Whilst the football (and thus Lord Sugar) is taking a break (and remember my retweets of Lord Sugar's football-related tweets are in any case now behind a paywall and it cost £750 a season to see them - do subscribe, I think you all know where to do that by now) I have decided to provide another Twitter Retweet service. I am going to Retweet any praise about himself that Professor Richard Dawkings retweets.
I hate to think that there are people out there who aren't following Richard Dawkings and thus have no idea of the amount of people who tweet him with obsequious praise, which he then retweets. So as a service to those unfortunates I wil RT the RTs - all you have to do is follow me and you'll never miss the self-RTed plaudits.
It seems odd that Dawkings so consistently retweets the positive things that people say about him. Not that he doesn't deserve that praise - he really does, he is an amazing (if occasionally over-bearing and pompous) writer and thinker and he's right about pretty much everything. It's just that he's already pretty successful and surely the people who are following him already know that and like him and it comes across as a bit needy and undermining for him to RT something like, "going to be late for work after missing my stop. All your fault for #goddelusion being so bloody engaging!"
Some people might cringe at the idea of RTing something like that to all their followers. But I guess we are all occasionally victim to the mixture of pride and insecurity that would make us do something like that. All of us have our detractors and most of us have probably experienced criticism for our views or work, so when we get such vindication it can sometimes be tempting to let the world know that you're not actually shit like everyone else said. I could forgive him if it was an occasional thing - we all have our moments of weakness, but Dawkings seems addicted to it.
But of course such an action only undermines you and makes you look a bit needy, (especially if you're acknowledged as an expert in your field) and in any case if you just RT the praise on your Twitter feed, your vindication is only going out (with the exception of a few trolls or weirdos) to people who already like you.
In a way it almost makes me like Dawkings more. It shows he is human and that like the rest of us he is stung by criticism and buoyed by compliments. That he has self-doubt. Because I am certainly not claiming that I am perfect, or lack ego or don't use Twitter to show off. But I do that because I am rubbish and unsuccessful (or because I feel I am - I know there are comics even further down in the swamp of failure who look at me as a kind of God because I only have shit all over me and not seeping deep into every orifice in my body). I would just think Dawkings is above all that. The fact that he isn't is quite a nice thing. But only if he is doing it because he's insecure. He could be doing it because he really thinks he is amazing and just wants to let everyone know that everyone else thinks that too.
Someone claimed that me RTing my Metro articles was surely the same. But it isn't. I don't mind Dawkings letting us know what he's up to (in fact personally I really want to know if he's written something or appeared in an interview, cos I'll want to see that), but I can make up my own mind if it's good or not.
Any normal and well-balanced person surely just RTs the horrible things that people say about them. That's much more British and acceptable. I think Dawkings does that a bit as well. And there's plenty of interesting thought and links on his feed too.
But I look forward to bringing you all the RTs as they happen. It's going to be free for now, but if successful will be another £750 a year subscription service. There will be a £15 discount for anyone subscribing to both the Dawkings and the Sugar feeds, but that offer is strictly limited so sign up now.
Ah man, I love the guy really. It's just a joke. And the joke is on us all. Especially me.
Here's just a few of the comments from people who like my RTing Dawkings service
@InfiniteClock: you are brilliant.
@AmandaYeardsley: I don't know how we've managed without this essential service for so long.
@danielsturman: going to be late for work after missing my stop. All your fault for #talkingcock being so bloody engaging!
@JenKitney: Going to be late for work after missing my stop. All your fault for #hownottotgrowup being so bloody engaging!
@jw_smith: The AA can get stuffed. With this new plan, *you* are clearly the real 4th emergency service.
The Edgar Wright RHLSTP is now up
on gofasterstripe as a video download and on
the British Comedy Guide and iTunes as free audio. All being well the Mark Thomas one will be up on Friday. And I am very close to confirming another fabulous guest for the last show on Monday (Isy Suttie off of Peep Show is already confirmed.
Buy Tickets here. This means there will now be 9 video podcasts (plus the bonus Pappys one) for you £15 series pass. Which must be at least 15 hours of entertainment.
