Herald forced to reconsider hasty article

877

I see The Herald were forced to reconsider Martin William’s hasty article, posted first online last night but now amended, where they repeat an erroneous claim that in 2001 Celtic claimed the word ‘hun’ is sectarian.  The current version of the article makes no such reference.

Much of what remains of the article is a random collection of quotes, appeals and one assertion by Williams that “Celtic warned fans they can no longer call Rangers fans ‘h***’ 14 years ago”, which appears to be based on a quote by then club employee John Cole’s etiquette requirement for a forum he administered.

This is a classic manipulative argument technique (and by classic I mean the ancient Greeks first identified it).  Take a statement by someone, for example:

The word f*** is not allowed on CQN, because the administrator acknowledged that it “can cause offence”.

Ignore the fact that the same administrator would never dream of chastising someone for using the word away from the blog, as the word is not inherently offensive as it does not, for example, offend at a comedy show.

State that some people believe the word to be inherently offensive in itself, or worse.

Build momentum for your argument by reminding readers that CQN’ers have been warned they can no longer use it, without issuing any caveats to the context.

Then allow your tenuous references to dovetail into an argument.

It’s an absurd and driven technique for the hard of thinking.  It is also patently transparent.

Celtic picked this matter up at the time of first publication and are considering their position in relation to various items published yesterday.

As a friend said last night, “What a sad little country”.

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877 Comments

  1. F.A.B. Virgil (WATRC) on

    Corkcelt

     

     

    Put Adblocker as an extension on your search engine. Works a treat.

     

     

    HH

  2. F.A.B. Virgil (WATRC) on

    since loading adblocker a few months ago I have apparantly not received 17,766 different ads (each site format represents 1 ad) so CQN page ad is only ever counted as 1. What a service to humanity that is.

  3. Captain Beefheart on

    Foghorn,

     

     

    Nonsense. There are amazing channels all over the world. As Public Enemy once said, don’t believe the biased BBC hype.

     

     

    Time to scrap the odious license fee. Their enforcers are huns.

  4. F.A.B. Virgil (WATRC) on

    kitalba

     

    09:55 on

     

    26 March, 2015

     

    RWE:

     

     

    My point was simply: don’t accept as true anything told to you by another without unequivocal proof.

     

     

    That’s religion down the Swanney then…….. :-)

     

     

    HH

  5. world peace is none of your business

     

     

    09:29 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    ‘somebody mentioned the tv licence earlier.the bbc meant to be the best channel in the western world…….last night on bbc1 at primetime an hour long programme about CASH GENERATOR and forty minutes later an hour long programme about KFC…talk about dumbing down.’

     

     

     

    ####

     

     

    I watched a wee bit of both programmes.

     

     

    I’m not sure they are evidence of any dumbing down at the BBC.

     

     

    In their own way they were both informative and reflected the real life experiences of a lot of people.

  6. Re. the BBC

     

     

    Anyone see the latest Louis Theroux documentary which aired on Sunday night?

     

     

    One of the best in his fantastic portfolio of work

     

     

    If you didn’t… get it on iPlayer

     

     

    New series continues this Sunday evening

     

     

    QUALITY viewing

     

     

    B-)

  7. Captain Beefheart

     

     

    10:21 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    ‘There are amazing channels all over the world.’

     

     

    ###

     

     

    Such as?

  8. Could make you many things I suppose. Gullible, trusting, naive, faithfull, careless, fatalistic, distracted, drunk, a co-conspirator …

     

     

    We should step up to the online bar and I’ll buy you a Bunnahabhain so we can chat more about it all :o)

     

     

    There was a side bar discussion yesterday about the ‘sad little country’ comment from Paul in his leader. The issue for me was not whether he was right or not, because that is very subjective for each of us, but whether the kind of Scotland that others seem to project (like at Hampdump during an international association football match) is challenged: not by us because we have challenged it for years, but by the regular man or wummin in the Edinburgh omnibus.

     

    Do they not see anything remotely odious about that projection of Scotland and the culture that produces it?

     

     

    The failure to challenge it by those who are neither excluded by it, nor are part of that group, is the same I think as the truth issue to which you refer. Many know that it is odious, would never dream of saying themselves (in public) but will perpetuate it by not challenging it.

     

     

    The saying about “evil thrives when good men (and women) do nothing” comes to mind.

     

     

    HH

  9. F.A.B. Virgil (WATRC) on

    However

     

     

    Recent wall to wall coverage of the Clarkson case a much better example of dumbing down both in programme content and news coverage.

     

     

    Nobody asked why he was not being dismissed rather than not having his contract renewed. I would expect most employees who assaulted another employee and sent him to hospital to be dismissed?

     

     

    HH

  10. foghorn leghorn on

    captain beefheart

     

     

    10:21 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    Foghorn,

     

     

    Nonsense. There are amazing channels all over the world. As Public Enemy once said, don’t believe the biased BBC hype.

     

    ———

     

     

    i dont believe anyones hype

     

     

    i make my own judgements

     

     

    thanks

  11. Captain Beefheart on

    Ernie,

     

     

    You are right. Only the BBC/British make good programmes and channels. Those foreign nobodies produce zilch. We still have a long way to go to embrace other cultures and to shake off our hunnish superiority in the West.

