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.
Laguerre. Could you tell us when Craig was on R4. Thanks.
Illustrating the point. Who is making the personal attack?
“Raul Hilberg, perhaps the leading authority on the Holocaust and an Austrian-born Jew, gave a figure of 5,1 million Jews (in a range between 4.8 and 5.4 million) as having been killed in the Holocaust. So obviously it is possible to question the 6 million figure without being an anti-Semite.”
I’m sure Raul Hilderberg is a respected scholar who has spent much of his life doing painstaking research in dusty archives before offering an opinion.
But for every Raul Hilberg there are thousands of neo Nazis who do their research here:
http://chrisspivey.org/holocaust-hypocrisy/
I see how my post may mislead people into thinking Raul Hilberg is still alive. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago. He was a great scholar and researcher, and, by defending the work of Norman Finkelstain, he showed courage.
Do you remember the reason he gave?
Offhand, no. Your argument, you find the link. Hammering an unvarying and unjustified nessage home is what neonazis do.
As you’ll just shy away from any serious questioning of your assertions, and continue banging on all night, I would imagine the reason was that the verifiable data strongly supports a holocaust having taken place and the numbers may well be right, so to argue against it is a pretty stupid thing to do. Which is my POV, and if I were in Scotland I would probably join the SNP.
“Offhand, no.”
I do.
Because Holocaust deniers tend to be neo Nazis.
July 29, 2015
UK ambassador to Germany named head of Foreign Office
http://on.ft.com/1H3NH7H
‘Sir Simon (McDonald) joined the UK diplomatic service in 1982, receiving Arabic language training before a posting to Jeddah in 1985.
He served in Bonn, Washington and Riyadh before returning to London in 2001 as principal private secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in the run-up to the Iraq war.
After a stint as ambassador to Israel, he returned to be director for Iraq at the Foreign Office from 2006-7.
From 2007-10, he was chief foreign policy adviser to the prime minister, Gordon Brown, and head of foreign and defence policy in the Cabinet Office.
His role in Downing Street was regarded as part of a return to the pre-eminence of the civil service and a shift away from the informal “sofa government” of Tony Blair.
Sir Simon told Britain’s Iraq war inquiry that the UK’s reputation in the Middle East had been enhanced by the conflict.’
At the time of posting, the latest from the Guardian…
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/29/jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership-campaign-momentum
The trolls in the reader’s comments are a wonder to behold.
And neonazis tend to be holocaust deniers. Circular argument, Fred. Adding nothing to your thesis. Though I am glad to see the implied caveat -“tend”- that some neonazis may not be. You can pehaps see where this leads. Craig agrees with you entirely, it would seem. Kindly admit that at least one paid-up, pro-independence SNP nationalist, Craig, isn’t a neonazi. The longest journey starts with a single step. We can do it together.
“Because Holocaust deniers tend to be neo Nazis.”
I agree. I do not defend Stalin. His purges against intellectuals in which even his own henchmen like Beria paid the final sacrifice.
http://russia-insider.com/en/katyn-massacre-soviet-crime-or-nazi-hoax-katyn-massacre-soviet-crime-never-took-place-katyn-massacre
Stalin did kill secret police chiefs like Yagoda and Yezhov. Beria, however, survived Stalin’s reign. He was killed in a power struggle with others of Stalin’s lieutenants, a few months after Stalin died.
From the last page
“PS, if he wasn’t close enough to see the beast was wearing a tracking collar, and/or didn’t suss it out first using binoculars, he shouldn’t be let out with a water pistol.”
The man’s a dentist, ffs I can see the lions mane is parted all around his neck, what did he think, Its a gold medal lion? He has a serious problem with his clients, a lesson he has to learn, these are not Victorian days.
Apropos Turkeys attack on Kurdish forces, in full knowledge that the Kurds did not get the arms they were asking for/needed weeks ago, In full knowledge that it was the Kurds who defended Kobani and won it back from ISIS which Turkey has so much favoured to get at Assad. Turkey is helping ISIS and they do not know what they have unleashed.
