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The news about Mr Metokur made me think of the very recent passing of the British journalist Victor Lewis-Smith. They shared the same anarchic, nihilistic approach to the area of ‘culture’ they each inhabited. Lewis-Smith famously prank-called Princess Diana pretending to be the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, and sent both of them up mercilessly yet not cruelly. Lewis-Smith hated Ricky Gervais’s The Office (totally agree with him on that) and loved the slapstick sit-com Mrs Brown’s Boys (hated by the BBC). As you’ll recall Morgoth, Lewis-Smith wrote for The Guardian back when it was still a half-decent newspaper that allowed some diversity of opinion. Mr Metokur and Lewis-Smith’s brand of humour is increasingly in the firing line of the woke police. The world will be a dull place without them.

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In a way such people are an actual sensible centre in the sense they hold both extremes to account. I don't think it's a tenable position, but I can at least appreciate the objectivity and willingness to entertain different ideas to some degree.

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Totally agree. We need these characters; whether we always agree with them is irrelevant. It’s the dreadful, oppressive conformity of opinion that I find very hard to live under these days. When I was very young, the BBC were still screening the latest work by Dennis Potter, an English playwright who really divided opinion. His work would be challenged by some and defended by others. But that sphere of discussion held the centre ground.

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In the mid-late 1990s, I was a van courier working in Central London and I would buy The Times, The Guardian and The Evening Standard every day. It's hard to express to anybody under 40 just how important domestic politics seemed back then and how exciting buying the latest paper was when you had no idea what the stories would be until you opened it on most days. By 6pm, the passenger-side footwell was just a ball of well-read newspapers, Ginsters' pasty bags and Regal cigarette boxes.

Journalists just seemed to be fairly ordinary people. Perhaps a little more dishonest and sharp-elbowed than most men and women you would meet in London but not by much. You could certainly imagine having a drink with some of them and occasionally you would do, in profitable pubs that were loud, boisterous and which offered little in the way of food other than a rack of Scampi Fries and perhaps something pickled in a big jar.

This video provides some of the last footage of hacks at work, before they stopped occasionally sneaking in and out of hotels with Propaganda and foolishly slipped a sparkling ring on her finger...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb6o4MzOcgk

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I’ve never been much for the drama scene but always respected Metokur’s talent. What you say about his GenX sensibilities is true, it was quite the treat to see the Zoomer e-celeb irony approach more than meet its match in a “bloodsport” last year. He scored a W for the O.G.’s.

The “dead internet” is a real problem. Half the time it seems like Twitter is a better search engine than Google to find what you’re really looking for. But you of all people know how increasingly walled off the bird-app has become, despite the promises of Space/Rocket Guy.

I think the Metokur style of ridicule still has its utility. In some ways “owning the libs” is more important now than ever. Critiquing and lampooning sacred cows was a large part of how we got where we’re at now. There’s no reason to think this tool wouldn’t be useful to course correct.

As the kids say, I’ll press F for Jim when the time comes. God bless.

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I find Google to be nigh on useless for anything political. It's decent enough for normie stuff, like yesterday I looked up how healthy lentils were after a hearty broth, I don't think that would be lies. But anything political or controversial is carefully curated.

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Google can give you a very good indication of whether there is a kernel of truth to something that most people would regard as fanciful. Search for websites that question any of the widely-accepted wisdom regarding certain aspects of WW2 and you will only find ones that are at great pains to tell you that there are no rocks to look under.

A search for 'flat earthers' yields similar results. Not quite the mile-high brick wall, but a good 6-feet of barbed wire. A great deal of work and money has been spent on debunking what I presumed were just the rantings of 3 or 4 balding Yes fans who also campaign to get Yahoo! GeoCities back online.

I don't find their arguments very convincing, but it certainly appears they have struck a nerve. Maybe they are completely wrong, but our planet (?) is nothing like we believe it to be? All my information on this sort of thing comes from scientists and the media. I'm becoming increasingly inclined to trust neither.

On the other hand, a Google search for astrology (I would estimate well over a billion people place a great deal of faith in the practice) returns mainly links to sites that are making money from the influences of stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events. Nobody seems to be putting much effort into debunking that.

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what u got against balding Yes fans, mf

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How sausages are made was an underated piece of work by him . To the point and brutal .. it could of saved a lot of young lives from destruction

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Yeah that was too much for me.

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I found some of his deep dives into assorted lolcows a bit tedious but his obvious amusement at their antics was infectious. His "reaction" video to that elephant in the room thing by TR's handlers was an absolute treat.

I think what has stirred me emotionally about his "retirement" is that it feels like a member of the tribe, knowing his end is near, has opted to wander out into the wilderness to meet his end out of sight. We won't know when he actually dies, so it adds another layer of mystery to him, schrodingers shitposter you might say.

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I never really knew who or what drama he was on about half the time but he was always an entertaining listen. He'll be missed.

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