News for Youse: LulzSec gets taken down, Tories continue to deflect, and Rob Anders offers a great non-apology
Calgary MP Rob Anders would like you to know that’s he’s very sorry if anyone was offended by his comments the other day, you know, the ones calling veterans “NDP hacks”. You’ll note the wording, of course. He’s not sorry for his remarks; he’s just sorry if you were offended. By his calling veterans political hacks. These mature remarks came after he fell asleep during a Veterans Affairs committee meeting. Nice dude, nice. Do you get Gregor Robertson to write your rebuttals for you?
Okay, could someone explain how this works? The Conservatives can condemn Anonymous for widely disseminating information that is both true and public, but when the Tories are faced with accusations of electoral fraud, it’s okay to dismiss it as just a smear campaign. Even though the party has previously been investigated by Elections Canada before for improper electioneering. What was the outcome of that? A $50,000 fine and let’s just not talk about it anymore.
Look, I know we don’t vote again till 2015. But can we somehow remember that these guys are not great guys?
So, five members of LulzSec were arrested this week after the leader of the group turned FBI informant and handed them all over. While the FBI is patting itself on the back for taking down such a dastardly criminal organization, you know, an insidious one that does it all for the lulz, it fails to remember that Anonymous isn’t an organization; it’s a tactic. You can congratulate yourselves on a job well done all you like, but that doesn’t change the fact that hundreds more disgruntled Internet users are going to fill the void. They are Anonymous. They are legion. Do you not watch YouTube videos, FBI?
#Anonymous is a hydra, cut off one head and we grow two back.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) March 6, 2012
By the way, what’s the worst job in the digital world? No, it’s not moderating the Straight's comment section. It’s moderating photos on Facebook. See, while some people use the insidious social network to share red-eye-ladened pictures of getting drunk at a theme party, some idiots like to post shit full of pedophilia, beastiality, dismemberment, racism, y’know, the vilest dregs of human behaviour. And the moderation of this kind of filth gets outsourced to foreign workers who get paid upwards of a dollar an hour (a dollar!). Congratulations, Mark Zuckerberg. You’ve won the Internet.
Follow the increasingly jaded Miranda Nelson on Twitter.
Comments
1 Comments
DavidH
Mar 6, 2012 at 12:08pm
The old "I'm sorry IF you were offended" non-apology is simply another illustration that politicians are professional (and well-paid) liars.
It's the use of the word "if", y'see. It suggests that calling someone a "slut" or a "hack" (for example) might or might not be viewed as insulting. Which ignores the simple reality that anyone who is called a slut or a hack WILL be offended - as they should be.
A real apology would go like this: "I recently called some people hacks. I am very sorry I said that and I have no excuse for doing so. I don't believe they are hacks and I promise not to insult them again."