Aaronovitch Blusters to a Well of Silence 1213


Why Rupert Murdoch considers it worth his while to pay David Aaronovitch a large six figure sum for such puerile antics as tweeting that I am insane, is a conjecture I find difficult to resolve. Today this exchange occurred on twitter:

David Aaronovitch: This suggestion that if elected Corbyn could be quickly ousted is utter bollocks. Democracy allows Labour to commit Hara Kiri.

Mark Doran: @DAaronovitch I hope everyone is watching how these servants of the micro-elite try to paint “attracting popular support” as “committing suicide.”

Mark Doran: @DAaronovitch Craig finds the elite-serving contortions every bit as funny as I do

David Aaronovitch: @MarkJDoran I tend to find Craig Murray unpersuasive on the grounds of him being unhinged. I can see why you like him, though.

Mark Doran: Says the man who managed to find Bush and Blair credible. I can see why you liked them, though.

It is remarkably ironic that on being referred to an article which argues that views outside a very narrow neoliberal establishment narrative are marginalised and ridiculed by the media, the Murdoch hack’s response is that the author is unhinged. Aaronovitch could not have more neatly proved my point.

But something else struck me about the twitter record. Aaronovitch’ twitter account claims to have 78,000 followers. Yet of the 78,000 people who allegedly received his tweet about my insanity, only 1 retweeted and 2 favourited. That is an astonishingly low proportion – 1 in 26,000 reacted. To give context, Mark Doran has only 582 followers and yet had more retweets and favourites for his riposte. 1 in 146 to be precise, a 200 times greater response rate.

Please keep reading, I promise you this gets a great deal less boring.

Eighteen months ago I wrote an article about Aaronovitch’s confession that he solicits fake reviews of his books to boost their score on Amazon. In response a reader emailed me with an analysis of Aaronovitch’s twitter followers. He argued with the aid of graphs that the way they accrued indicated that they were not arising naturally, but being purchased in blocks. He claimed this was common practice in the Murdoch organisation to promote their hacks through false apparent popularity.

I studied his graphs at some length, and engaged in email correspondence on them. I concluded that the evidence was not absolutely conclusive, and in fairness to Aaronovitch I declined to publish, to the annoyance of my correspondent.

Naturally this came to mind again today when I noted that Aaronovitch’ tweets to his alleged legion of followers in fact tumble into a well of silence. I do not even tweet. The entire limit of my tweeting is that this blog automatically tweets the titles of articles I write. They are not aphorisms so not geared to retweet. Yet even the simple tweet “Going Mainstream” which marked the article Aaronovitch derided, obtained 20 times the reactions of Aaronovitch’s snappy denunciation of my mental health. This despite the fact he has apparently 10 times more followers than me. An initial survey seems to show this is not atypical.

In logic, I can only see two possible explanations. The first is that my correspondent was right and Aaronovitch fakes twitter followers like he does book reviews. The second is that he has a vast army of followers, nearly all of whom find him dull and uninspiring, and who heartily disapproved en masse of his slur on my sanity. I opt for the second explanation, that he is just extremely dull, on the grounds that Mr Aaronovitch’s honesty and probity were never questioned, m’Lud.


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1,213 thoughts on “Aaronovitch Blusters to a Well of Silence

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  • Resident Dissident

    More “reliable” reporting from the Russia Insider

    http://russia-insider.com/en/russia-bans-import-flowers-netherlands/ri8999

    The ban on Dutch cut flowers, which will reduce those available in Russia by 80% is all because of some nasty bugs. If you believe that you really will believe anything.

    Putin needs to tread very carefully on this – flowers are up there with vodka in the pleasures that make life bearable.

    http://dailyentertainmentnews.com/wpgo/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Vladimir-Putin-girlfriend-Alina-Kabaeva.jpg

  • Mary

    A hell brought to earth.

    You sense the feeling of a great upheaval of humanity taking place. Read this view from Kos and Bodrum.

    Kos, Bodrum, Desperate Refugees, and a Dying Child
    Andre Vltchek / August 1st, 2015

    Para gliders are flying over the stunning emerald sea. Summer hordes are descending on a Greek island of Kos from all corners of increasingly aggressive European Union. On the faces of visitors, there seems to be no regret, no shame, that Europe just raped and humiliated Greece, forcing its government to cancel democracy, instead succumbing to dictate of the mighty Germany and other dictatorial powers.

    Tourists are busy frying themselves, stuffing their stomachs with seafood and boozing up in countless cafes, bars and restaurants of the old city. Hotels and eateries are packed. It is yet another hot and sunny day. Crisis? What crises? Yes, it is somewhere… there, maybe in Athens, or maybe just outside the city center.

