There is a problem with this argument:
And it can be summed up as follows: you read newspaper articles online, yes? And you know full well that the comments sections to said articles are universally filled by crazy people who write like they had to cram to pass the Turing Test, yes? And so you know to either not read newspaper comment sections, or else simply skim them for particularly good examples of Teh Crazy, yes?
Yes?
…So why are you assuming that you’re unique in all of that? – Because, well, you’re not.
Moe Lane
PS: I don’t care how dumb you think that the American public is; they’re still smarter on the average than the subgroup of people who comment on online newspaper articles.
Fortunately, the people one can read here are smarter — mostly because you spend so much effort filtering the dumb ones out…
Indeed, much of ‘the public’ is smarter than the subgroup of people sitting in Congress. Certainly more aware of how the world works.
I will admit to reading newpaper comments for the sheer entertainment value. This is typically when my husband comes in from his study to the kitchen–“Who the hell are you talking to?”
I was camping this site, but then went on break, and when I came back, already saw that two people had posted. And I’m only getting paid $10/hour. Dang.
I generally don’t even bother to read the comments, Although lourae is right it does rarely, have some entertainment value. Sometimes, you can normally tell from the subject matter, and that is the interesting part! Subject matter varies the value of the comments!
some of the best unintentional humor can be found in the “letters to the editor”….
Mew
Sad thing is, I bet the quality of the comments would improve if you had paid shills posting the discussion… especially in the NYT comments section *shudders*