Little Green Footballs

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Charles Johnson: "Watch your back"

I suspect I’m not the only one who’s massively turned off by the political triangulating going on around the murder of Benazir Bhutto.

Those were the words of Charles Johnson on Dec. 27.

By Dec. 28 Charles Johnson had found his form again, and was busily linking to his favorite politpundits in a desparate attempt to hammer some sort of message out of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto before the blood dries and the news junkie caravan moves on.

Who did CJ endorse? A certain 'Scott Ott' (nasty parents), whose ignorant ramblings Chuckles describes as "serious".

What is the essence of Ott's piece? That European politicians should view the murder of Bhutto as a warning of what they will soon face - unless they muster the courage to confront the Islamic peril.

Ott is wrong on so many fronts, it's hard to know where to start. The obvious first question to Ott would be: have you ever been to Europe or Pakistan, or are you - like Johnson - a keyboard warrior whose entire knowledge of the world out there comes from Youtube and the cable channels you so despise? Then: what exactly makes you think the two places are in any way comparable? And finally: when it comes to attributing responsibility for what happened in Pakistan, shouldn't you look a little bit closer to home and perhaps mention the fact that it was the US government which originally armed the Taliban (now roving freely in Pakistan's lawless northwest)? And don't you think it might be worth scrutinizing the ongoing US support for Pakistan's shady secret service, all well-documented and at times even acknowledged by US officials?

What Ott, Johnson and others like them manifestly fail to understand is that their "bomb 'em all" approach to solving the world's problems is precisely what is causing many of the conflicts and uprisings in the first place. Iraq, Israel, Colombia, Afghanistan, Somalia and Lebanon...don't you guys ever learn a thing? Don't you realize that your ignorance coupled with your trigger-happy foreign policy is laying the foundations for the wars of the future?

Instead of warning people you have never met that they should watch their backs because the crosshairs of fanatics are trained on them (and wouldn't you just squeel with glee if a European politician did actually get killed?) it might be more appropriate if you spent your time doing some proper research about the coutries and people you like to preach about so much.

Step out of the chickenhawk role for once and visit Rawalpindi, or Ramallah, or Ankara, or Berlin, or Lyon, or Dar es Salaam, or Cairo, or Jakarta.

Muster some courage and a few brain cells to challenge a few of the preconceived ideas you have about half the world population.

Give us an informed, nuanced (drat, the evil n-word!), USEFUL opinion for once, instead of the usual mind-numbing drivel that passes for political analysis on your side of the blogosphere.

That's your challenge for 2008.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ummm... "half" the world's population? Shouldn't that be more like "one sixth" or "one quarter", or are you including groups other than Muslims?

Anonymous said...

.....read the piece. It's about US chickenhawk bloggers opinions about the Islamic world, Europe and other places. So it's actually more accurate to describe it as over half the world's population. X has it spot on.

But hey, it shows how strong the argument was if all you can quibble about is that.

Kiddo said...

Oh, bah humbug. It's far more than merely "disgusting" to watch commenters and bloggers in the "counterjihad" movement scramble to claim Bhutto as their own. I managed to get through numerous comments of this sort at LGF only with Sphinx in IMs. You see, Benazir Bhutto was not a Pakistani Muslim running for office of her own accord but in fact an operative of bloggers everywhere. Had she been invited, she surely would have graced the "Brussels Counterjihad Summit" with her presence, and I believe her decision to return to her native country was actually spurred on by this Summit, even if Charles Johnson was not there.

I was particularly delighted to see several comments comparing her assassination to the murder of Theo van Gogh. I mean, if one is thinking of the Dutch and of comparing someone running for office being assassinated within weeks of elections, of course the first name that comes to mind is Pim For....I mean Theo van Gogh.

All of this is rather a moot point however, given the latest tomes of wisdom published this season. Not to be left in the dust by Jonah Goldberg's seminal work, Liberal Fascism, NYT Columnist Paul Krugman offers his Conscience of a Liberal, nicely linked at Atlas Shrugs as a reminder that the Democratic Party is the true bastion of racism in America.

I LOVE these reminders, and I haven't even gotten around to GoV yet.

Kiddo said...

Pardon me, that piece was for a book by Bruce Bartlett, written by himself and critical of Krugman's book while quoting his own, um, liberally.

Anonymous said...

Dealer -

I wasn't disagreeing with the argument. I just wasn't clear to what "half the world's population" was referring.

X said...

'Anonymous', just tot up all the groups LGF has casually condemned/written off over the past six years and see if you don't reach 3 billion...

X said...

'so said...', nice of you to brand us "liberals". Kinda shows a narrow frame of reference.

