kevin myers goes to the indo (1 Viewer)

[JohnnyRaz]

anyone have any opinions about this?
he'll be one among many ranters with chips on their shoulders there!
I personally going to miss him in the times. Although I only ever agreed with about 1% of what he wrote there was almost something of the sodden granduncle about him in the way he would keep regurgitating rant.
Reckon I like george hook for the same reason.
They have lara marlowe in the diary today, hope she becomes a regular, shes one of my favourite journalists

 

[jane]

I hate Kevin Myers with every last fibre of my being, and I'm really glad he's going far away from the Times. He's worse than John Waters because John Waters is obviously just coming undone, and in such a public way that I feel quite sad for him.

Kevin Myers, on the other hand, should be bound and gagged and dropped in Darndale with his 'bastards' column stapled to his forehead and that fucking backhanded bullshit apology rolled up and shoved in his hairy ass.

 

[ICUH8N]

I like Lara too. I feel the same as you about Mr Myers. I usually read him for his style, and for perverse enjoyment, effectively never because I agreed or identified with his sentiments (though one column last year about cycling fatalities stands out as being excellent)
I saw the rerun of his interview with Ryan Tubridy last night, he was in tears as he described receiving death threats after his "bastards" article. He was also saying that the PIRA had talked about "having him taken care of" on at least two occasions, which leads me to conclude that either
A) He is mad
B) I have no idea what's going on

Possibly a combination of the two. Anyone care to cast some light on the whole PIRA thing?

As for the indo, it deserves no comment.

 

[Jerry Twig]

[jane] i admire the fact that he can wind people up so much, which is his staple. if you are confident in your point of view then why would you let such twaddle get to you?

he's an idiot sure, but such an idiot that i could never be bothered by his shite.

 

[Jerry Twig]

Possibly a combination of the two. Anyone care to cast some light on the whole PIRA thing?

As for the indo, it deserves no comment.

that's not too difficult. he is without doubt the most outspokenly anti-IRA, anti-Republican, anti-Sinn Fein political affrontery (as far as he sees it anyway), anti-'Celtic jersey wearing sectarian mentality' journos in Ireland. he's written about it a hundred times, and he's a jolly good ol pal of the Protestant ascendency.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

He's worse than John Waters because John Waters is obviously just coming undone, and in such a public way that I feel quite sad for him.

I dunno, myers quite clearly seems to have left reality behind a while ago to dwell in a boys own fantasy of brave tommies going over the top into the teeth of machine gun fire from the beastly huns!
And boy does he like to sock it to those shinners! And most of his opinions on women/immigrants etc either ridiculous or phrased in such emotive ranting and sometimes childish language that its difficult to take him seriously.

 

[ICUH8N]

Yeah, but Myers is just incredibly insulting/narrowminded/anachronistic, a bit like your mad gin-soaked uncle ranting on about wogs and bog-trotters &c and recalling how he was in the black hole of Calcutta (I don't have one of those uncles) A lot of what he writes is just hyperbole and puffed-up ranting, with occasional forays (he would call them "sallies") into the territory of subverting by means of affrontery, highly unamusing and tired examples of which can be seen on thumped.com every day.

By contrast John Waters is just an idiot, and a prick.

 

[jane]

[jane] i admire the fact that he can wind people up so much, which is his staple. if you are confident in your point of view then why would you let such twaddle get to you?

he's an idiot sure, but such an idiot that i could never be bothered by his shite.

Because I think these things are about context. Posting mad shit on internet message boards is one thing, but that his insane rantings have ever been included in the 'paper of record' has always bothered me.

For one, a lot of people do take him seriously, and two, there are connections between irresponsible journalism and media coverage and stirring up shit in the world outside of the printed page. It's not a matter of free speech/censorship, but I have always thought it was irresponsible of the Irish Times to give him a platform for his hatemongering. "Oh, I was just joking," blah blah blah. Dude, if your 'hilarious jokes' have to involve hurting people, then really, are they all that funny?

He's not provocative, he's a dangerous prick who succeeded in Ireland because he knew the right people. His column in the Telegraph after Susan Sontag died, titled "I wish I had kicked Susan Sontag" was a fucking insult to every last human on earth.

