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October 25, 2004
Aren't these guys supposed to support gun control?
Charlie Brooker writes a regular TV column for the Guardian. In the conclusion to his Saturday piece, Mr. Brooker went on bit of a… well, a tangent, to say the least:
‘On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?’
The article apparently is no longer on the Guardian’s website, and they have apologized by ‘associating’ itself with Brooker’s claim that it was all just a joke:
‘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 Guardian claims that Brooker’s views do not represent those of the paper, and that’s fair enough. However, that the paper could run something that not only speaks to an astounding arrogance (is the whole civilised world really rooting for Kerry, or merely the social circles of self-important critics?) but also makes crass use of murderers for a cheap laugh begs the question: Exactly who is editing this stuff? The Guardian should enjoy the right to publish materials they may not agree with, but its readers should demand they hold themselves to at least a modicum of good taste and good sense. In an election year that has been especially polarized and out-and-out nasty, running pieces that long for a return of presidential assassins further cheapens the idea that elections can actually be about the civilised exchange of ideas. Whatever your politics, you deserve better from your daily.
(Thanks to A Small Victory for this.)
Posted by at October 25, 2004 10:49 AM
Comments
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld all regularly stand in front of the press and discuss killing people who stand in their way, and they are politely listened to, and they are serious.
A newspaper columnist *jokes* about killing George Bush, and is forced to retract it.
What's wrong with the world?
Posted by: Brian Murphy, Ireland at November 1, 2004 04:21 PM
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