Obama has provided proof that ISIS is a NATO protected species not to be attacked by the Kurds, who loyally done what they needed to do.
Now, should we expect the great persecution of Kurds over the borders into……Iran, by ISIS? Kurdish people always used Irans mountain territory to safeguard themselves and survive.
Does this mean NATO/USUK have the imperative to bomb ISIS forces fighting Kurds on Iranian soil?
“Kindly admit that at least one paid-up, pro-independence SNP nationalist, Craig, isn’t a neonazi.”
I’m not the one saying Craig is anything, you are the one doing that.
But considering the word “Nazi” is an abbreviation of “Nationalist” and “Socialist” which of those two are you saying he isn’t?
Friedrich Ebert was a nationalist and a socialist. He was no Nazi. Otto Braun was a nationalist and a socialist. He was no Nazi. Kurt Schumacher was a nationalist and a socialist. He was no Nazi.
Fred – kindly stop trolling this blog with your “Nazi!” screeching.
Fred’s playing wordgames.
Then there’s cultural labelism, heavily ladelled.
No analysis. No history. Nothing but wordgames.
And still, they come coming.
==============
Good stuff there RobG on the vaccuous alternatives to Corby.
He’s a human against the robots.
Not exactly a hard sell, “on the doorsteps”.
But he’s the devil himself, according to the lefty BBC, and the metro-lefties at Ch4 News.
Ba’al
I’m a member of SNP…. i cant be arsed with this shit.. Any sane. Paying attention Types… Like Most Aroon Here, Know the fkn Difference Between Evil And Good. And also Any one questioning Certain Truths – Like the History of The ” Corpse of Japan ” And Politicians Fancy words… Nature is Doomed ..
But i found this….Long live Palestine Too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-uLwPCS16I
Funnily enough, Tony, I reached more or less the same conclusion just before reading your post.
Fred isn’t stupid. It’s just a silly intellectual game, to keep finding trivial comparisons between Nazis and whoever you don’t like. Back in the day, a correspondent on Usenet (talk.politics.animals, as it happens) vehemently argued that vegetarians were all Nazis, on the grounds that Hitler was one. He didn’t like people opposed to his practice of vivisection, so he twisted his thinking sufficiently to conclude that they (and all vegans/vegetarians) were Nazis. And he produced long arguments to prove the point.
Fred’s like that. But while it’s OK to call decent socialists who are proud of their country Nazis, he gets right in your face if politely asked if he happens to be of a right wing persuasion himself. He will also insult you personally a lot, when subjected to mild criticism.
Fred will also tell flat out untruths, and say a group of people actually snapping a Sieg Heil are “waving at something in the sky” – a comment which does not meet the laugh test. He doesn’t believe it – but says it anyway.
So, unfortunately, I conclude Fred is trolling, and not acting in good faith. He’s had a good run at this silly game, and it’s time to move on.
Fred, I didn’t know Spivey was a holocaust denier. Thanks for pointing it out. It doesn’t surprise me; Spivey’s dishonest enough, and his looks and language are both typical of right-wing thugs.
Fred’s opponents – some of you shouldn’t let yourselves get wound up so easily. Every group has its supremacists, therefore there will be some Scottish supremacists, and of course these will be supporting the SNP, especially at present. Instead of having a go at Fred, who will just delight in provoking you even more, you should be more rigorous in your arguments and more critical of suspect ideas from some of your supporters.
RepublicofScotland, I hope you’re going to denounce Spivey after this?
As always Clark, you are far too kind and generous.
Fred likes to spend his time at cesspits like breitbart.com, looking for their highly disingenuous take on anything approaching socialism (indeed, anything short of fascism), and start quoting their monstrous ravings.
No – alternative views I understand, and can often respect. Willful misinterpretation, not so much.
*
Spivey – indeed, nothing more needs saying about that train-wreck and his miserable supporters. Sad that people can be moronic enough to see his “alternative” perspective as the truth – I wonder if a simplistic either/or might be at play here? Official Truths are obviously lies, so someone calling them on it and providing some alternative surely must be credible? (Neglecting the obvious BS of Spivey, and that there are further alternatives.)
