NO COMMENT!

I got a comment on my last post wondering why I got no comments. That’s because my most devoted follower is the spam site vampirestat, and their bot is the silent kind. Hey, vampirestat, do I have to explain everything to you? Programme your bot to post exuberant comments like “Greatest blog ever!” or “Most brilliant observation I’ve read in a long time!” I might get carried away and click on your link. And isn’t that the idea behind your spamming?

Another person who does not comment is Mr. Rasouli, a comatose patient at Sunnybrook Hospital for the last three years. Perhaps his family could comment on his behalf. Exuberant thanks to the taxpayer are in order. Mrs. Rasouli has just won a victory in the Supreme Court of Canada, which allows her to defy doctors’ orders to have her husband removed from life support. The court decision forces the doctors to continue maintaining Mr. Rasouli in a state of living death. That service costs 1 million/year, which comes out of the shrinking healthcare budget. GOD WILLS IT, Mrs. Rasouli argues. Yes, but does he supply the breathing machine and the feeding tubes as well? And how come he doesn’t supply more hospital beds for the other patients waiting in line? No comment from God so far.

But maybe no comment is the new comment. And that’s why euronews.com has created a no comment youTube section.  They believe “in the intelligence of readers” to get the message. Okay, so there is a silent youTube of pop star Morissey signing copies of his autobiography. Don’t authors use words anymore? Oh, he’s keeping mum because he wants you to buy the book and pay for his words.

Politicians are another group favouring silence. Prime Minister Harper had no comment on the Duffy affair. He waited for his spin doctors to come up with the right message. Mayor Ford had no comment when asked recently whether he was under investigation. He redirected the attention of reporters to his pet subject by chanting: Subways! Subways! Subways! (National Post, 8 Oct).

I wonder whether that sort of magical incantation would work for me. I’ll give it a try. Comment! Comment! Comment!