Good Night, And Good Luck, And Goodbye.

We've already had several, and we don't need any more links to Keith Olbermann ranting. By now we're all well aware of Keith Olbermann and his editorial opinions, and links to his most recent outraged rant don't belong on MetaFilter just like editorial rants by Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, or Andy Rooney don't belong here.
posted by fandango_matt to MetaFilter-related at 10:32 AM (72 comments total)

I'm assuming you were inspired by this post.

It's pretty meh. We talked about it in email some this morning, pretty much coming down to it being a lousy post that turned into a decent thread—in part as a discussion of the dynamics of posting Olbermann bits to the site, appropriately enough. If I'd caught it last night, I'd have deleted it before the ball got rolling, but I felt merciful after the fact looking at it this morning.

We sure don't need another one for a while, though.
posted by cortex at 10:39 AM on November 8, 2007

Yeah, I felt it was really borderline last night when I read it and should have deleted it. Enough is enough of that guy. Unless he's done something major, his rants are akin to posting O'Reilly's talking points each night.
posted by mathowie at 10:39 AM on November 8, 2007

Honestly, his outfits bother me. Unless he's changed his tailor (working, can't watch), he always looked to me like he'd stepped out of a brokerage house in the '80s.
posted by lodurr at 10:44 AM on November 8, 2007

I don't know who Keith Olbermann is, so I left it up to those guys, but man, that's about the line right there, that bad post.
posted by jessamyn at 10:47 AM on November 8, 2007

Here's my impression of Keith Olbermann:

How DARE you, sir!

/impression
posted by baphomet at 10:52 AM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I saw Olberman (intro JK Rowling) and he's actually kinda potato-shaped. Maybe that's what's with the suits.

I like the guy's diatribes. I don't always agree with them but like the style and tone. Guess I'm antiquated.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 11:00 AM on November 8, 2007

No doubt the post was crappy, but can we please get retire the "Best of Web?" snark?

Often MetaFilter is not Best of Web, and sometimes it is Best of Web. But more often than either of these cases, owing to the mental acuity, impassioned insights and inspired writing of MeFi's denizens, marginal posts can inspire discussions that are truly Best of Web.
posted by psmealey at 11:00 AM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Here's my impression of baphomet's impression of Keith Olbermann:

How DARE you, sir!

/impression
//impression
posted by dismas at 11:00 AM on November 8, 2007

I think the thing for me at this point is that... I know what he's going to say. I know that he's right. I'm glad that someone somewhere on actual national television is saying these things.

Someone is trying to do something.

For me, personally, I have no need to watch them, or forward them. I can't remember the last time one of his pieces made me look at something in a new light. Or do more than nod my head in affirmation.

So, uh. Yeah. They're good. And he should keep doing them. But I don't think this is the best way to bring this stuff, particularly this topic to the blue. I could get this from Crooks & Liars RSS, you know?

I think maybe a better way would be a waterboarding mega-post and you could include stuff about Mukasey's confirmation, with links about the kerfluffle around his equivocating, and toss shit in like those couple of articles that got linked and the Olbermann bit and, um...

Yeah.

That's what I think.
posted by sparkletone at 11:02 AM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Here's my impression of dismas' impression of baphomet's impression of ... oh, fuck it.
posted by Godbert at 11:08 AM on November 8, 2007

"viciuosly"?
posted by boo_radley at 11:11 AM on November 8, 2007

HDY Sir?
posted by The World Famous at 11:15 AM on November 8, 2007

"viscously"!
posted by lodurr at 11:15 AM on November 8, 2007

"viciuosly"?

