BBC bias: some get it, some don't

Here is the redoubtable Craig Murray (the Ambassador we recalled from Tashkent because for some unfathomable reason he wasn't prepared to stop complaining about political dissidents' being boiled alive by one of Tony Blair's business buddies) on the BBC's reporting of the invasion of Gaza.

Of course, some people prefer to live with blinkers on. Back in July, the ludicrous Adam Holland replied to one of my comments with a screed of untruths ending with

If you see BBC as being pro-Israel, that says quite a bit about your extreme anti-Israel bias. Try citing examples if you can find any to make your case.

Once I'd stopped laughing I duly supplied him with a list of examples, along with other rebuttals, which he duly ignored completely. As in, didn't allow through "moderation". Shortly after that I realised that Holland is one of those fools who believes the way to conduct debate on the internet is to start an argument, then either wilfully misinterpret your interlocutor or just make stuff up, then suppress any further replies to make it seem that you've vanquished the foe with the power of your logic. Jeez. I give Judith Weiss credit for not stooping to that level at least: she may have banned me eventually, but she simply banned me and said so. (OK, she made up a few ludicrous lies about me afterwards, but what self-respecting apologist for Israel wouldn't do that?) However, whenever she issued a "put up or shut up" request, when I duly "put up" she published my comment. After that she invariably went very quiet on the topic concerned, but she didn't in general go in for sly, cowardly censorship of Mr Holland's kind. There are a few more posts (mostly on media coverage of news from Israel or the OT) where the pattern was repeated, which is when I decided it was a waste of time encouraging him. I'd forgotten him until I dug up an old shortcut.

Anyway, Adam, if you drop by wondering who on Earth has been visiting your blog, you now have a further set of examples from Craig, not to mention this, this, this, this, or this. And if you publish a comment, well, I might let it stand or I might delete it. If I wish to uphold the standards of the BBC or your own good self, my readers will never know whether you commented or not. If I wish to uphold the more normal standards of decent folk, then if you have anything worth saying in response, say it.

As a famous (Jewish-American) man once said, it depends on how I'm feeling.