Online Comments

Attempts by some on-line newspapers at being egalitarian have had the result of exposing us to the uncensored thoughts of the uncouth in all their misspelt splendour. Whole paragraphs in loud capital letters with an interesting use of Minglish assert various gospel truths.

I was listening to Welsh comedian Lloyd Langford on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show speaking on viewers' text messages on news programmes. His comments could very well apply to reader's comments on online newspapers.

There's this common misconception that all opinions are of equal value. They're not. The people who can express a viewpoint on a complex and intricate political situation in 140 characters or less are precisely the people I don't want to hear from. They get their information from a tabloid or a man in the pub, then they chew it over in their tiny patriotic heads, and then they send it via a text message in an even more simplified form, often without vowels. It's like watching a racist Scrabble player trying to use the last of their tiles.