Anyhow, nobody's saying fundamentalist Islam isn't part of the problem in Pakistan. But if you're going to talk about appeasment and tacit (and at times not so tacit) support for radical forces there your first questions should be for the US, not Europe.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a liberal and I think most of the analysis done here at LGF Watch is way more sensible, rational and reasoned than what LGF itself has been offering lately.

For one thing, the ego problem is not as prevalent here. Charles Johnson obviously has a major ego problem.

I have to admit I haven't visited LGF for quite a while. What did CJ have to say about Bhutto posting at Huffington?

Anonymous said...

Uh did these fucktards forget about the assasination of JFK and the failed assasination of Reagan Sr.?

Were they Islamist plots now?

They are so unbelievably stupid it boggles the mind on how they could exist in this world.

Anonymous said...

I was just perusing LGF -- they're popping champagne corks over the Reuters comment that things are more peaceful this new years eve in Iraq. The geniuses over there feel this vindicates the whole Iraqi mission. It's remarkable that there appears to be no opposing commentary. WTF!

Anonymous said...

For the pedantic types here on the watch who corrected me the other night for my misspelling a couple of lefty names, the correct spelling is desperate…being this is a top notch site and all, thought you guys and gals might want it to appear “correctly.”

And for Lex, since you claim to be a Christian and Christ said you would know true doctrine by its fruits, can you kindly direct me to the edifying works of Islam? Everywhere I’ve looked and found Islam, hell has followed and the fruit appears rotten. Can you help me out?

The Sphinx said...

Well Tex, how about you get to know some real Muslims?

You claim to be seeing "hell" every time you look at Islam (if being spoon-fed lies and misinformation from the internet qualifies as "looking"), well I've lived in a Muslim society for 15 years, know more Muslims than you can count, and yet haven't seen any of that "hell" you speak of.

One of us must be wrong..

Anonymous said...

Well Sphinx, I believe I know some Muslims about three doors down - at least they call themselves Muslim. Pretty secular in nature I presume, very Americanized, and nice enough. Not a whiner like you. Oh by the way, my secular Iranian neighbor - he called your clan a bunch of rabid dogs not worthy of a bullet. That's how edifying he found Iran and he lived there for his first 30 years.

And being that I went to college at least 30 years ago with a bunch of engineers calling themselves devout Muslims, prayer rugs included, I've had a little taste of your brothers where personal hygiene is optional. Even back then they were about as popular as a case of the Clap.

But since you mention it old American-hating acquaintance and you've lived in that Muslim loving society for 15 years, why don't you answer the question for Lex the christian gay activist with a small "c" and tell me why you reside in Germany?

Surely you could study physics in one of those scientific literate, edifying Islamic countries. No need to reside in America or Europe to do so...

The Sphinx said...

HAH. Another dolt trying to blackmail me with my choice of University, after some guy whose nickname I can't remember, and the very aptly-named Sharmuta from LGF.

Well Taylor, when I get a full scholarship from the German Academic Exchange service to study in Germany, after receiving the the "Abitur" (German High school certificate) from Cairo, you bet your south end I'm taking that opportunity to get to see other countries and learn from the experience of living alone.

In any other case, I wouldn't have had any problem in studying Physics or Engineering at the University in Cairo where my brother is currently studying. But as you don't get a scholarship to Germany every day, I just went for it.

In other words: It's none of your $*&%ing business where I choose to study. Egypt is and will always be my home, no matter how much you'd love to hate it for simply having too many Muslims.

I also find it funny that you will gladly believe that Iranian neighbour of yours, even though he resorts to such rhetoric. I thought it was "Islamic hatefulness" that you condemned? Or are we starting to become Schizophrenic?
Would you have still listened to him if it were Americans he was referring to? I think that any idiot who is blind with hate towards America will "find" enough reasons for such a statement..

Also how pathetic is your approach of proving we are scum by getting an example of some Muslims not caring much about personal hygiene. In the narrow minds of your people, this is all the proof in the world that all Muslims are filthy, and all non-Muslims are not. At least this is how you make it sound, all to my personal entertainment.

Thanks for the laugh by the way, re: American-hater. You said you don't live in America before, if I remember correctly. I'll resort to your snotty tactic and ask you why not, if everybody who disagrees with you is an American-hater. See how much you like that question.

Maybe I should drop all the formalities and call you "Islamophobe". You're spewing anti-Islamic rhetoric all the time after all..

