CNBC's Dennis Kneale has resorted to some on-air name-calling, slamming bloggers for criticizing his declaration that the recession is over.
Kneale calls one blogger a "digital d---weed."
He complains about the "anonymous, dark, and cowardly corners of the blogosphere." He mocks bloggers for taking shots at him "from the dark and cozy safety of their mothers' basements."
John Carney, The Business Insider, comments on Kneale's rant.
Carney writes:
On some CNBC show we don't know much about because it airs when decent people are eating dinner with their families and the rest of us are having a drink with friends, Dennis Kneale decided he'd had enough of bloggers comparing him to Beaker from the Muppets and fat ladies in thongs on the beach. It was time to strike back.
... He personally names DealBreaker and Zerohedge as the blogs that have been unfair to him. Perhaps the weirdest moment comes when he makes the bizarre claim that he has more courage than anonymous bloggers. Three quick points about this:---Bess Levin of DealBreaker isn't anonymous. And while Equity Private, another writer for DealBreaker, is anonymous, she's got enough of a well-established online persona that it's unfair to compare her to a message board troll.
---Dennis must understand that the primary reason most of these bloggers are anonymous is that they have day jobs. Unlike Dennis, they don't have the privilege of not being anonymous. Most would probably love to have jobs like Dennis, where he gets paid to give his opinion.
---The world is enriched by the variety of voices online. The benefits of having anonymous blogging greatly outweighs the emotional cost to people like Beeker, who has to suffer the ignominy of constantly being compared to Dennis.
Carney makes some good points.
It could be that Kneale thought it was a good time to attack bloggers and discuss the matter of anonymity to divert attention from his ridiculous claim that the recession is over.
It could be that he wanted to get noticed by using a term like "d---weed" in an effort to boost his miniscule ratings.
It's kind of funny that he mocks bloggers for expressing their opinions from their mothers' basements. Isn't CNBC akin to a televised version of a mother's basement?
In terms of his word choice bringing him some attention, he succeeded on that count; but he also brought attention to the fact that he's dead wrong about the economy.
ADP Estimates U.S. Companies Cut Payrolls by 473,000
“We are still months away from a trough in employment and the resumption of net employment gains is going to have to wait until early 2010,” said [Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC]. “Given that economic gains will be modest in coming quarters, I would see employment declining several more months.”
More bad news.
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