Party politics can be dangerous stuff, because its essence is to get a group of people to all support the party position in order to consolidate power and thereby achieve objectives. If a bad idea gets promoted things can turn very nasty.
For instance, New Labour came to power in 1997 offering an “ethical foreign policy” with Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary. Somehow, by 2003, the great majority of New Labour MPs supported Blair and Bush’s illegal attack upon Iraq, and the electorate returned New Labour to power at the next election.
In 2002 and 2003 I spoke to people all over Scotland, promoting independence. A significant minority favoured independence but didn’t like the SNP. I argued that a Yes result would reduce SNP popularity; Fred was one of the people that didn’t take any notice. In the event, the No result greatly increased support for the SNP.
It has now become vital that SNP supporters pressure the SNP to keep its policies and ideology appropriate for the moderate majority. Rather than indulging group-think, vigilance against extremism should be encouraged. Really, people like Fred should become an SNP members to gain more influence, but sadly that seems unlikely.
2002 and 2003? Late night brain failure, apologies. 2013 and 2014.
Glenn, one of the first questions I asked Fred when I met him was “what proportion of your comments are intended to wind people up”? His face erupted into a huge grin, and he said something about him not being responsible for other people’s foolishness.
“what proportion of your comments are intended to wind people up”? His face erupted into a huge grin, and he said something about him not being responsible for other people’s foolishness…..
So Is Funny…..
in Hind Sight… It’s NOT Fucking Funny
Norman Finkelstein: The Whole Point of OPE Was to Leave “Families Under the Rubble.”
28 July 2015
Has Amnesty International Lost Its Way? (Part 6) A forensic analysis of Amnesty’s reports on Operation Protective Edge
https://www.byline.com/project/13/article/205
~~~~~~~
Those who weren’t killed are still living IN the rubble. No reconstruction has taken place in Gaza. Even the BBC say so.
‘In the year since the 50-day conflict with Israel, which saw thousands of Gaza’s buildings reduced to rubble, not a single destroyed home has been rebuilt.
Israel and Egypt maintain tight border restrictions on the coastal enclave, which have severely hampered reconstruction efforts. They say these are needed for security.
Although the UN brokered a deal to ease building material imports, progress has been slow. Over 100,000 Palestinians remain homeless.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33329472
8 July 2015
The attack dogs are still going for Jeremy Corbyn.
‘Labour First call on Progress to recommend transfer votes to stop Corbyn
27th July, 2015
Labour First, the group that represents the non-New Labour moderate flank of the party, has written an open letter to Progress chiefs Richard Angell and John Woodcock MP, calling on them to support tactical voting to stop Jeremy Corbyn. Earlier this month, Progress endorsed Liz Kendall in the leadership race.
The letter is signed by Labour First’s chair, Keith Dibble, secretary, Luke Akehurst, and MP John Spellar. It is addressed to Woodcock, as chair of Progress, and Angell, as director, and expresses concern that Progress “have not recommended use of second and third preferences to stop Corbyn”. They warn that “Jeremy Corbyn represents the most serious threat of a Hard Left victory in the Labour Party” in 30 years.’
YCNMIU.
http://labourlist.org/2015/07/labour-first-call-on-progress-to-recommend-transfer-votes-to-stop-corbyn/
Mary Cheers…
His Debates with assholes are something to behold…
Genocide…
Try this –
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/07/threatens-resulting-genocide
Brian, as usual agree with you. I poke Fred for my own entertainment, though. I really shouldn’t do it, but it is my earnest hope that I am improving his command of logic in the process…
Centrica owns British Gas.
British Gas’s residential arm’s profits doubled this year.
Centrica is cutting 6000 jobs, because the group as a whole showed a drop in profits.
Wouldn’t it be better if British Gas were not owned by Centrica, and the domestic customer did not have to subsidise a global octopus? If its policies were not determined by a massive central brueaucracy…for which it was paying?
After all, if British Gas were owned by the government, exactly that would be argued by the City in aid of privatisation.