  12. ernie lynch and Captain Beefheart

     

     

    The right have been trying to privatise the BBC for decades. Its archive is priceless and the city types would enjoy another bonanza at the public’s expense.

     

    For all its faults, the BBC is still the world’s best broadcaster. The license fee is a nuisance but still good value.

  13. Captain Beefheart on

    Yeah, saw it Bhoylo. Not particularly revealing but worth a watch.

     

     

    Foghorn, you are of course entitled to disagree.

     

     

    Clarkson. Never watched Top Gear. Couldn’t care less. The Guardian is obsessed with him.

  14. Captain Beefheart on

    The BBC is a corrupt and bloated bureaucracy. Its salaries are obscene. Most of its output is crap which the private market can, and does, produce.

     

     

    Its methods of securing its tax are obscene.

  15. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    f.a.b.virgil (watrc)

     

     

    Clarkson was very good indeed at his job. Few better presenters of any form of magazine job.

     

     

    But-as you rightly say-that is no excuse for his actions. In any workplace,a guilty finding following investigation would lead to dismissal.

     

     

    Sad for him,sad for his fans. But a victory for common sense.

     

     

    On the other hand,Jim Delahunt lost his job. For an offence entirely unrelated to his job. I don’t think that is fair,plenty of people break the law and stay employed.

  16. Captain Beefheart on

    It is also excruciatingly smug and obsessed with itself.

     

     

    The notion that most foreigners venerate its output is deluded.

     

     

    Scrap it.

  17. Captain Beefheart

     

     

    10:34 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    Ernie,

     

     

    You are right. Only the BBC/British make good programmes and channels. Those foreign nobodies produce zilch. We still have a long way to go to embrace other cultures and to shake off our hunnish superiority in the West.

     

     

     

    ###

     

     

    You made an assertion. It’s not unreasonable that you be asked to furnish something to back it up with.

     

     

    So, which amazing channels were you referring to?

  18. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    GER57

     

     

    At the risk of sounding like the sketch from Not The Nine o’clock News,I’m quite happy to cough up the price of a pint a week for the BBC.

     

     

    Its radio output alone is worth that for me.

  19. Captain Beefheart

     

     

    10:41 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    ‘The BBC is a corrupt and bloated bureaucracy. Its salaries are obscene. Most of its output is crap which the private market can, and does, produce.

     

     

    Its methods of securing its tax are obscene.’

     

     

     

    ###

     

     

     

    What a well balanced and objective opinion.

     

     

    Is your screen flecked with spittle?

  20. Captain Beefheart

     

     

    10:46 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    ‘Ernie,

     

     

    Find your own way. Gett a satellite.’

     

     

    ##

     

     

    Any particular direction I should point the satellite?

     

     

    Russia perhaps?

  21. F.A.B. Virgil (WATRC) on

    BMCUW

     

     

    Did Delahunt not resign rather than being dismissed? Would need more detail on whether resignation was ‘pressured’.

     

     

    BBC took the ‘easy’ route of non-renewal rather than the ‘right’ route of dismissal?

     

     

    HH

  22. Captain Beefheart on

    Ernie,

     

     

    Not sure why you mentioned Russia. Some wonderful productions have been made there but they also have crap as you would expect.

  23. Captain Beefheart

     

     

    10:50 on 26 March, 2015

     

     

    ‘Mr LYNCH,

     

     

    Remind me, what do you think of Nats?’

     

     

    ##

     

     

    Well I think Einstein summed it up pretty well.

     

     

    “Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”

     

     

    So, spotty and feverish then, sounds about right.

     

     

    The NHS website says of measles that it ‘can be very unpleasant and can sometimes lead to serious complications’. Again, that sounds about right.

  24. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    I love international fortnights. As has been said,we really go to town on the most obscure and ridiculous topics.

     

     

    Rarely shirt on entertainment value,of course.

     

     

    Now,I believe that SKY are gonna charge £20-seven weeks of the licence fee,btw-to watch Mayweather v Pacquiao. Exclusive.

     

     

    Welterweight,of course. But lightweights compared to the heavyweight joust between Ernie and Beefy. Exclusively here,and free.

     

     

    Now that’s VFM,innit?

  25. Bulgarski:

     

     

     

    The land that gave birth to the legendary Orpheus and Spartacus. -))

  26. South Of Tunis on

    Cold and wet outside — dry and warm indoors . Watching Australia v India on an American channel ————-Great.!.

     

     

    The Beeb ————–?

     

     

    Superb in comparison to the Italian equivalent.

  27. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    f.a.b. virgil (watrc)

     

     

    Yes,he did. To be fair,I didn’t say he was sacked-though it was implied when I read it back.

     

     

    I genuinely don’t know whether he fell on his sword or was pushed. But IMO he was guilty of breaking the law,guilty of stupidity,guilty of whatever you like.

     

     

    But it should not have led to him losing his job.

     

     

    He doesn’t drive for a living. Nor is he a ‘role model’ for anyone. Other radio presenters joke about similar,live on air.

  28. BMCUWP

     

     

    Hi, mate. Sorry, can’t make the wee soiree at the Rupee Rooms tonight. Hope you and the rest of the lhads have a pleasant evening.

     

    HH