Nazis. I hate these guys.
In his article on the current disagreements between Charles Johnson of LGF and some right-wing bloggers over “accusations of bigotry and treason”, David Weigel of the Washington Independent seems to have a hard time understanding the issues that divide “Terrorism-Watching Conservative Blogs.” He says:
But in the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency, LGF has become better known for the various fights it picks with many on the right — including conservative bloggers, critics of Islamic extremism, and critics of Islam in general who used to be Johnson’s fellow travelers….
Johnson supported Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008, but he spent some of the campaign attacking anti-Obama conspiracy theorists, and he rejected the idea designs were malicious, rather than merely naive. Johnson worries, in conversation and on his blog, that his old allies have been duped by far-right European political parties and have bought into wild attacks on the president that discredit their own causes.
“I don’t think there is an anti-jihadist movement anymore,” Johnson said. “It’s all a bunch of kooks. I’ve watch some people who I thought were reputable, and who I trusted, hook up with racists and Nazis. I see a lot of them promoting stories and causes that I think are completely nuts.”
Johnson’s disgust with the terrorism-focused conservative blogosphere has had a traumatic effect on a dogged and dogmatic community of bloggers and scholars.
Like Charles Johnson and other anti-fascists, including Christopher Hitchens and the bloggers at Harry’s Place, I’m opposed to fascism. Like Hitchens, I believe that “swastika symbols exist for one purpose only—to be defaced.” I’m not as bold about my opinions as Hitchens is, but any form of genocidal authoritarianism combined with racism, any politically-based efforts to make laws condemning a group of people based on who they are rather than what they do, tends to piss me off.
That’s why I find it hard to support bloggers who claim to be against the Islamist-related brand of fascism, but who will write books with, feature and praise the work of somone like Serge Trifkovic, one of the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs during the years of ethnic cleansing. When bloggers say things like “the Nazis are not the problem”, this is also alarming.
Anyone who actually follows and reads the links that have been provided for years by “terrorism-watching” blogs like Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch, Charles Johnson’s Little Green Footballs, Harry’s Place and Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs would know that the source of Islamist terrorism is not “Islam”, it’s a political/paramilitary movement sponsored mostly by wealthy Saudis and Pakistanis and powerful Iranian mullahs. Training and planning are provided by Pakistani and Iranian intelligence agencies. Libya occasionally helps in these efforts. Although the Iranians, Pakistanis, Libyans, and Saudis fight amongst themselves, they also work together. Islam is used as an inspiration and a recruiting tool, but recruits are also inspired by drugs, money, the will to dominate and the joy they take in being aggressive towards people who can’t fight back.
If you follow the links and ignore the right/left controversies, the blogwars and the offbeat comments, this is the message you will get. All of these bloggers provide an essential service, combing through the international news for information that Fox News and CNN fail to provide. The differences between them tend to based on whether the blogger is anti-Islam or anti-fascist.
Charles Johnson has always been more anti-fascist than anti-Islam, which is why other anti-fascist bloggers, even leftists like David T. at Harry’s Place tend to understand where Charles is coming from:
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has been reporting on an ‘anti-Islamisation’ conference organised by Pro Köln, which is the successor to the neo-fascist “Deutsche Liga für Volk und Heimat“.
We expect fascists to use anti-Muslim bigotry to advance their hateful politics. The British National Party are following precisely the same agenda in the United Kingdom.
If you are no longer capable of distinguishing between specific jihadist and Islamist parties – Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami – and ordinary Muslim citizens of your country, then you have crossed over the line. If you attend a conference organised by fascists, then you have also crossed over the line. You have become an anti-Muslim bigot.
Of Weigel’s article, Johnson says:
One more comment on this subject: this hasn’t been a sudden change at LGF. My refusal to associate with fascist groups is not new. It’s a core principle and always has been, and that’s why, when I saw the so-called “anti-jihad” bloggers starting to hook up with European neofascist groups two years ago, I could not remain silent.
The current controversy is just more proof that Jane’s Law…
The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.
..is still true. Back in 2004, when the Left in America was out of power and getting kind of looney about it, Harry’s Place did not ‘get’ LGF. Like David Weigel they linked to the misleading Little Green Fascists Quiz, written by addled leftist LGF hater “Dr. Menlo”, as proof that LGF was tolerating fascist, right wing views.
