.
Macky. I’m developing a very limited trust in people who tend to call on the state.
“he really needs to be allowed to reply to all the abuse that Glenn has directed against him here.”
Yea but it’s all so ‘professional’ now…
Just finished composing the vendetta speach.-Wonder if it will stay up.
Good morning, Blog. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquillity of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration – whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday – I thought we could mark this day by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this blog, isn’t there?
Cruelty and injustice…intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told…if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.
I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now High Chancellor Craig Murray. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.
I sought to end that silence. I Sought to remind this blog of what it has forgotten. My hope to remind this blog that fairness, justice and freedom are more than words – they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this blog remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow this to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek…then I ask you to stand beside me….
Not likely gona happen is it? 🙂
As if that’s the point.
The Sun rises in the east, and Mad Macky is bitching away as usual, alternating between self-praise and finding fault with everyone who doesn’t grovel to her (like the ineffectual Ishmael). Just another day.
Absolutely love “V for Vendetta” Ishmael, almost every line is a great quote;
“Equality and freedom are not luxuries to lightly cast aside. Without them, order cannot long endure before approaching depths beyond imagining.”
Or even;
“When the Law becomes Arbitrary,
Rebellion becomes Duty” 😀
Here’s another clip, bet they still won’t understand !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVPdyYeaQU
Oh Glenn, maybe I’ve found the cause of all your anger ;
“Life is tough,
But it’s a lot tougher when you’re stupid”
😀
Thanks Macky, guess I hadn’t thought about it way.
Still, quite amazing watching our totalitarian system perpetuate itself, on this blog in particular.
O and btw, In case anyone might imagine or paint the promise of accountability as some kind of threat (often happens here as a means to get at people) it was deliberately left in. Not to anyone specific but Mary came to mind. This is what was meant in my version.
Instant Karma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4
Dumb All Over.
Our God says “This is the way!”
It says in the book:
“Burn ‘n destroy. ..
‘N repent, ‘n redeem
‘N revenge, ‘n deploy
‘N rumble thee forth
To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
‘Cause they don’t go for what’s ON THE BLOG
‘N that makes ’em BAD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUg3wshcuLI
Macky says: “Silly me”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/06/kirstys-story/comment-page-1/#comment-536337
Oh, so you admit it! Snark/ Yuck/ Slobber… Ho ho!
*
See how that works, Macky? Not exactly clever, is it? Indeed – I think that sort of selective editing is completely contemptible. Wouldn’t you agree, and also agree to stop doing it?
@Glenn-uk, you really should stop embarrassing yourself, as I’m actually beginning to feel genuine feelings of pity for you, and I can’t have that ! 😀
I guess this will have to be put here, our little bit of “Free Fire Zone” Free Speech !;
Phhil; “I am appalled that some people here are calling for more war. A war to end war of course. Perfect. Cause that works. Iraq and Afghanistan worked out well! Daesh have nothing to do with us. They are simply evil. Nothing to do with us.
How about NATO withdraws? How about not selling arms to every mad motherfucker around the globe. How about not drawing lines that serve resource grabs at the expense of people. How about not fueling divisions with a little murder to control both sides? How about not having alliances with the financiers of Daesh. How about not training them. How about asking NATO members to stop attacking forces fighting these clerical fascists? How about arming the Kurds? How about not bombing everyone? How about not installing tyrants? How about not killing democrats? How about not creating global murder and mayhem for profit? Jesus. Have all these ideas been tried and failed. Well that’s evil for ya. Damned unreasonable, this pure evil.
Why troops on the ground now? Because of dead English holiday makers? Because a relative of someone you know was shot? It’s personal now!
People are killed in numbers that dwarf this horror day in day out. What about the dead of Kobane. Same day. Way, way more dead. More dead children. especially. I thought you lot didn’t like dead children. Yet the outrage here is saved for our few dead and injured. Just like the Daily Mail. No different than the BBC. You people think you are so clever cause you understand that the media lies. Yet you are so stupid you can only react to an agenda set by the media you bemoan. And now some of you are calling for more NATO war. You excel yourself.