Myers picks on people who don't have as much of a voice as he does, but it's the newspapers' fault they give him an outlet. If, say, after his bastards column, they gave the ID over to a single mother to provide counterpoint, or if they ever allowed other columnists or journalists to provide alternative viewpoints in the Irishman's Diary (rather than just leave them to fight over column inches in the Letters), then I'd have less of a problem.

 

[krystal]

the indo = good enough for him. I'm surprised it's not the 'irish' daily mail.

 

[ICUH8N]

he was reputedly in talks with the 'i'dm at one point...

 

[JohnnyRaz]

he was reputedly in talks with the 'i'dm at one point...

who'd win in a fight between gene kerrigan and kevin myers?

 

[JohnnyRaz]

myers picks on people who don't have as much of a voice as he does, but it's the newspapers' fault they give him an outlet. If, say, after his bastards column, they gave the ID over to a single mother to provide counterpoint, or if they ever allowed other columnists or journalists to provide alternative viewpoints in the Irishman's Diary (rather than just leave them to fight over column inches in the Letters), then I'd have less of a problem.

I personally always found the fact that the times provided column space to other writers of varying views who made their points in sensibly and consicely showed myers up as what he was.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

who'd win in a fight between gene kerrigan and kevin myers?

Myers.

I don't like Gene Kerrigan and I find George Hook grotesque.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

Myers.

I don't like Gene Kerrigan and I find George Hook grotesque.

me too, but strangely enthralling, hes a complete carricature of himself

 

[jane]

I personally always found the fact that the times provided column space to other writers of varying views who made their points in sensibly and consicely showed myers up as what he was.

Yeah, but I think Myers sometimes crossed a dangerous line, and the editors should have refused to publish these things, rather than show one of their columnists up as a caricature. I don't think they kept him on because he was some big joke, but because his bullshit sells papers. Most of the time, his insanity was pretty harmless -- and every so often, he actually said something interesting -- but there have been times when he's just used his column as a platform to say things that have been really damaging, sometimes to a small group within society, sometimes to large numbers of people. Sure, he has a right to express those opinions, but I think a responsible newspaper editor has a responsibility to be very careful about who gets the chance to air that shit in the 'paper of record'.

Being provocative in order to make a point is one thing, but he often just stirred the shit because he could. The only thing more dangerous than someone who really believes the hateful things they say is someone who doesn't believe them, but says them anyway just because they can.

 

[dudley]

john waters on that RTE daily debate programme, i forget the name, giving out about how dare critics ever criticise anything, was quite the spectable.

"but john, you used to be a critic yourself?"

"i never used to say anything about what i was reviewing though!"

um.....

 

[spiritualtramp]

I think Kevin Myers is a wonderful journalist.

Single mothers living with partners are now entitled to housing benefits as a result of his "bastards" article. The law was changed as a result of the outcry that article produced. There are not many journalists that can get laws changed so quickly as a result of one column.

His point in the bastards article was that those children were treated like bastards by the state. The article shamed the government into changing benefit laws.

Hate him all you want but that piece made a very very positive contribution to single mothers, fathers and childrens lives.

 

[c0De_n1NjA]

I think Kevin Myers is a wonderful journalist.

Single mothers living with partners are now entitled to housing benefits as a result of his "bastards" article. The law was changed as a result of the outcry that article produced. There are not many journalists that can get laws changed so quickly as a result of one column.

His point in the bastards article was that those children were treated like bastards by the state. The article shamed the government into changing benefit laws.

Hate him all you want but that piece made a very very positive contribution to single mothers, fathers and childrens lives.

I love hitler cuse he made people think about anti-semitism.

 

[ICUH8N]

I think Kevin Myers is a wonderful journalist.

shocker.

 

[spiritualtramp]

I love hitler cuse he made people think about anti-semitism.

Godwins law.

Myers article led to the swift change of the rules on single mother living with their partners. The awww diddums crowd can bitch and moan about Myers being a cunt all they want but the fact is that bastards article made a very positive contribution to the lives of single mothers.