John Ward June 28, 2010 censorship, cowardly obfuscation, disgrace., guardian, repression of internet free speech, tragedy

MEDIA: How and why did the UK’s main liberal newspaper turn into an intolerant home of Leftist fascism?

Back in October 2009 when The Slog revealed Gordon’s pills and eyesight problems, The Guardian published a blog of mine. The comment thread was full of knee-jerkers asking why such a fine paper was giving freedom of speech to a Nazi. (They had gained this impression by listening to the slanders of Mandelson, Balls, Cocksure & Ptnrs).

At the time I had been corresponding privately with the editor. This now abruptly stopped. So too did any access to the Guardian blogs section, rather unfortunately entitled ‘Comment is Free’. Most things come down to money in the end; freedom of speech doesn’t. Freedom of speech goes out of the window directly after the arrival of narrow polemicists who believe the smears of Zanu Labour. These people not only don’t think outside the box: they’re determined nobody else shall. They are, after all, the inventor of the daftest philosophical invention in human history, political correctness.

Last week, the following message appeared on my Guardian commenting account:

This is a restricted account. Commenting privileges have been disabled.

What an absolutely splendid Freudian slip! Free speech has now, for the Left, become ‘a privilege’. Dear oh dear oh dear.

I’ve spent the time since then trying to get an answer as to why/on what basis this has happened. You will be unsurprised to learn that the usual weaselly pc hypocrisy and question avoidance has occurred in spades. This is the full transcript of exchanges – read it from the bottom up if you can be bothered…otherwise skip to the brief conclusion.

From: john ward [mailto:joward@wanadoo.fr]

Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 11:27 AM

To: ‘cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk’

Subject: My comment privileges

Importance: High

This is my final attempt to get an answer….

A disgraceful episode on the whole, chaps.

Well Paul

As there’s still no response on this question, I’m afraid I must suspect the worst.

Thanks for nothing. You may be a believer in the Good Man of Szechuan, but I’m not: thinking yourself noble is no excuse for fascist censorship.

Brecht isn’t my cup of tea.

From: john ward [mailto:joward@wanadoo.fr]

Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 7:15 AM

To: ‘Paul.Browne@guardian.co.uk’

Subject: FW: FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Importance: High

I’ve tried this address every which way, and this message keeps coming back.

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: FW: FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Sent: 6/24/2010 7:09 AM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk on 6/24/2010 7:09 AM

501 5.1.3 Bad recipient address syntax

Getting a bit bored with this, guys. I’d like an answer by mid-afternoon please, devoid of system-chasing and unusable addresses.

Don’t really care who it comes from, I just want to know the how and why of this.

Regards

From: john ward [mailto:joward@wanadoo.fr]

Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 7:09 AM

To: ‘cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk”

Subject: FW: FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Importance: High

From: john ward [mailto:joward@wanadoo.fr]

Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 7:07 AM

To:

Subject: FW: FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Importance: High

Still awaiting an answer on this.

Can you supply a credible explanation by 15.00 BST today please.

Many thanks

From: john ward [mailto:joward@wanadoo.fr]

Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 12:23 PM

To: ‘cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk’

Subject: FW: FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Importance: High

Scroll down and you’ll see I appear to be going round the houses a bit here.

It says on my Guardian page that my commenting privileges have been disabled.

Could you give me a straight answer in plain English please as to what this means and why it’s happened?

Thank you so much.

From: Paul.Browne@guardian.co.uk [mailto:Paul.Browne@guardian.co.uk] On Behalf Of userhelp.gu@guardian.co.uk

Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 10:43 AM

To: john ward

Subject: Re: FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Thank you for your email.

The community team is responsible for moderation services on guardian.co.uk. There is a small pool of dedicated moderators employed by Guardian News & Media, rotating duties and coverage across all community areas.

For questions about any aspect of moderation and community participation on guardian.co.uk, you can write to community.suggestions@guardian.co.uk or cif.moderation@guardian.co.uk (as appropriate).

