pythonTerry Jones is a film director, actor and Python

April 1, 2007 12:05 AM

worst deletion of the day (yesterday, now). If we have to have newsfilter here, why can't it be pythonNewsFilter?
posted by b1tr0t to MetaFilter-Related at 12:05 AM (18 comments total)

I thought about posting this, then I realized it would go better in the other thread, then I saw it was already there.
posted by Manjusri at 12:16 AM on April 1, 2007

I think you mean NewsFilter.py

Also, is it time for my annual time-out yet?

At any rate, I for one, welcome me.
posted by Eideteker at 1:00 AM on April 1, 2007

I thought Ronan Bennet put it better the previous day.
posted by Abiezer at 3:02 AM on April 1, 2007

I don't really get this. The first thread, where the link was posted as a comment, was about Guantanamo Bay. The Terry Jones article, though making reference to Guantanamo Bay, is about the British servicemen being held in Iran. In the context of the Guantanamo Bay conversation I see why the article was posted as a comment, but if I had found the article and wanted to post it I'd check for existing threads about the Iran situation, not a thread about, you know, something else entirely. The first post Australia and Cuba, the second Britain and Iran - it does look a tiiiiiny bit like "well, we've had our rest-of-the-world thread for the day!"

I've made several FPPs where I thought a link I found in a MeFi conversation was strong enough to post on the front page. I seem to recall it being said that proportionately thread participants are a small number compared with front page visitors. I think the point this article makes is an important one.

I agree with b1tr0t.
posted by nthdegx at 4:44 AM on April 1, 2007

i think those articles would sound a lot more interesting if they read them in front of the families of the sailors to get their reaction ... it's contrived outrage over things that have already caused a great deal of justifiable outrage ... it's trite, obvious and is exactly how the iranians want some onlookers to act

ask yourself one thing - what did you LEARN from these articles?
posted by pyramid termite at 4:48 AM on April 1, 2007

One thing someone might learn is that it's worth considering any and all claims to the moral high ground critically, including those made by a putative "us" opposed to a "them." I thought what Bennet wrote bore saying given the tenor of much of the domestic UK commentary I've seen. The prevailing moral outrage there does ring hollow if it can be dismissed as partisan by someone who hasn't picked sides. I also think placing in context doesn't have to be to excuse, and he raises substantive issues as regards ministerial responses.
I have read enough accounts of the treatment of imprisoned trades unionists, gay people and other "undesirables" by the Iranian regime to have no illusions as to the possibilities for far less comfortable sojourns in its jails, which might end on the gallows instead of a plane home. But what would we learn just nodding along to the many denunciations of the mad mullahs nabbing Our Brave Boys (and Girl)?
Terry Jones I always find a bit of an irritating twat, so I won't speak to his piece.
posted by Abiezer at 5:43 AM on April 1, 2007

Single link op-ed = no substance = bad post.
Maybe a little of detail as to Iranian in fighting or the fact that the captured Brits were out of vision of their Warship might have made the post worthwhile.
posted by adamvasco at 6:26 AM on April 1, 2007

One thing someone might learn is that it's worth considering any and all claims to the moral high ground critically, including those made by a putative "us" opposed to a "them."

perhaps ... but an objective look at the current situation makes me wonder if the iranians want a war as badly as the "coalition" seems to ... and if "government" and "moral high ground" aren't intrinsically incompatible these days

i'm not seeing any good guys here ... all i'm seeing is countries who are trying to get the other guys to start a war they want to fight
posted by pyramid termite at 6:41 AM on April 1, 2007

I should have said, what with it being the point of meta and all, I also agree that as a single op-ed neither should be a post.
Since we're here, Bennet I always have a bit of time for because I liked the two of his books that I've read. If I recall correctly, he did also (briefly) take up arms against the British state himself as a young lad in Ulster. That was another conflict where I didn't think much of the "opposition" but Amnesty also found enough material to fill a few reports on our treatment of prisoners. We do seem more familiar with the moral morass than the sunny uplands.
posted by Abiezer at 7:24 AM on April 1, 2007

I'm sorry, but this is abuse. ... you want room 12A, just along the corridor.
posted by terrapin at 7:25 AM on April 1, 2007

Wrong deletion reason, but still right to delete. How is this different from a Davids Brooks NYTimes Op-Ed piece?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 8:23 AM on April 1, 2007

Bad deletion.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:26 AM on April 1, 2007

This is a brilliant April Fools meta. I mean, what kinda jackass would complain about the deletion of a single-link op/ed that's not tremendously insightful or funny?

Oh... Wait. You were serious?
posted by klangklangston at 8:42 AM on April 1, 2007

Yeah - although I disagreed with the reason given I guess jessamyn was being a bit more polite in saying that rather than "this isn't a good post", which I guess it isn't. The oped probably has more significance in the UK where there is an awful lot of coverage of this story but all along the same lines. In terms of media coverage and public perception, it's a pretty brave piece.

By the way did anyone notice the first comment after the piece?

"Gosh, my mother was right, sarcasm IS the lowest form of wit."

I don't think I was able to get more than ten pages into Starship Titanic, either.
posted by nthdegx at 9:50 AM on April 1, 2007

I don't think I was able to get more than ten pages into Starship Titanic, either.

I think it's fair to say that Starship Titanic is by far the best comic novel set in someone else's universe and based on a PC game which tanked miserably ever written in three weeks by a medieval scholar who used to dress up as women.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:10 AM on April 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Terry Jones I always find a bit of an irritating twat, so I won't speak to his piece.

This conjures up sexual images of a slightly disturbing nature.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:18 PM on April 1, 2007

Heh. I since remembered that he co-wrote some of the Ripping Yarns with Palin, so I ought to take it back (oo-err missus) a bit too.
posted by Abiezer at 8:54 PM on April 1, 2007

Iran's new hostage crisis: By seizing 15 British sailors, the embattled Iranians aim to rally anti-Western sentiment and force the Brits from Iraq.
posted by homunculus at 9:21 PM on April 2, 2007