Splogs And Scraper Sites « Rambling On

Protecting one’s own intellectual property on the web is becoming increasingly difficult. Many regular bloggers among us will, I’m sure, have already encountered the problem in one form or another. My Copyright notice in my sidebar on the right makes it quite clear what my position is. From now on, however, I will also be including a Copyright notice at the end of each blog post with a link back to this site in an attempt to thwart the sploggers and scrapers. I would suggest other bloggers do the same.

I would also strongly suggest you read Lottie’s article below. There is a great deal of excellent and important information to be found there on this subject.

“I don’t claim to be among the best writers on the internet, but when I write something and publish it on my blog, it belongs to me! It is immediately protected by copyright, and no-one has permission to copy and use it for any purpose not protected by Fair Use.”

Splogs And Scraper Sites « Rambling On.

© 2008 Gary William Murning

Shame on You, Hitch.

I suppose it should come as no real surprise that we are all of us, at times, susceptible to the odd bout of silliness. Anyone who hasn’t said or written something stupid in their time, let’s face it, probably hasn’t said or written a whole lot. We all occasionally miss the mark. Some more than others, admittedly, but even the best of us are fallible

So I write this post with that in mind — wondering if, perhaps, we expect a little too much of our fellow human beings and, in particular, if I’m being a little ungenerous when I point out that Mr. Christopher Hitchens has been a prat

Now, I don’t always agree with Old Hitch, but I do admire his bulldozing ways and his intellectual acuity. Even when I disagree with him vehemently, I usually maintain my admiration for him

Not so with this piece of silliness. Now an American citizen, it seems that Christopher (I call him that when he’s been a bad boy) has decided that the best application of his journalistic ability is the silly reinforcement of silly stereotypical representations  of the British. There’s no denying, we have and are proud of (to a point) our eccentrics and eccentricities. It’s a reflection of our love of independence and geography. I can accept his leg-pulling in that regard (even though 99.9% of us are far from eccentric.) What I find offensive about this piece (though I must admit, I won’t exactly be losing sleep over it) is the suggestion that we all like animals more than people (and, he implies, children in particular) and the sheer inaccuracy of the general picture he paints.

Silly — and clearly intended as a bit of fun, which I’m not averse to. The fact remains, however, it was lazy, clichéd, and so obviously pandering to American misapprehensions that it does no one any favours

Christopher, they won’t get the joke. They’ll believe it. Shame on you.