Yes, I think on the whole that Ian Welsh is a total tit!

Who he, you demand to know?  Well, for starters, Ian Welsh appeared briefly, very briefly, in my blog roll in which I indicated, using my ultra sophisticated(!) code system that I only read him occasionally and that his content was questionable.  He's an out and out Leftie, you see, so naturally I would tend to question anything he wrote.  Still, I have been searching for some Leftie blogs, civilised ones, that is, in the hope of being able to enjoy some lively conversation and at first I thought he was one.  Oh dear, wrong, again!

I left, or if you prefer, deposited, some comments which seemed to pass without too much reaction and, beginning to think that, at last, I had found a civilised North American Left-wing blog. I decided to place him on my blog roll.  No sooner done than I was censored and banned!  I sent him the following letter:

Dear Mr. Welsh,

I attempted to leave a further comment on your site but I suspect I am now well and truly banned.  In it, I wondered why, given that whilst my comments are sometimes tart, they are never personal, gratuitously offensive, use foul language, abuse or whatever, and yet you censor them? 

I am curious as to why it is that you (and others, mostly on the Left but no doubt you have your counterparts on the Right) find it so repugnant to converse with someone who has opposite opinions from your own?  I mean, why bother to blog at all?  Blogging is after all, a means of offering up a ‘space’ for public discourse so why do you shy away from it like a frightened mare? 

Also, I am curious as to how a man who no doubt considers and describes himself as a ‘liberal’ justifies to himself the act of censorship, not aimed at words considered illegal or libelous or offensive, but against ‘mere opinion’?  How do you do it?  And if you cannot face an opposite opinion, why bother to blog at all?  Surely it would be simpler to just e-mail yourself every morning! 

‘Jest askin’!’ 

By the by, only a few days ago I re-organised my blog roll and included your link and now you have gone and disappointed me – tut, tut! 

David Duff

Needless to say, reply came there none.  I should have suspected something like that from a man who describes himself as "an editor, writer and social media consultant" although the editing jobs he lists are all in the past.  And what is a "social media consultant" when it's at home?

A few years ago I used to have a running post headed "The Street of Shame" which listed all the Leftie sites which banned me.  In the end, the list became so extended I gave up.  Pity, because that's where this particular 'social media consultant' belongs.

Incidentally, the honour of American blogdom is still upheld by Fallen Monk and Why Now, both of whom, through gritted teeth, I'm sure, continue to accept my comments.

 

Comments

[Andra]

Try not to fret too much about this.
Is it really important in the great scheme of things?
Nyet, baby, nyet!

[David Duff]

It's bad manners and that always irritates me.