You know, as in "emulating a small, slender-necked, even-toed camelid."
posted by jamaro at 11:17 AM on November 8, 2007

I agree. X gets the square!
posted by Mister_A at 11:18 AM on November 8, 2007

But but but it's important!
posted by brain_drain at 11:19 AM on November 8, 2007

I'm just glad to know that when I don't have enough energy to continue to feel outraged, Keith Olbermann is probably feeling outraged enough for the both of us.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:36 AM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Someone is trying to do something.

yeah, like tap into that lucrative 'outraged citizen' market -- those guys will pay two extra bucks for a roll of paper towels if you put a picture of a fucking tree on it! IT'S A GODDAMNED GOLD MINE!

call me when they've got a show targeted towards jaded internet dickheads who've seen it all: i imagine it as a cross between Flipper, the Price is Right, and World's Wildest Police Chases. I'd call it "The Eddie Money Show" and start every episode of with a rockin' nu-rave cover of "Take Me Home" tonight except the lyrics would be all "Great big show tonight/I don't want to change the channel until i see the light" and then the AutoTune would kick in and the virtual 303 would be all PYOO PYOO PYOO PYOO PYOO pyoo pyoo pyoo pyoo KSH KSH KSH CHAK CHAK BOOM CHAK OH SHIT THE 909

yeah, I'm sold.
posted by fishfucker at 11:45 AM on November 8, 2007 [10 favorites]

"a waterboarding mega-post"

Waterboarding Meta posters may be a better idea.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:48 AM on November 8, 2007

When Olbermann collapses in an opportunistic, faux-outrage induced aneurysm on national television, can we post that?
posted by felix betachat at 11:48 AM on November 8, 2007

call me when they've got a show targeted towards jaded internet dickheads who've seen it all

Tubgirl TV, now in HD.
posted by kosem at 11:57 AM on November 8, 2007

LOLBERMANN
posted by Stynxno at 12:02 PM on November 8, 2007

C'mon guys, can we please give it a rest with the Olbermann?

Oh, wait.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:04 PM on November 8, 2007

proselytizing from the left -- is there anything more pointless? Libs just don't respond well to marching orders.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:07 PM on November 8, 2007

We need to get the word out. When a man shows such conviction and courage in the face of oppression, it is courageous and needs to be passed around. Seriously: there is Solzhenitsyn, Thich Quang Duc, and then there is Olbermann. History will judge us by our willingness to listen to courageous dissidents who show this kind of courage to stand up and speak the unspeakable in face of oppression like Olberman does. Courage to speak the truth and stand up for what is right should be heralded and not silenced by the truth-fearing and courage-hating oppressors.
posted by dios at 12:23 PM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

That's right! Y'all shoo, scatter! You don't belong!
posted by SassHat at 12:24 PM on November 8, 2007

dios, have you even read The Sportscenter Archipelago?
posted by kosem at 12:24 PM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Yeah Matt, you fascist!
posted by Mick at 12:27 PM on November 8, 2007

*votes liberal, obviously*
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:45 PM on November 8, 2007

call me when they've got a show targeted towards jaded internet dickheads who've seen it all: i imagine it as a cross between Flipper, the Price is Right, and World's Wildest Police Chases.

Please tell me you're talking about Flipper, the SF no-wave band with Will Shatter, because I absolutely LOVE the idea.
posted by porn in the woods at 12:48 PM on November 8, 2007

Libs?
posted by maxwelton at 12:49 PM on November 8, 2007

Everytime I watch an Olbermann special comment, I expect The President to come running in at the halfway point at hit him with a folding chair. Much like Hulk Hogan breaking up one of the Macho Man's impressive neck-straining-roid-feulled pre-Wrestlemania callouts. Cheney stands on the side with a briefcase full of $100 bills handcuffed to his wrist, and leers menacingly at Miss Elizabeth. Mean Gene Okerlund just stands there shocked, as if this sort of thing didn't happen every single week.
posted by billyfleetwood at 1:01 PM on November 8, 2007 [9 favorites]

Speaking as a relatively new person...

Really, what's the big deal? One thing I'm amazed by on MeFi is how much energy is wasted by people saying, "Boy, that sucked."

Flag it and forget about it!
posted by Rykey at 1:14 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

A TV talking head spouting off an angry, outraged rant about political topics? How is this not the best of the web? Why would anyone ever want to see anything other than this?
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:27 PM on November 8, 2007

O HDY?
posted by Kwine at 1:28 PM on November 8, 2007

YA HDY!
posted by Kwine at 1:28 PM on November 8, 2007

One thing I'm amazed by on MeFi is how much energy is wasted by people saying, "Boy, that sucked." Flag it and forget about it!

