Lists, lists, lists

There is one thing that I really wish would go away. That thing is Sherlock Holmes ranking/rating lists.

By this I mean those pointless lists that either rank the stories themselves or the screen adaptations.

Regardless of what they purport do be doing, they tend to reveal more about the compiler than they do the subject. If they are not questioning the accuracy of an adaptation, they are busy applying modern standards to stories of a century-and-a-half ago - accusing them of being this or that. So the ranker in their attempt to criticise prejudice or intolerance ends up displaying their own.

I know I am shouting into the wind here, but can we just give it a rest?