Kind regards

User Help

guardian.co.uk

Guardian News & Media Ltd

Kings Place

90 York Way

London N1 9GU

“john ward”

22/06/10 18:07

<userhelp@guardian.co.uk>

Subject

FW: ‘Restricted Account’??

Hi

Could you read below please and supply me with an answer?

Thanks

JW

From: Anna.Ochagavia@guardian.co.uk [mailto:Anna.Ochagavia@guardian.co.uk] On Behalf Of media.enquiries@guardian.co.uk

Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 2:20 PM

To: john ward

Subject: Re: ‘Restricted Account’??

Dear John,

You need to contact the User Help department – userhelp@guardian.co.uk or 020 3353 2000.

Kind regards,

Anna

Press Office

“john ward”

22/06/10 11:30

<media.enquiries@guardian.co.uk>

Subject

‘Restricted Account’??

On my personal Guardian page, it says my comment privileges have been disabled.

Could you tell me please what this means, and why it’s happened?

Thanks

JW

There‘s not much to add to this sorry tale, really. The thing that saves Norman Tebbit from damnation is that, although he is hopelessly wrong in most of his judgements, he doesn’t mind other people saying that, writing about that – and even blogging in his own column about that. I know this, because I have done it.

The British libero-Left has now become so earnest, so convinced of its rectitude in all matters, so incapable of holding a dignified debate, I must very sadly (and I mean that) conclude that it represents the real and present threat to our rights in Britain.

I rarely say this, but I’d be grateful if you gave this piece the widest possible circulation through the myriad channels available.

There’ll be no further posts until tomorrow afternoon: I’m going away to think.

15Comments

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1

WANTED: Guardian bloggers | The Slog on April 28, 2011 at 5:39 pm

[…] Related: How did the Manchester Guardian become the Londoner Sturmer? […]

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2

Sebastian Meznaric on July 17, 2010 at 4:37 pm

Sadly, you are not the only one. My commenting privileges were suspended after I expressed disagreement with the libel law, so I assume that was the reason. I consider myself a leftie generally, but cannot condone this kind of censorship. Just to let you know the liberals are not all the same ;)

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3

Ethan on June 29, 2010 at 8:09 pm

Sod em all on CIF John. Irredeemable idiots…why would you want to bother with any of them.

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4

Miss on June 28, 2010 at 3:13 pm

In and of itself, complaining about your inability to post on "Comment is Free" is like complaining that you can't scribble above a urinal.Of more interest is why the Guardian's editor suddenly stopped your private correspondence after the publication of your blog.

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Chris on June 28, 2010 at 1:40 pm

This is a restricted account. Commenting privileges have been disabled.What an absolutely splendid Freudian slip! Free speech has now, for the Left, become 'a privilege'. Dear oh dear oh dear.The "commenting privileges" thing is a result of techie syntax, rather than an ideological position. It's an old piece of jargon that goes back to the 'big iron' days of mainframe computers, when each precious machine was guarded from the machinations of users by a jealous priesthood of sysadmins who considered access to processor time a privilege, not a right.(hmm, the parallels almost draw themselves…)@Caratacus: The last honest lefty died in 1949.

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Sir Henry Morgan on June 28, 2010 at 1:26 pm

JohnJoin the club. I'm on my sixth CiF account, and my brother, whilst still on his first has, to his credit, already spent several weeks on the naughty step.And when they ban you – which they eventually will do – it's a real Stalin-job. They erase all record of your existence.As Jonesy said "they don't like it up 'em" (unless he was talking about beef bayonets, of course, in the Graun's case). Who was Jonesy talking about? That's right.Talking about beef, Richard North (EU Referendum) has a beef going with them too.You know, don't you, that they wont tell you what the problem is. They never do.I suspect Zoompad may be correct over the reason for your blacklisting (am I allowed to say 'black'?). Each time I've been Stalinised was not because I was wrong, but always because I was right. They hate being PROVEN to be wrong.