To answer your question to Lex, the Christian (Some more respect, if you will..): Without all the scientific and academic achievements of the Arab/Persian/Muslim world in the past centuries, Europe wouldn't have become what it was. All the knowledge flowed towards Europe came from the East, and it was incidents like the Mongol invasion of Bagdad and the destruction of many major Eastern cities (along with libraries) that contributed to this downfall. In the words of the legendary Al Sahhaf Wartime Information Minister of Iraq (who provided us with the severely needed comic-relief):

"When we were making the law, when we were writing the literature and the mathematics the grandfathers of Blair and little Bush were scratching around in caves"

The concept of Zero, an invention that is mocked by the likes of you, is fundamental to linear algebra and group theory in mathematics and therefore physics also.
The word "Algorithm" is derived from "Al Khwarizmi", a Persian Muslim mathematician who pioneered in the study of Algebra.
Those are a few examples from a field I'm studying.

I'll let this list give you a broader perspective on how medieval Islamic scientists paved the road to modern science. Some of the links appear to be broken though..

From a social viewpoint, _the_ nicest and most charitable people I've met in my entire life happen to be fellow Egyptians/Muslims. Not that I haven't met any nice people elsewhere (Quite the contrary), but for me the fact stands.

Maybe if you went for a visit, you might see the world through other eyes? Or is Egypt too "subhuman" for your (admittedly rather low) standard? Once the Egyptians greet you with a friendly "Welcome to Egypt!" and a smile, you'll start feeling ashamed at yourself. Or maybe not.

And as a side-note: The by far friendliest place I've come by in Germany so far is the Islamic center I go to every week. Bunch of rabid dogs we are indeed, huh.

In retrospect, I don't know why I'm even wasting time with you. In fact, I despise such discussions in the lines of "My culture is better than your culture". Pure rubbish it is if you ask me. What matters is manners, something you don't seem to have at the moment. And though I do my best to preserve my identity as a Muslim in a very non-Islamic Europe, all my German friends don't seem to have any problems with me so far. I hope this causes your reasoning to go haywire.

Anonymous said...

Sphinx said "..Without all the scientific and academic achievements of the Arab/Persian/Muslim world in the past centuries, Europe wouldn't have become what it was. All the knowledge flowed towards Europe came from the East.."

yes right, without Greeks, Assyrians, Mesopotamians, and romans, Muslims would build nothing. It is interesting how you want to hijack other civilization achievements, by crediting your civilization. whereas now Arabs are free, Persians are free, but brought nothing new to humanity for more than ONE THOUSAND YEARS.

Education in Egypt is always declining since Brits left Egypt, thanks your socialist government and Islamists. You are a sham to lgfwatch.


=============

by the way, seems Ron Paul has some supporters, he finished up 5th, while Rudy 6th!!

The Sphinx said...

@"so"

Thus spoke the oversimplifying ignoramus.

Your lame "hijacking other cultures" theory is a sad excuse to hysterically 'prove' Arab/Islamic culture to be crap in ANY F***ING WAY POSSIBLE.
How about some proof that all those achievements are 'false', and that in 1000 years, NOTHING good came from the entire region? One-by-one please.

And by your retarded standard, "you" hijacked everything those old cultures gave you, without which you would "build nothing" either. Without this fundament built up by the Greeks, Mesopotamians, Ancient Egyptians, Persians, Arabs, Muslims, etc etc etc.. where would we all be right now? That's right, back at where they all started.

And you think I like our current Government? I hate them! You imagine you're going to make me feel ashamed about myself for that? Come on, you can do better! Or maybe not?

"We everything, you nothing, past, present and future", is the kind of chest-beating fallacy you nutters always resort to, without any kind of semi-decent proof to keep your arguments standing. Unfortunately for you, this all doesn't work with me. You've only succeeded in making yourself laughable.

And finally, "Sham to lgfwatch". Heh. I'm not even a contributer to this site. I just troll around in the comment sections. So again, FAIL.

Anonymous said...

Sphinx,

GUFFAW! The immense scientific and academic accomplishments of Islam!!! It doesn't even require a response. Yours is retort enough. Most of the educated world can measure the Islamic accomplishments they see with their own eyes and laugh at your response. And for a future physicist (Egyptian bomb maker), your memory is either poor or addled. I have never lived any place but America, nor will I.

Let me give you a heads up about the filth of your lovely culture. In my home town, my mother is an aerobic dance and water instructor for the elderly. They use the Doubletree Hotel pool because of the large shallow end and required assistance for the disabled. Seems the pack of the Islamic Center of my hometown (yes, we are tolerant enough to allow them to roam free much to my chagrin) used the hotel for their regional meeting. After their stay, the pool was so nasty the hotel had to drain the pool and clean the ring around it before the city inspector would allow it to reopen. I saw dirty diapers thrown in the hall - frickin' animals.

