Shanghaiist: China gets Sp!ked

Andy Best

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:14:39 +0800

The piece gives the background to Spk!ked's founding team and their purpose for entering the media. O'Neill is part of the team. They call themselves 'left' to confuse people on purpose. Their views are right-libertarian - by more modern definitions. In reality they are what I would think of as far-right. Have you ever been to the site "Harry's Place"?

SWang

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:49:05 +0800

I don't get it - are you saying Brendan O'Neill is a closet right-winger? This doesn't sound so right wing to me: "Why are we surprised by war lies?" http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4681/

SWang

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:42:53 +0800

I read the Monbiot article but did not see any reference to O'Neill anywhere in the piece. Are you making this up or did you get the link wrong?

benqiu

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:28:51 +0800

I agree that many activists in the West have used sound bites and have made weak points. However, balancing it all, I welcome the international attention and strict scrutiny of the Chinese government's conducts brought by the Olympics. About Darfur, the attitude of all the Chinese government officials that I have talked to, senior or not, is simply indifference. They have exactly the same attitude towards the Chinese citizens who are subject to loss of civil liberty, pollution, or violent political persecution. They only react when there is a nasty backlash. As to the Chinese athletes, it's more complicated. My heart goes out to the young kids who are forced to attend brutal training camps but I also solute the simple desire to work hard and win. While you may think it is simply sport, the Chinese government uses "Olympic strategy" (奥运战略) to describe a long-term project of raising national profile through gold medals.

nanheyangrouchuan

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:20:09 +0800

Brendan O’Neill is just another egg sucking, ankle grabbing panda licker who chooses to see only the shiny buildings and shopping malls that the CCP wants the world to focus on instead of the massacres, organ harvesting, slave labor and environmental extermination that occurs in the name of "harmonious development". Ugly, dirty China and its pom panda lickers.

Andy Best

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:48:11 +0800

Monbiot is a good jounalist on the whole. His main problem is that he's now one of a couple of token examples at the Guardian that is used to preserve their 'liberal' image. His environmental articles are surrounded by huge ads for Easyjet and cars etc. Although ... given the overall atmosphere at the Guardian these days, O'Neill still gets a bashing on Comment Is Free, where they cross post all his stuff. Rooting for Sp!ked is taking the stance that 'man-made' global warming is just scaremongering and hearsay. I read Monbiot's articles but not 'heat' ... EPM, what's it like?

EPM

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:06:06 +0800

I'm rooting for Sp!ke on this one. Monbiot means well and I'm sure he's a nice guy but he's just so damn lame. Did anyone read Heat?, he had a chapter about travelling without airplanes called 'Love Miles'......weak.