You volunteering to fight then Clark and Daniel? Or just hoping to send someone elses son to kill the sons of someone you don’t know. You brave old men.
Troops on the ground my arse. You fucking NATO war machine cocksucking wankers. Go vote SNP.”
Posted 1st July, 8.19, & removed by Mods shorty after.
Macky and Phil, how could I best improve this world? Would it be by becoming your thought-slave? Which of you should I defer to should you disagree? Or would my suicide be a better option?
Phil is nearly right. I have fucked. I have wanked. I have sucked cock. I would have voted SNP in the most recent elections for Westminster if I were registered to vote in Scotland, though I would probably have voted Green or something in Holyrood elections.
However, I did not support the wars upon Afghanistan or Iraq, and I wrote to my MP before the vote, opposing the bombing of Syria.
I regret none of this and unless some new information were to change my opinions, I would make the same decisions again.
Clark; “Technicolour, as much as I regret this, I suspect that military attack is the only method that can stop ISIS. I’ll break another taboo and say that ground troops should be used rather than air-strikes alone, because air-strikes are less discriminate and kill more non-combatants, which is a major cause of radicalisation.”
Posted on the now deleted Kirsty’s Story Thread 1 Jul, 2015 – 1:13 by the “taboo breaking” Clark !
Yes, I posted that comment. Your point?
The point isn’t to discuss the comment, Clark. It’s to be used as a GYNYSOAB (Got You Now You Son-Of-A-Bitch) forevermore. Just hoot and scream with delight, repost it over and over. Clearly, you are now an Enemy of the People, ripe for denouncement, and will be taken away in due course.
Macky; “I echo Phil points at 8.19 am, as it was so disturbingly surreal to read such disgusting pro-war propaganda, which you would only expect from the regular Establishment stooges here; these comments are the sort of evil that pours out of the mouths of people like Cameron & Blair, so to see them echo here is really quite shameful.
Not the first time though, as it wasn’t too long ago that another old time favorite here, was “falling for” the right to bomb Libya back to the stone age.”
Posted on the now deleted Kirsty’s Story Thread 1 Jul, 2015 – 9.32 am
Macky, yes, I think you posted that comment. I still don’t see the point you’re trying to make. You seem to be insinuating something about various commenters, including myself. A more honest approach would be to state your accusations clearly, but that would still be ad hominen, attacking the commenter rather than presenting an argument.
Do you have an argument about the issues?
Well if you don’t want to be referred to personally, and from countless past attempts I know rational argument does not connect with you, so let’s try nice easy to understand colourful pictures !
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&biw=1920&bih=969&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=war+is+not+the+answer&oq=war+is+not+the+answer&gs_l=img.3..0l4j0i24l6.1570022.1576994.0.1580099.21.12.0.9.9.0.282.1540.0j10j1.11.0….0…1c.1.64.img..1.20.1579.4UTQadmgf_I
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&biw=1920&bih=969&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=hypocrite&oq=hypo&gs_l=img.1.2.0l10.341006.342034.0.345015.4.4.0.0.0.0.111.317.1j2.3.0….0…1c.1.64.img..1.3.316.3ICBQwmJagg
GYNYSOAB – isn’t that ‘Games People Play’? Great book.
Macky, excellent quote:
You’d be surprised how much we agree, but you seem unable to see past your hostility.
Macky, I tried your links but I’m too stupid to make them work.
Macky, OK, from the text in your links you seem to be trying to say “war is not the answer” and “hypocrite”.
So. I do not believe that “war is the answer”. I don’t even believe that there is some single, unified answer – or is it “42”?
So tell me, if someone is attacked on the street, do they have a right to fight their attacker?
I have reasons to believe that ISIS may have to be fought militarily. You may be interested in my reasoning, or you may prefer to simply attempt to discredit or dispirit me. One approach engages with arguments, the other attacks me as a person. Do you understand the difference?
This should be interesting !
In what way is your personal War on Terror different from Bush’s or Blair’s, etc ?
(not even allowing for the fact that you seem strangely unaware that ISIS is a Western proxy)