We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Should I contribute to the Guardian?

In this time of echo chambers and knee jerk slogans, shall I donate money to the Guardian to understand alternative views. The press is dying and alternatives still remain vulnerable to pressure and corruption. We have no online Private Eye, such an important component if we relax planning laws.

Investigative journalism is still required!

28 comments to Should I contribute to the Guardian?

  • Bonnemort

    The trouble is that the Guardian, while in many respects a fine paper, hates me and mine (Brit, male, married) and would like to see me become a minority in the only country I’ve got. I’m under no illusions that Murdoch or the Mail can’t be bought, or that life would be a paradise without the Graun/BBC, but how can I give money to support people who actively wish me ill?

  • Runcie Balspune

    The Guardian is to investigative journalism as much as Cadburys is to fireplace protection.

  • Guardian were front and centre on Snowden so it depends. There is at least some real journalism going on there amidst the floating turds.

  • lucklucky

    The Guardian is an attack against Western Civilization.

  • conrad6

    Don’t you have Breitbart London? http://www.breitbart.com/london/ That, plus (not) google or (yes) duckduckgo is all you really need. Support Breitbart. Although it seems to be very light on local news.

  • Mr Ecks

    Should I contribute to the Guardian?

    You should sooner cut off your dick.

    If you want to help the few real journos in mainstream–even tho some of them will be leftist scum–seek them out and give them the cash personally.

    Or save your cash and seek out the Larger of Lamot–should they still brew it. Likely a better use of your resources.

  • Fred Z

    If you must contribute to the Guardian, shit in a bag and send it to them – it’s what they’d do for you.

  • Bod

    I think the answer depends whether you own a parrot with an overactive digestive tract.

  • No.

    Because the collapse of the Grauniad has been a long time coming and is well deserved.

    Let it collapse into bankruptcy as Lehman Brothers did so that we can have some voyeuristic MSM coverage showing all the lefty journalist types wandering about aimlessly with all their worldly goods in an archive box.

  • NickM

    Nyet!

    Why? My Dad was coming round. Now he’s a lifelong Liverpool fan so I thought I’d check out the result against Watford. We needed something other than Trump to talk about. So I look to the Guardian (it does cover football well) and I get a begging letter up on the bottom third of the screen. So, no.

  • Ljh

    Have a look at today’s online edition for a sampling of the complete unwillingness to consider any view, any argument coming from beyond the acceptable politically correct bubble. When Assange was revealing Bush’s errors, they were happy to promote him on their front page but have been utterly silent or even worse smeared as right wing conspiracy, His exposure of the depth of corruption of the Clintons and the duplicity and cynicism of the DNC. Oh yes, also look for anything critical on Soros. They deserve to suffocate on their own farts in the echo chamber they inhabit. Investigative journalism is something they have been incapable of ever since they turned down the opportunity to investigate parliamentary expenses when offered on a metaphorical gold plate, digitised, checkable, searchable.

  • Scapegrace

    Why is this article filled under “Hippos”? I see the Guardian more as Hyenas.

  • In the 30s, the Manchester Guardian (as it then was) compared well with many another other news source; today, not so much, though I’d agree with the extremely expressive Perry de Havilland (November 10, 2016 at 12:04 am): to paraphrase a C.S.Lewis baddie: “As a jewel is of value even in a dunghill, so is the occasional informative article of value even coming from the vile persons of the PC media.”

    However:

    1) We of all people should know you cannot fight the laws of economics. Many lefties will fight the demise of the Grauniad in their usual imbecile way. If it is doomed, it is doomed. If it doomed to become the plaything of some billionaire on its way to death, that is its fate.

    2) It is the essence of the right to know that “not all things can we do”. Are there not more worthy objects of your finite resources – the tip jars of many blogs, a rival to the Guardian, etc. etc.?

    Lastly, although Brexit may have won, and the Grauniad’s friends may have failed to prevent the more doubtful good of a Trump in the white house, the last trump has not yet blown on the lefty enterprise by a very long chalk. While the BBC exists and we must fund it, the spirit of the Grauniad will not die.

  • Scapegrace: it means Philip did not choose a category & so it defaults to that for reasons to arcane to explain :mrgreen:

  • When Assange was revealing Bush’s errors, they were happy to promote him on their front page but have been utterly silent or even worse smeared as right wing conspiracy, His exposure of the depth of corruption of the Clintons and the duplicity and cynicism of the DNC

    That is indeed a good point. Assange was their favourite when he was embarrassing Bush, but they really didn’t like sauce for a Bush shaped goose being sauce for a Hillary shaped gander, which means their investigative journalism is very selective, and not in good way.

  • David Moore

    “Investigative journalism is still required!”

    If that’s what some money their way achieved, fine. But. You know it will mostly be spend on the likes of Polly etc. to spout endless garbage.

    There are better places to send the money.

  • Paul Marks

    I hope you are not serious.

    The Guardian is evil – and I mean that word “evil”.

    And British people are already forced to “contribute” to the left – via general taxation (for the left dominated education system and so on) and via the BBC tax.

  • Rob

    The Guardian is dedicated to destroying any media outlet which holds opposing views to its own. Let it die.

  • Snorri Godhi

    [T]hey really didn’t like sauce for a Bush shaped goose being sauce for a Hillary shaped gander

    Still, The Guardian remains guilty for the Hillary defeat, by association with Assange! Never stop reminding them of it.

  • Cal

    The Guardian burns through so much cash they can’t be saved by a few idiots sending them spare cash. They only have a future if someone like Soros throws them a heap of money, or the Scott Trust manages to come up with another tax-dodging wheeze.

  • llamas

    Just read any 6 randomly-selected opinion articles on the front page to day, and then ask yourself whether any of them are deserving of your support.

    The Guardian does not present ‘alternative views’. It presents one view, and one view only. The points made by others about WikiLeaks being the most wonderful thing in the world when it exposes insider aspects of Bush policy decisions, but the most horrible betrayal when it exposes the criminal acts of the entire Clinton clan, are exactly on-point. It is the house organ of the unyielding hard Left. Why would you support it?

    The Web is full of alternative views, from all points of the political compass. Let the Guardian die. Ask yourself whether a single Guardian reader would donate a penny to support a right-wing media source, in the name of supporting ‘alternate views’. Then follow their example – it’s what they’d do to you.

    llater,

    llamas

  • NickM

    llamas is bang-on. Opinion is not truth. I hold opinions many would disagree with and that is fair enough. It is when you start considering your opinion as absolute truth that life gets ticklishu. It is when you get twats (and I have heard them) saying airlines are subsidized because avgas isn’t taxed (enough?). D’oh!

  • Laird

    “sauce for a Bush shaped goose being sauce for a Hillary shaped gander”

    I think you have your genders confused. Although that does seem to be going around these days.

  • Ah so I do, but perhaps that is for the best, as I am just trying to not be too cis-gendered hetro-normative patriarchal, whatever that means 😆

  • lucklucky

    Two or more Telegraph /Guardian Jornalists want Trump assassinated

    http://i.imgur.com/khoVQ8g.png

  • pete

    I’ll enjoy seeing the Guardian slowly dying.

    It’ll never raise much cash from its readership, most of whom are lefties who think everyone should pay for what they want, just like their beloved BBC.

  • K

    Answer: No. Instead, spend the money on groups dedicated to privatizing the BBC.