That's when I knew your culture was subhuman and nothing had changed in 30 years. There are your engineers, physicists and doctors. Unfortunately, our colleges could not teach them basic manners as they wouldn't allow the female employees of the hotel to use the elevators. They were resigned to taking the stairs with the Muslim concubines.

As for respect for Lexie, I actually find her comical and a rube. I'm hoping our militant christian with a small "c" finds out like so many confused females the hard way what Muslim males think of chattel, I mean women. The bleeding heart libs sound adoring until they get bounced off the pavement. There's nothing better than watching a former militant learn a difficult lesson in reality.

Anonymous said...

I got to give kudos to the "Watch" comments moderator. Unlike C.J., you apparently aren't sensitive and cowardly towards an opposing viewpoint worrying if the FBI is stalking in your bushes or on your bike rides.

I salute you...even if I would bet one hundred dollars to a donut we wouldn't agree on much else.

The Sphinx said...

As soon as you start talking in stereotypes and using words like "filth" and "subhuman" to describe an entire culture of which you know next to nothing about, that's when your mask falls off.

Would you prefer a final solution to the "Muslim problem" Tex? Is that what you'd cherish? Or are you so overwhelmingly arrogant that you're starting to sound like some white supremacist/nazi? Just a reminder, it's your type that pushed the holocaust through. I hope you sleep well at night with that thought.

I'm glad enough to have been brought up well by my family, contrary to you, and I don't see any sense in trying to reason with your likes. In fact you know what? You deserve all the anger you're wallowing in. Burn in your rage about us still existing on the same planet. We're not going anywhere, and I really really hope an Arab saves your life someday, to add to your shame.

Trying to appease you is below my dignity, so I'll just laugh at your sad ignore you. Feel free to continue making a complete retard out of yourself. Ta ta.

P.S. "Egyptian Bomb maker" - AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA, what a clown! :D

V said...

Um... thanks. I think.

However, referring to Muslims as filthy, smelly, degenerate animals does not strike me as especially edifying. Nor do your constant unjustified allegations that the Sphinx is an America-hating terrorist-in-training.

It's a free country, so carry on. But there's a line at which ad-hominem attacks become deletion-worthy, and you're getting very close. If you want to pursue this discussion, please feel free to do so somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

However, referring to Muslims as filthy, smelly, degenerate animals does not strike me as especially edifying. Nor do your constant unjustified allegations that the Sphinx is an America-hating terrorist-in-training.

Now V, you put words in my mouth. I did not use the word degenerate... LOL. Nonetheless, I actually am surprised and impressed that you don't let your buddies hide behind the deletion cloak of a pop to the mouth. The compliment was sincere. Didn't think you "progressives" had it in you.

Your nemesis at your namesake's website is not so brave which is the reason for losing much of his crowd, both good and bad. Everybody worth his salt likes a good fight, ad hominem or otherwise. When a blog begins to sound like a broken record, it's a matter of time before the needle breaks.

Let me make it clear for your blog, I am not so unreasonable to admit most Muslims probably hate the radical Islamic type as much as I do. Just as there were in all previous wars, there are many innocent victims on both sides to be sure. But the innocent victims are not the one calling the shots and the battle of culture is inevitable, LGF Watch or otherwise.

I'll leave it to each of you to decide which is superior. But pretending to be nice doesn't change the fact that sooner or later, all of you will no longer be able to straddle the fence. If that makes me an Islamophobe as Mr. Sphinx suggests, I'll wear the badge proudly.

V said...

To the person whose comment I just rejected: please try again, only this time without the extreme rhetoric.

V said...

"The word "Algorithm" is derived from "Al Khwarizmi", a Persian Muslim mathematician who pioneered in the study of Algebra."

Yes, I once visited his native region of Khorezm, in modern-day Uzbekistan.

No one who has ever visited Khiva (capital of Khorezm), or Samarkand, or Bukhara, or Istanbul -- as I have -- can reasonably claim that Muslims have contributed "nothing" to civilization over the past 1000 or whatever years.

Kiddo said...

OK, OK, I finally log on after a few days and see that a certain "Tex Taylor" has stored up a lot of rage towards me. Interesting! Enough rage even to sink to the "find her comical" line. And he even thinks I'm a rube. I won't even dignify that one with more response.

So Tex, you are yet another mad web fiend who says that I'm not a "real Christian" (of course, you just knock that definition down to "a small 'c'"). Well, there's one thing I find positive about the Muslims I know, they don't spend their time being all nit-picky about Christianity to the point of presuming to know exactly which sort I am. Similarly, neither do most liberals (not that that much matters to me).