    /..
    http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/08/kos-bodrum-desperate-refugees-and-a-dying-child/

    I heard it said on Any Questions today that Greece has received 150,000 refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.

  • Giyane

    Peter Beswick: 31 July 2015 11.18
    “Giyane, are you sure?”

    Sock-puppeting is commonplace here, and the trolls will make mischief where they possibly can.

  • Giyane

    Mary

    More from your link:

    “In Kos, refugees are literally everywhere, but most of them are forced to sleep in the parks, or hide behind the bushes. There is no “official” camp here. Immigrants have been coming from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and several other countries that got destabilized by the Western interventions, sanctions and foreign policy.”

    Western Interventions, in this context means specifically the interventions made by nutcase David Cameron, in bombing Libya back to the middle-ages, starting the war in Syria and sponsoring Al Qaida and ISIS there, fast becoming even more dangerous than nutcase Tony Blair.

  • Mary

    Yes Giyane for ‘intervention’ read bombing and killing and for ‘conflict’ as in the ‘Israel/Palestine conflict’ read killing a captive people who resist a cruel Occupation.

  • MJ

    “The ban on Dutch cut flowers, which will reduce those available in Russia by 80% is all because of some nasty bugs. If you believe that you really will believe anything”

    A rather feeble diversion. The question, you may recall, was Litvinenko’s death, not flowers.

    Critical minds should be addressing the implications of the polonium found in numerous other locations, including Litvinenko’s plane and Berezosky’s office. Other sources refer to these findings but please try not to get sidetracked by the horticultural pages:

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/nov/28/russia.politics

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33678717

  • Resident Dissident

    MJ

    Some believe in fairies, ghosts, gods or what they read they read on Russian Insider and some don’t. I am in the latter category.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    MJ

    “A rather feeble diversion. The question, you may recall, was Litvinenko’s death, not flowers.”
    _______________

    ‘Fraid not, boyo.

    The question was Katyn (as raised by Goss) and Litvinenko was the diversion raised by the same Goss after he realised he’d made a fool of himself.

    And now you’re pursuing the diversion.

    Chump!

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    It’s the silly season alright!

    Courtesy of Mary, the following rant:

    “Para gliders are flying over the stunning emerald sea. Summer hordes are descending on a Greek island of Kos from all corners of increasingly aggressive European Union. On the faces of visitors, there seems to be no regret, no shame, that Europe just raped and humiliated Greece, forcing its government to cancel democracy, instead succumbing to dictate of the mighty Germany and other dictatorial powers.

    Tourists are busy frying themselves, stuffing their stomachs with seafood and boozing up in countless cafes, bars and restaurants of the old city. Hotels and eateries are packed. It is yet another hot and sunny day. Crisis? What crises? Yes, it is somewhere… there, maybe in Athens, or maybe just outside the city center.”

    _____________________

    Which raises the following thought: would the author of the cut-and-psste (and, by implication, Mary) prefer that tourists should avoid Greece, thereby putting Greece into n even worse economic position?

    Or, if they continue to go to Greece, should they perhaps bring along their own food and drink, thus depriving restaurant, cafe and hotel owners of badly-needed revenue?

    Imbeciles!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Mary says no to bicycle race in leafy Surrey,, golf tournaments and the Greek tourist industry.

    !/.

  • John Goss

    “Some believe in fairies, ghosts, gods or what they read they read on Russian Insider and some don’t. I am in the latter category.”

    And how is Vladimir Kara-Murza whose life was saved by Russian doctors? Putin poisoned him according to you and your sources. Some believe in fairies, ghosts, gods or what they read in The Interpreter and some don’t. I am in the latter category.

  • John Goss

    “‘Fraid not, boyo.

    The question was Katyn (as raised by Goss) and Litvinenko was the diversion raised by the same Goss after he realised he’d made a fool of himself.”

    Au contraire Noddy. I just responded to Ba’al who was diverting from MH17 which none of the troll brigade seem the least interested in. The Katyn massacre, which does need solving one way or the other, is ancient history in comparison to MH17. Nice that the Russians are forcing the hand of the Dutch Inquiry to tell the truth, which they must have known for some time. Cameron wants an inquiry to make it drag on and on. Some of us want to know what happened.

    So no trolling please. 🙂

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/127161425@N07/16930425877/in/dateposted-public/

  • Republicofscotland

    State backed Lloyds Banking group, have paid out a whopping £13 billion quid so far over the PPI scandal.

    The robbing banksters, who conned billion from the public with their insurance fraud scam, have been forced to set aside another £2 billion quid, as claims continue to bite.

    Todays banksters are no better than gangster ran loan sharks.

  • Republicofscotland

    WikiLeaks website has published documents that allegedly show that the US government spied on Japanese officials and Japanese companies.

