Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? This Latin phrase traces back to the work of the Roman poet Juvenal, written around the late first or early second century, It translates to "who will guard the guardians?"
Surprisingly, the original context was not in the sense of the modern meaning of who will police those in power; it rather dealt with marital infidelity.
The original text: audio quid ueteres olim moneatis amici, "pone seram, cohibe." sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor.
Translation: I hear always the admonishment of my friends: "Bolt her in, constrain her!" But who will guard the guardians? The wife plans ahead and begins with them.
But enough of dead Romans. This is rather about the internationally renowned newspaper called The Guardian, for which I hold sizeable contempt.
To explain why would take too long. Instead, I leave you with these real headlines from that publication:
- "Robots are racist and sexist, just like the people who created them (Machines learn their prejudices in language. It's not their fault, but we still need to fix the problem)"
- "Do you boast about your fitness? Watch out – you’ll unavoidably become rightwing (I’m not sure what exercise does for your body, but I do know what it does to your personality. And it’s not pretty)"
- "Our fear of sharks is tinged with subconscious guilt (A blue shark sparked panic at a Spanish beach but our irreconcilable attitudes to the sea ought to worry us more)"
- "I stopped going to the gym because of Trump. Now I can't open jars (I tried out Donald Trump’s theory on exercise. I walked, I did this, I did that. But I was weak)"
- "One perk of older age? Fewer catcalls (To my great shame, the thought of not being worth men’s notice bothers me, even though I’m a seasoned feminist and I know better)"
- "Fat people, rise up! We could swing this election (It’s time white supremacist whoopee cushion Donald Trump was hurled back into obscurity by a coalition of women, Muslims, veterans, LGBT people and fat people)"