In spending time around both Muslims and conservatives in the last year or so, I have found that the rotten fruit basket is more often than not coming from "militant" (to use your word) self-described 'evangelical Christians'. Yes, the traitorous Mr. Gadahn may be encouraging Palestinians to "meet President Bush.....with bombs...", but the Muslims I know are not like him.

Actually, the Muslims I know are as respectful towards me as Sphinx just was in these comments, compared to the multitudes of "bad fruit" you are dropping all over this thread. You malign him as a "future bomb maker", you malign Muslims for supposed "bad hygiene" and being "frickin' animals". Adding to that the idea that you have gleaned so much about both myself and Sphinx just from our comments here? I can only wonder where else you've been lurking.

So Tex, Sphinx hates Americans and I am a "bleeding heart liberal" as well as a "small 'c' Christian gay activist" and you can't wait to see how shocked I am to see how Muslims treat their women? You did get one thing right in there, I am a gay activist. Strangely, the obsessively "I'm a Christian" women on my street actually take orders from their husbands and consider these nitwits they have married to be their bosses. As for treating women like chattel, check out these posts at Gates of Vienna in which commenters plead with Baron Bodissey to exert more control over his wife (he links her post) when she posts. Certainly, it is obviously just Muslim men, no parallels to women in the U.S. or the rest of the West in which women weren't even allowed to vote 100 years ago (or be considered decently dressed for public without an ankle-length dress or a hat).

I say these things not to blame our civilization, for as I always say I love and will defend it at any cost, but I see no point in plunging to the levels of stupidity that you have reached here. Honestly. You're a bigot, nothing at all what I expected any Christians to be like after reading the Gospels and converting, and the most ill-bred little rube I've yet seen online next to perhaps "Redneck Texan". Don't be such a little bitch in the future, or such a "sharmuta" (ahh, the things I learn from Sphinx;)

Well, he can't say I didn't answer him now. Or get some cute little screen-shots. Now where does this hick hang out generally?

Anonymous said...

Ah Lexie, don't get so huffy. Redneck Texans all derived from a pseudonym - and I stereotype? I'm still laughing at the Galveston checkpoint comment some days back - there's a joke there someplace about mowing lawns.

What you define as rage, I define as comedy because if you didn't vote, I'd find you a hoot. Kind of like watching a Saturday night live skit - you laugh at the joke and move on. Its amoral nature has little effect on your own life.

But any practice that is referred to as "an abomination" and you not only approve but actively seek to support - yeah, I'd say you're a little more than confused. If telling the truth makes me a bigot, I'll wear the mantle. Kind of like Chenzen saying the success of the surge was due to the Dimocrats on his website. Not only ludicrous but 180 degrees wrong and diametrically opposed to the truth.

But you can't be all rotten. I read your website. Anybody that adopts unwanted dogs has to have some goodness underneath. Cute pups...the finest creatures God ever created (next to hardcore, redneck Conservatives).

Kiddo said...

Tex, who the heck are you, anyway? And what, BTW, do I support that is considered "an abomination"?

You read my Martel website, but have you only just started reading it or did you read it as well back before I deleted most of it? Just wondering. Glad you like my dog though.

Is someone who refers to himself as a "hardcore redneck conservative" a sterotype? I'd say that's a big "yes".

Well, glad to know I'm providing as much humor to you as you are to me (and probably plenty of others here). I do vote, and that will be for Obama, thank you very much. As for being "confused", the only thing I'm confused about at the moment are certain cases and tenses in both Old English and Latin (darned inferred languages), but I don't expect that you'll be much help to me there.

Kiddo said...

Ahhh Tex, now I remember you and that Galveston remark. LOL....you are actually thinking of "lawn mowing" jokes aren't you? Tsk, tsk.

Sorry to disappoint you regarding my favorite Texans, but honestly, didn't you see the "God Bless the Butthole Surfers"? I love Texas, but I'll add you to the list of things I don't like there.

Sorry I forgot who you were, but this Google search is picking up your comments rather nicely.

Anonymous said...

Lex, LOL. Cruise on over to you buddy Chenzhen's site. You'll find more - you guys (gals) are my two favorite libbies to mock. I could add Charlie Johnson to that list.

And see, we've got more in common than I first thought. We like dogs and each gets to add to their lists.

You add me to the list of things you don't like about Texas. I add you to the list of things to ask God why you were created - like the mosquito. Maybe it is to vector pestlilence or something.

Kiddo said...

Tex--and it is the fact that you have focused that much energy on me that has made me think you all the more absurd. Out of everyone, Chen and I are the ones who bother you? Listen, go to Technorati or something, search for some more blogs with the same tags, and knock yourself out.