Another thing people waste a lot of energy on is saying "Flag it and forget about it".

Ooooo wait till I tell eyeballkid that you escaped from your hole again!
posted by iconomy at 1:30 PM on November 8, 2007

Wasted? You really are new here.
posted by cillit bang at 1:30 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Speaking as a relatively new person...

Flag it and forget about it!
posted by Rykey at 3:14 PM on November 8

Well, because you are a new person, feel free to say that. But you should also thank us because we didn't just "flag it and forget it" over the years and worked to make this a place of such exceptional quality that it is still going all these years later and that you would want to join. We could have just said "screw standards of quality" and allowed this place to become a shithole a long time ago. But lucky for you (and Matt's bank account) we didn't.
posted by dios at 1:31 PM on November 8, 2007 [3 favorites]

And when we logged off the internet they spat on us! WHERE"S MY PARADE?!
posted by ND¢ at 1:39 PM on November 8, 2007

~~But you should also thank us because we didn't just "flag it and forget it" over the years and worked to make this a place ...~~ It's perfectly alright for us to tell you to flag it and forget it, but don't ever try it on us, newbie. I earned the right to be cynical by walking five miles in the freezing cold and snow to post a comment! And we didn't even have MeTa back then ... I had to scribble my comments in charcoal on the backdoor porch door of Mathowie's house, one word at a time, while avoiding his Dobermans!

Fixed that for you.
posted by WCityMike at 1:40 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Ceiling cat isn't watching you because you talk too much.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:41 PM on November 8, 2007

Ooooo wait till I tell eyeballkid that you escaped from your hole again!

Oh. I'm watching. There will be consequences.
posted by eyeballkid at 1:42 PM on November 8, 2007

Flag it and forget about it!

It's flag it and move on. Your version sounds 1/2 mobster and 1/2 Ron Popeil.
posted by ALongDecember at 1:44 PM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

"But you should also thank us because we didn't just "flag it and forget it" over the years and worked to ~~make this a place of such exceptional quality~~ pop into threads and crap on them"

... really borderline last night when I read it and should have deleted it.

Is there an unspoken rule where after X amounts of comments a thread becomes undeletable, no matter how offensively redundant and insipid it may be? That would seem to be a rather silly policy in the face of topics that are inherently the most combustible and frequently explode into 50 comment catfights within 10 minutes of hitting the blue. In fact, I would recommend waiting until they hit something like oh... 600 comments, and then you should delete them. Just to spite all the people who would even find it appropriate to discuss in the first place. Brand new day of nonexistence, biiiiig push!
posted by prostyle at 1:51 PM on November 8, 2007

I'm thinking "Flag it and screw" has a nice ring, as long as we're looking at variants.
posted by cortex at 1:51 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Is there an unspoken rule where after X amounts of comments a thread becomes undeletable, no matter how offensively redundant and insipid it may be?

No, there's a spoken grey area where we don't always decide similar hazy fence issues the same way each time. There have been times when people have been vocally upset that we did yank a bad-but-long thread, and times people have been bothered that we didn't, and it's never going to be a 100% settled matter I don't think.

We didn't yoink this one, is what it comes down to.
posted by cortex at 1:53 PM on November 8, 2007

I said it on the blue and I'll say it again on the gray (because what I really want to do is FPP it and I know that won't go well): Bruce does it better.
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:56 PM on November 8, 2007

Rykey said: Flag it and forget about it!

That made me picture Ron Popeil encouraging his infomercial audiences to "Set it and forget it!" and now I have the urge to buy a rotisserie oven.
posted by amyms at 2:38 PM on November 8, 2007

Oops, ALongDecember was thinking along the same lines. Wanna go halfsies on a rotisserie, ALongDecember?
posted by amyms at 2:40 PM on November 8, 2007

Well its my understanding that all future posts and comments will be approved by TheOnlyCoolTim so we won't have to worry about this sort of thing. Post it and move on.
posted by Sailormom at 3:00 PM on November 8, 2007

Only if I get to keep the barbecue gloves and instructional video, yours free if you promise to tell a friend about it!
posted by ALongDecember at 3:00 PM on November 8, 2007

Seriously: there is Solzhenitsyn, Thich Quang Duc, and then there is Olbermann

Seriously: Solzhenitsyn, Thich Quang Duc, and Olbermann all had to live under unelected regimes that tortured people.