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7

Zoompad on June 28, 2010 at 9:34 am

If opposing institutional child abuse, judicial corruption, embezzlement, perjury and human trafficking classes me as a Brummie lunatic, that's too bad.

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8

Zoompad on June 28, 2010 at 9:32 am

AB, I presume when you say "Loonies" you mean the thousands of Britiah parents battling against the secret family court human trafficking industry? I assume that you mean that anyone who strongly objects to having their children stolen by a gang of paedophile loving human traffickers and forcably adopted is a lunatic?

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9

AB of Monbahus on June 28, 2010 at 9:14 am

JW: Well, if you will get mixed up with the loonies !!!

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Caratacus on June 28, 2010 at 9:04 am

It is no use telling me that there are bad lefties and good lefties. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof. (with apologies to P.G. Wodehouse). Incidentally, I once mentioned dear old PGW in a comment on the Grauniad and some silly bugger (who had obviously never read about Spode of the Blackshorts) said, "Oh yes, PGW – that well known nazi".

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Zoompad on June 28, 2010 at 8:46 am

Kiwiathiest, as a Brummie I can't have you dissing our lovely earthy accent. At least we Brummies don't sound like we have swallowed a crate of marbles! You might not appreciate our dulcet tones, but there are many who do. Bear in mind how much glorious music would be lost if Brummies has not been invented – the Moody Blues, Barclay James Harvest, Slade – come on, surely you would not want to put us all back in the bottle?

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Zoompad on June 28, 2010 at 8:39 am

The reason you have been blacklisted is because you've upset them by talking about the secret family court childstealers, I reckon. Anyone who raises a whisper against these human traffickers is promptly dismissed as a Nazi or a lunatic, and swiftly silenced. So join the club, John. It's getting bigger and bigger!

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13

Kiwiatheist on June 28, 2010 at 8:32 am

The liberal left seems to be going down the same road as the religious. One hint of a contrary view, let alone a condemnation, and it's all shutters up and 'let's all play the deflection game'. Really, it says something about our society when The Daily Mash (www.dailymash.co.uk) has got a better handle on the news than most of our dailies.I would recommend New Zealand for those who have had enough of the UK. Yes, it has it's problems, but it's a country slightly larger than the UK with a population slightly smaller than Birmingham – and they don't speak with that ridiculous brummy accent!

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Anonymous on June 28, 2010 at 8:29 am

I beleive the word `tosser` adequately describes the sort of person you are trying to contact and elict an answer from. Unfortunately for the rest of us, you are surely correct in saying the Grauniad has lost the plot. It manages to pay head honchos a bewilderingly hig salary whilst annualy loosing untold sqillions. Surely this is enough to convince anyone they are bonkers?

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FrankFisher on June 28, 2010 at 8:27 am

Censorship is why I left Comment Is Free John – lefties can't help it. You know this – tho them, if you disagree with one of their fundamentals, you're not just wrong, or have different views, you're BAD PERSON, and BAD stuff should be banned. That's how it works. I'm in the middle of half a dozen feuds here, locally, simply for a local schooling squabble – and for opposing a schools merger I'm getting called a fascist, eugenicist, BNPer, by local Labour supporters.*They*, all Lefties, are the fascists of course. they're *all* totalitarians, it's the only way it can work. But will they ever see that? Nah.People talk about 1984 as being satire. At school, I could never grasp that. I got marked down for arguing against the point. It took me another twenty odd years before I grasped what was going on. They had to *insist* it was satire, not SF, because to accept it had a core of truth, was to accept that all socialism – not just madcap continental varieties – all socialism ends in tyranny. But, as Hayek pointed out, it does. There is no other path.Socialist know this – the last century cannot be read any other way. But they keep pushing it. Why? Well because they're evil. There's really no other explanation, is there?

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