A World Without Iain Dale
Iain Dale of Fox News Lite 18 Doughty Street is very pleased with himself. Have a look at his claims. Now let’s look at those in detail.
* Today it is the second most popular political video on Youtube
not any more – it’s been overtaken by BLEACH 116 FULL and Goth vs Emo Rap Battle. Do watch them – they’re excellent political commentary.
* It is the 23rd most viewed video on Youtube today
behind such worthy examples of political discourse as ‘Will it Blend? Glow Sticks‘ (does what it says on the tin) and Boobs.
* It is the 20th top rated video on Youtube
behind ‘Will it Blend? Glow Sticks‘ and ‘elvemage pk video 10 runescape‘. Now, I enjoy the game of RuneScape, but it is hardly major political discourse.
* It has been viewed 30,000 times on Youtube and 20,000 times on our own website
With less than the wonderful blended glowsticks and with less than Boobs.
* It has 770 comments on Youtube
More than any other. Congratulations to 18 Doughty Street for debating Politics for Adults, and bringing us such insightful exchanges as
digital1970: As an American who hasn’t been brainwashed by politically correct patriotism, I’ve gotta say this is a load of crap.
Arpege1962: “As an American who hasn’t been brainwashed by politically correct patriotism” No, you’ve been brainwashed by politically correct anti-Americanism.
TheManWhoShotLiberty: Aren’t you late for some kind of communist rally?
Badge 64: You must mean a Hillary Clinton rally or how about a Barac Obama rally? Liberal garbage such as yourself sucks the big one!
crowsting123: Lovely, another member of the “blame America” crowd…
* It is the most commented on video of the day in the political section
Can’t deny that. See the comments above.
* It is the third most commented on video on the whole of Youtube today
Ditto. Lots of people commented, so it shows up as having lots of comments in more than one place.
* Fox News (the real one) are featuring it tonight
Ah, so you are Fox News Lite! All the bias – half the news. I congratulate the 18 Doughty Street team for a smooth production; it does look good. It catches the eye, like many things on YouTube, but is ultimately appealing to people’s desire for an amusing viral during their lunchbreak or to take them away from writing another report for a few seconds. It is rather like London Lite – dropping in right wing propaganda when you’re knackered.
Personally, I would welcome 18 Doughty Street if it did what it said it was doing – ‘Politics for Adults’. However, they are producing assertions, attack ads and pretending to be unbiased. I don’t mind media with an opinion – I mind opinion being dressed up as fact. It would be as true to say (as you are presenting a counterfactual) that a world without America would not have had US influence in South America, or that Britain would be in a stronger military position circa 1812 because of not having had a war with the US and would have been more successful in the Great Game, putting the Russian Empire on the back foot and therefore preventing the rise of the USSR.
Politics for Adults means, if it is not just a PR-job, open debate, transparency of objectives, sound methods, being prepared to change your position and not mistaking, as Mick McGahey said of Arthur Scargill, a mass meeting for a mass movement.
If Iain wants to say that ‘the role of the US since 1918 has been generally positive’, he should come out and make the argument, rather than forcing people into an all-bad or all-good answer. I think the world is better for the US’s actions – I’m happy to take up the argument. I don’t think that it is all good and, to avoid making repeating previous mistakes, we should see a nuanced picture so that we can follow the good and improve on the bad. I’m sure JS Mill said something along those lines.
xD.
PS Stalin was evil, but at least sort your dates out – the first clip says that “General Secretary Stalin was in Paris today” with a caption saying 1959. Stalin died in 1953. I know that’s pedantic, but hey, I’m a pedant.
February 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I agree. The video seems rather simplistic to me. Hardly ‘politics for adults’ – more like politics for partisan right-wingers!
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I see it is positioned at a lofty 21st most watched politics video on today’s youtube, just behind a feature, in polish, on the polish parliament. It’s a landslide!
February 26th, 2007 at 10:29 am
I keep hearing this shocked “but they said they wouldn’t be biased” from left-wingers about Doughty Street. When did they ever say that?
Their position was always that they were biased but that it was preferable to be open about that, in contrast to the BBC, then try to remain open to left wing opinions through guests etc. I agree with them that their open bias is far less pernicious.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Also, the circulation of the New Statesman is 30,000… I know its not directly comparable but probably close enough that it should cause you to think again about dismissing Dale’s numbers so lightly.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:28 am
You didn’t hear a shocked ‘but they said they wouldn’t be biased’ from me. I welcome people having opinions, but Dale is trying to claim more than he’s actually achieving. There’s a difference between 30,000 views on YouTube and New Statesman every week.
xD.