Now how weird is that? Seriously!
posted by matteo at 3:08 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Zing!
posted by Big_B at 3:26 PM on November 8, 2007

cortex : I'm thinking "Flag it and screw" has a nice ring, as long as we're looking at variants.

Is that anything like wrapping a flag around someone's head and fucking them for your country?
posted by quin at 3:41 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I had to scribble my comments in charcoal on the backdoor porch door of Mathowie's house, one word at a time, while avoiding his Olbermanns.
posted by flabdablet at 3:46 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I see what he's doing. He's going for that anti-marketing dollar.
posted by Eideteker at 3:50 PM on November 8, 2007

One classic reaction of those who are powerless and beaten but still retain a spark of rebel self-possession deep in their battered and bruised hearts is to make jokes about the nightmare they're living. Another is to ridicule and attack others who have the intestinal fortitude to actually stand up against the powers that be, to assuage the guilt created by their own passivity.

Nah, I'm just joking. It's all good, everything's good.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:17 PM on November 8, 2007 [3 favorites]

But you should also thank us because we didn't just "flag it and forget it" over the years and worked to make this a place of such exceptional quality that it is still going all these years later and that you would want to join.

Yes, I'll be doing just that as I say my prayers tonight. And just you wait until Thanksgiving!

BTW, I am Ron Popeil's sockpuppet.
posted by Rykey at 4:32 PM on November 8, 2007

Would this make a good post?
posted by homunculus at 5:56 PM on November 8, 2007

I'm just waiting for Jay Mohr to play Olbermann in the biopic.
posted by zardoz at 7:52 PM on November 8, 2007

Well, because you are a new person, feel free to say that.

Actually, Rykey, consider saying whatever you like, regardless of whether you are new or not. No one has the right to tell you what to say, regardless of whatever specious, ironic stupidity they use to justify it.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:23 PM on November 8, 2007

And when we logged off the internet they spat on us! WHERE"S MY PARADE?!

You can't prove anyone from the Internet was ever spat on for being on the Internet.
/impression
posted by yerfatma at 4:43 AM on November 9, 2007

Be careful what you wish for. If the problem with OlbermannFilter is that he does the same schtick everytime, does that mean we have to keep half of the Mefites from commenting on threads, too?

Metafilter: Your cup of tea sucks
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:06 AM on November 9, 2007

People might listen to him if they took him seriously, but he's too dang purty. Obama, Edwards, Olbermann, Stewart and Colbert... a vote for liberals is a vote for mancandy.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 3:44 PM on November 8 [+] [!]

I saw Olberman (intro JK Rowling) and he's actually kinda potato-shaped. Maybe that's what's with the suits.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 2:00 PM on November 8 [+] [!]

I'm feeling some cognitive dissonance here.
posted by jfuller at 6:26 AM on November 9, 2007

Metafilter: Your ~~cup of tea sucks~~ "Metafilter:" slogan annoys me so I'm replacing it with something I mistakenly believe will make everyone think I'm insightful

There, fixed that for you.*

--
*... where, by "fixed that for you", I mean "just revelling in the smug little glee of correcting someone in a way that makes them look churlish for objecting."
posted by lodurr at 6:33 AM on November 9, 2007 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: Your cup of tea sucks "Metafilter:" slogan annoys me so I'm replacing it with something I mistakenly believe will make everyone think I'm insightful

I wasn't trying to be insightful, thanks. Nor was I correcting anyone; I was stating my opinion.

There, fixed that for you.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:44 AM on November 9, 2007

Good Night, And Good Luck, And Goodbye. November 8, 2007 10:32 AM Subscribe

Good Night, And Good Luck, And Goodbye.
November 8, 2007 10:32 AM Subscribe