Back in 2004, I wrote a quiz that showed that extremist, extrerminationist views, leaning very close to fascism, were currently more common on the left:
NAZI OR BLOGGER?
This quiz was inspired by this, and by this post, written by Matthew Yglesias.
Care to test your knowledge of current politics and ear for dialogue? Each of the following quotes represents either:
a) Charles or a comment from Little Green Footballs
- OR -
b) a Leftist, a Green or a Fascist.
See if you can tell which is which! This is a self-grading test (answers provided below), so if you get it wrong you have no one to blame but yourself.
…
“..there is no easy solution..for life to survive as we know it, millions of people are going to have to die. It’s sad to say that, but it’s true. Millions of people are already dying – it’s just gonna have to start happening here”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is B, Environmental rights activist Craig ‘Critter’ Marshall]
…
“Palestinian Gumen Kill Theiving Israeli Settler..Gunmen kill three Israeli land thieves, plus one future land thief.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is B, Indymedia commenter Boaz describing the death of a five year old girl (the ‘future land thief’) and members of her family, shot in their beds by Palestinians]
…
“The son of Ikhlas Yassin (who had 7 children, not 3) says he was tortured by the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades until he invented the story that his mother was a collaborator.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is A, Charles linking to an article about the torture and murder of Bakir Khouli, a Palestinian mother of 7, by Arafat's Al Aqsa.]
…
“The outrage you hear is coming from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN Commission for Human Rights, and all the various “Students for Justice in Palestine” groups on university campuses across the nation.”
“Awful quiet…..I’ll wait…..hrm…..crickets….”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is A, LGF commenter David about 'humanitarian' reaction to the torture of Bakir Khouli]
…
“Only Israel would benefit from this war, and the Zionist warmongers in media and government seek to use America’s guns and money to strike devastating blows at Israel’s enemies. They also know that the ensuing war fever will shift attention away from Israel’s brutal terrorism and suppression against the Palestinian people.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is B, Nazi David Duke]
…
“I get so many emails and tips to articles these days that it’s simply impossible to read everything; one of the things I missed last week (although it was discussed quite a bit in our comments) was the story of former PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat, now an apostate Muslim and passionate pro-Western voice: From PLO Terrorist to Lover of Zion. (Hat tip: Nekama.)”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is A, Charles]
…
“Shoebat began awakening from the death cult when his Christian wife challenged him to read the Bible”
“..Which is precisely why Bibles in Saudi Arabia are outlawed. To the extent that even the APO was denied mail service of Bibles to US military installations in the KSA.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is A, commenter Geepers, on Charles’ post about a former PLO terrorist]
…
And then there’s Rumsfeld who said of Iraq, ‘We have our good days and our bad days.’ We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say, ‘This is one of our bad days’ and pull the trigger.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is B, St. Petersburg Democratic Club]
…
“[Brooklyn-born settlers in Israel] should be shot dead. I think they are Nazis, racists, I feel nothing but hatred for them.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is B, Poet and Oxford Professor Tom Paulin]
…
“Students at University College Cork in Ireland have put together a list of well-known authors and speakers who are Jews, under the name Palestine: Information with Provenance. As LGF reader AWH put it, this is the Internet version of the Nazi yellow star.”
a) LGF
b) Leftist/Green/Fascist
[the answer is A, Charles’ post about a University-sponsored hate site]
…..
That was a pretty easy quiz, wasn’t it? Even without the answers, it’s easy to tell the difference between the real LGF and the leftist/green/fascist group.
If I wanted to make the quiz harder, I’d ask you to guess whether David Duke or Noam Chomsky said one thing or another. So many left/green/fascist extremists speak with the same voice lately. It’s hard to tell them apart.
In those days, there was no leftist equivalent of Charles Johnson speaking out against extremists or obsessed loonies like Noam Chomsky and the folks at Indymedia. It’s a shame, they could have used one.
The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. When Leftists tolerated and supported the extremists in their midst, they did great harm to their party. If the Right wing follows the same path, they can expect to be out of power for eight years, maybe longer.
We all need to pay attention to the voices of sanity in our midst. In the long run, the anti-fascist right and left will appreciate the work that Charles Johnson has done.
UPDATE: I was on a plane from NY to California all day yesterday, so I’m a little late in saying welcome to visitors from Little Green Footballs!
