The Civilian is a new satirical blog that has making waves lately. If you haven’t visited The Civilian yet you should – add it to your bookmarks! Because after all, you know a blog has really made it when it provokes a bizarre and heavy-handed overreaction:
Colin Craig threatens satirical website
Conservative Party leader Colin Craig has threatened a satirical news website with defamation after claiming it published a story designed “to make him look ridiculous”.
The Civilian yesterday uploaded a story about Maurice Williamson’s “big gay rainbow” speech, in which the Pakuranga MP admitted “he looks pretty stupid this morning after a series of floods in the Nelson, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions appeared to contradict his assertion that nothing bad would come of the passing of gay marriage legislation”.
It also featured fake quotes from Mr Craig, having him say “God painted a giant rainbow across the sky, which was a message that he would never again flood the world, unless we made him very angry. And we have.”
Mr Craig hasn’t seen the funny side however, and today through his lawyers at Chapman Tripp threatened editor Ben Uffindell with defamation unless he removed the quote, posted a retraction and paid him – a millionaire businessman – $500 for his legal troubles.
Well now if that doesn’t quadruple the readership of The Civilian I don’t know what will! Bloggers have been quick to respond, starting with The Civilian himself:
Thank you for your email. The Civilian was horrified to learn that it had misquoted Mr. Craig in the article in question, and if you visit our website, you will see that we have taken urgent action to rectify our terrible mistake.
We would never dream of making Mr. Craig look ridiculous. Indeed, we’re quite content to leave that up to him.
Danyl at Dimpost totally dominated the discussion with his response (my eyes are still watering). And I’d love to tell you what Imperator Fish thought, but unfortunately his thoughts have been [redacted].
I think we bloggers should all give a round of applause to Colin. So many of us struggle and toil in obscurity, never noticed. But because of Colin at least one blog, The Civilian, is assured of the praise and thanks of a grateful nation…
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