23 Oct 2010

INADEQUATE, PIMPLED, SINGLE, SLIGHTLY SEEDY- JUST AN AVERAGE BLOGGER THEN.

Beyond annoyed ........ I'm angry, livid, seething, fuming - lets see what other words the thesaurus comes up with - irked, bothered, miffed, perturbed, aggravated. Shall I go on?

What has got me so annoyed I hear you ask? Andrew Marr (Boo' hiss) has.

Andrew, who??????

Andrew Marr - (Born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005.
He began hosting a political programme Sunday AM, now called The Andrew Marr Show, on Sunday mornings on BBC One from September 2005. Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week. In 2007 he presented a political history of post-war Britain on BBC Two, Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain, followed by a prequel in 2009 - Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain focusing on the period between 1901-1945. - Wikipedia.

Oh, that Andrew Marr, why didn't you say? Yes, that Andrew Marr - the very same Andrew Marr who has so annoyed so many bloggers.

(Risking) the wrath of the blogosphere by describing bloggers as "inadequate, pimpled and single", the presenter dismissed citizen journalism (yes, that's you and me) as the "spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night."
Marr told an audience at the Cheltenham literary festival "A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basement and ranting." (At least he has the ranting bit right.)
But Tim Montgomerie, the political blogger who founded and edited the ConservativeHome website, described Marr's comments as "lazy" and "ignorant," and said: "The elite of the blogs (Petty Witter's included. I wish) - in politics, religion, science, computing - is better than mainstream journalism. - John Plunkett and James Robinson, The Guardian. (READ FULL ARTICLE)

Ok, before anyone says it, I know I have taken this a little out of context in that Marr seems to be mainly referring to those who have blogs with a journalistic slant BUT how dare this man judge a whole group of people in this way. Not a particularly political person, most Sunday mornings (ok, every now and again) I'd find myself watching his show - not any more though.

Read what The Guardian's Krishnan Gurumurthy has to say in defence of bloggers by clicking HERE. Oh, and do be sure to leave your comments on the subject once you have drunk enough and managed to stagger to your mother's basement.

23 comments:

Arti said...

Agree with you completely, PW...
How can he tell that... And good that Tim have him am earful, Andrew must definitely be ignorant... Have a lovely weekend, anyways:)

Arti said...

And yes the new look of the blog looks good!!

BookQuoter said...

Just a tad annoyed are you? well, me too!!!

Love the new look, and I like the way you have organized it more!!!

chitra said...

What makes people pass comments like that. arrogance or ignorance?

Experimenting with new template and widgets, Good one PW.

Darlyn said...

that is so ignorance! how could he said that when here we are doing so much effort to serve the readers the best we get. it's not like i'm doing porn or something. urghh!

Su said...

Dang! That's what's wrong with my blogging-- I haven't been drinking enough!! Off to fix that, then!

Kavita Saharia said...

Blogs do far better work in presenting the real picture of any given subject - and often the interactive comment sections too are very educating .I think the other side feels threatened by the growing power of blogger.

Kelly said...

At first glance I find his comments quite arrogant and annoying, but then I just laugh and "consider the source".

Nina said...

Wow, he's harsh! :(

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Obviously he has never blogged before, because otherwise he wouldn't judge others in such an ignorant and crude way. He has no idea who we are, nor does he know about the amazing people who have blogs.

Shame on him for criticizing ANY group of people-he has no right to make an unfounded and ill-informed judgment on us or anyone.

SG said...

Love the new look. I agree with you. He is out of line in his opinions.

Kristina Barnes♥ said...

Wow, okay, I can see that a LOT of bloggers will toss this back in his face. And I hope they do. How very ignorant and arrogant of him to even mention that.

I'm off to head down to my mother's basement with two bottles of vodka to rant.

Suko said...

His comments are insulting and show that he's uninformed about who writes blogs and why.

Petty your new blog design is wonderful!

Revd. Neal Terry said...

I have written to Mr. Marr to assure him that my beloved is neither; male,single, bald, spotty, cauliflower nosed, seedy,does not imbibe alcohol at all, in spite of which she has a broad social circle, and is not posessed of a basement owning mother.
Shall I challeneg him to a duel?

NRIGirl said...

Oh! No! Whatever happend to your beautiful bookshelves?

I must tell you this, Maukie made me jump just now as I accidentally touched him... Laughing out loud.

Now back to the point, are the book shelves coming back anytime?

~ NRIGirl

dr.antony said...

They always come up with criticisms like this in the beginning.Blogging is relativly new.Like when they hanged the philosophers for saying the earth was round, things will pass on and get accepted. I believe that blogging is the future( My opinions do not matter!)What better way to express personal views and communicate with the world?

Misha said...

Woah! He does sound so bitter.Ignorant man!!
P.S Your new blog design is wonderful. Thank you so much for the Birthday shout-out!

nick said...

Professional journalists - at least some - look at bloggers as competitors, of course, and ask how can they compete? Bloggers write for free, on topics readers like and want, and in many cases they write much better than the "pros."

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Well, some interesting views.
Glad that you like the new look Pen and Paper. Sorry NRIGirl, the shelves will not be coming back any time soon - I really didn't like the colours.
How chivalrous of you Husband dearest but a duel really isn't called for.

Alexia561 said...

What a silly, silly man... Don't let ignorant fools raise your blood pressure!

Love the new look! Seems like everyone has remodeled lately, and now I'm looking at my template and thinking it's time for an update!

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Marr proves how irrelevant and insecure he is with his lack of insight about blogging. Pity his closemindedness.

The Bookworm said...

He is definitely ignorant.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Gina said...

Good grief! Sounds like a pompous if you ask me. Seriously....maybe once upon a time when it first started out but get with the times...SO many people have blogs now and from all walks of life. Come to think of it, perhaps he was describing his own experience with it, you know in his youth (as in "self description"). LOL! (jk...on that part at least)