“There and Back Again” – A CiFWatcher’s Adventure in MediaEarth

A guest post by AKUS

picIt’s been an exciting week for CiFWatchers in Guardianland.

Although I have occasionally pointed out to him that, with his profile,  Adam Levick could better play the role of an elf in the next  1,000 reel screen version of one of Tolkien’s stories, it appears that the Guardian, influenced no doubt by the new monster movie version of “The Hobbit”,  views him as a triumphant reincarnation of Bilbo Baggins.

Adam was “banned” by the Guardian as he reported on December 14th, tracing his journey into the gloom the Guardian reserves for those who have dared to challenge it too openly.

FrontPage”,  Jewish Press, and The Commentator  reported  Bilbo’s – sorry, Adam’s – banning from “Comment is Free”, and Tamar Yonah interviewed him at Israel National Radio while, like any good hobbit should, he was quaffing one of the local beverages at a MiddleEarth – sorry – Middle Eastern – inn – sorry – café.

Adam’s December 14th report on his banning was complete with a screenshot of his profile at CiF after his banning.  Rather like Bilbo putting on the ring, he and his comments simply disappeared:

adam banned

Wanting to write about this, and needing a better screenshot, I decided to look up his vanished profile – and, lo and behold, like a victorious Bilbo returning after slaying the dragon and avoiding the trolls that inhabit the mythical world of Israel that the Guardian has created, Adam’s profile was back:

back

Every good story deserves a moral. In this case, it seems that the monsters and trolls (I use the words in the Tolkien sense) running the Guardian were embarrassed enough by the negative publicity their foolishness created to reinstate Adam’s profile from the dungeon in Mordor where they keep those of us who have been banned.

The original purpose of the article I had planned to write was quite different.  I had noticed an exchange I captured in the screenshot below on December 13th  in the article about HSBC’s money laundering –  HSBC’s record $1.9bn fine preferable to prosecution, US authorities insist:

still there

I kept an eye on the comments by  “Mostmagnificentone” to see how long they stayed up before being removed (at least 15 hours, by the way, whereas any similar comments about you-know-who vanish within seconds, along, sometimes, with the person posting them).

One might imagine that “Mostmagnificentone” would be deservedly banned for these blatantly anti-Semitic comments. But you would be disappointed – he or she is still with us while not posting any more:

last

So it seems that while the Guardian is willing to crack down hard on hobbits, even if it has to allow them to reappear, it has no problem with orcs and trolls like “Mostmagnificentone”.

How the Guardian has changed since Tolkien’s time

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