    The four documents marked NSA and Top Secret, reveal internal Japanese discussions.

    A notation on the documents indicates that they were shared with Australia, Canada and Britain.

  • Republicofscotland

    I know someone posted the article on the firebombed baby in Palestine, re-reading a article on it fully opens up the horror of the mob attack.

    The perpetrators of such a barbaric and henious crime, which was carried out at Duma, must be apprehended sooner than later, justice must be done.

    Moshe Yaalon,must not shirk his duties, the world is watching.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    Mary

    “Please ignore the ignorant and pointless comment @ 4.54pm”
    ___________________

    Neither ignorant nor pointless.

    Tourism is one of Greece’s biggest earners – in fact, one of its few earners.

    The thrust of the article you kindly brought to our attention – and with which you obviously agree – is to slam tourists for having a good time in Greece. To see their presence there as somehow reprehensible.

    Without the tourist industry, Greece would be in even worse shape than it is this year.

    You really are an ignorant old misery, aren’t you.

    Remember what I wrote recently – an unremittingly negative approach to life and obsessive bitter thinking is bad for health….

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    “State backed Lloyds Banking group, have paid out a whopping £13 billion quid so far over the PPI scandal.

    The robbing banksters, who conned billion from the public with their insurance fraud scam, have been forced to set aside another £2 billion quid, as claims continue to bite.”
    __________________

    I should have thought that this would be good news.

    Why then do you seem so unhappy about it?

  • Republicofscotland

    “I should have thought that this would be good news.

    Why then do you seem so unhappy about it?”
    ______________________

    I’m unhappy at the fact no one has gone to prison over the mass selling of PPI.

    Imagine if Joe Bloggs company had masterminded such a deceitful plan, how many years in prison would he be looking at?

  • Habbabkuk (la vita e' bella)

    Mr Goss

    “I just responded to Ba’al who was diverting from MH17 which none of the troll brigade seem the least interested in.”
    _____________________

    On the contrary, Mr Goss, lots of people are interested. For the purposes of this blog and the credibility of its commenters, however, we are very interested in the reactions of those commenters – like yourself – who were postulating a hi-jacking to Diego Garcia and the imprisonment of crew and passengers there and whether those commenters will have the rgace to admit that they were peddling a nutty conspriacy theory should it turn out that the airliner in fact crashed into the sea.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “The Katyn massacre, which does need solving one way or the other..”

    _________________________

    It has already been solved, Mr Goss.

    But it is true that the Russians still need to come clean about the fate of the 40.000 or so other Polish officers and public figures who disappeared along with the 20.000 Katyn victims.

    Perhaps you could ask your “professor” friend to look into that?

    Fool!

  • Daniel

    “Moshe Yaalon,must not shirk his duties, the world is watching.”

    Since when have the neoZionist fascists cared what the world thinks?

    This will be another whitewash. The crocodile tears of Netanyahu when being interviewed after the killing, made me vomit.

  • Republicofscotland

    “Since when have the neoZionist fascists cared what the world thinks?

    This will be another whitewash. The crocodile tears of Netanyahu when being interviewed after the killing, made me vomit.”
    _________________________

    Im afraid you may be right Daniel, I just can’t comprehend what kind of people could do such a thing, so deep a hatred must come from somewhere, I’m no theologian, but I recall reading that Muhammed saw both Jews and Christians as allies.

    Yet very little common ground can be found today between Arab and Jew…why?

    ******************

    In the course of Muhammad’s life in Mecca, he viewed Christians and Jews, both of whom he referred to as “People of the Book”, as natural allies, sharing the core principles of his teachings, and anticipated their acceptance and support. Muslims, like Jews, were at that time praying towards Jerusalem.

    During the height of Muslim persecution in Mecca, Muhammad was offered the position of arbitrator in the highly diverse Medina, which had a large Jewish community.

  • fred

    “Ben, I wonder why they sent the flaperon to France. Surely it should have gone to Malaysia. ”

    Réunion is French territory. At the moment it’s just a piece of jetsam that may be some jet.

  • RobG

    I dunno if anyone’s posted this link already:

    Jimmy Carter: The U.S. Is an “Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery”

    https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/

    I could also add that the peanut farmer from Georgia was the only US president who had a background in nuclear engineering (with the US Navy). Carter is widely accredited with playing a key part in getting the 1979 partial meltdown at Three Mile Island under control.

  • MH17

    The devils,incl cameron, are trying to punt the inquiry into the 50 year long grass. The plane going to Asia was filled with fuel, a BUK/fuel explosion would have blown it to pieces (like the 911 scenario), but it was found mostly in two clusters on the ground, the flight crew was shot by a fighter plane.QED.

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