Liz Jones: Boo hoo, I’m hated
Thought of the day, from lovely Liz Jones:
I hate that I can Google my name and instantly find out how many people dislike me.
Thousands, it turns out (try it yourself). Disappointingly, this blog only turns up on page three of Google - I'd prefer it to be the first thing that comes up when you search for 'Liz Jones', but that's a dream that will take a while to realise.
Meanwhile, it's easy for suspicion over her to be aroused by the screeds of nonsense she churns out every week. Surely she's just a spoof? Surely no human being could be as self-absorbed and less aware of the ridiculousness of what they're saying? Just as surely no-one could be as stupid as to link social networking websites with the Bridgend suicides?
As Dr Tyagi pointed out: ‘This is the age of the Bridgend suicides and what many of these young people had in common was their use of the internet.’
Oh. I see. Well yes, they all used the internet. Yes, but they all watched TV as well. And they all lived in Bridgend. Why use the global internet to blame something in Bridgend - you're saying that something global is responsible for something localised. Something is so powerfully influential on a *huge* and *scary* scale that it, er, only influences people in one particular Welsh town - is that it?
Ah, but Jones works for the British press, and is therefore starstruck by the 'doctor' at the start of Dr Tyagi's name - as if being a doctor is some kind of magical amulet that protects you from being wrong about things. Just as with the Sunday Express's shameful linking of Bridgend suicides with mobile phone masts, just a single person with Dr at the start of their name (or not, as it turned out in that case) is as good as concrete proof for easily impressed journos who haven't got a clue. No matter, either, that there are thousands of doctors who would completely reject such a link without the requisite evidence: we've found one who doesn't, and we're telling you about him.
It's lazy, it's sloppy and it's pisspoor journalism. But then, that's Jones for you. It's so tempting to think she's a spoof, but the sad truth is that she really is that stupid.
Hate you, Liz? No, that would be too harsh. I feel sorry for you.
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Hello. I'm a Bristol-based writer and soon-to-be-redundant journalist. You can read more about me and the Enemies site here, or follow me on Twitter. Email me if you like - antonvowl at live dot co dot uk
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January 24th, 2011 - 00:00
FWIW I hate her. She’s actively making the world a worse place.
The only possible defense is that she’s really, really stupid. But a stupid person who knows nothing about anything, being employed to write her “opinions” (everyone’s got one) for the consumption of a discerning public? In a tabloid newspaper? There must be a better explanation.
Perhaps it is them mobile phones. They should tear down most of the masts, just leaving enough capacity for important journalistic people to disseminate the truth on. It would of course need constructing far away, perhaps in the living room of a poor person with bad taste.