h/t Atlas
What's got Beck Pissed Off? This:
Take Charles Johnson, a jazz musician and software programmer who is best known for his Web site, Little Green Footballs. Although an independent himself, for years Johnson's LGF has been one of the most popular blogs on the right, focusing mostly on national-security issues and the war on terror. It's also been a magnet for criticism from the left and even denounced by some as a "hate site" for its strident criticism of radical Islam.
But lately, posts on jihadists have dwindled in favor of a new target: Glenn Beck. Just this week, Johnson went after Beck for using violent imagery and rhetoric in a segment where he pretended to douse a guest with gasoline then threatened to set them on fire, accused Beck of promoting conspiracy theorists, and posted a video of attendees at one of the "Tea Party" events heavily promoted by Beck advocating for book burning.
In an interview, Johnson told The Daily Beast that he was extremely concerned by a lurch to the right among conservative media outlets, particularly Fox News, which he said has begun "deliberately pandering to extreme-right personalities."
"They've taken a real turn to the hard right, and Glenn Beck, I think, is kind of riding that wave," Johnson said. "I don't know if he's necessarily going to incite violence, but I do think it's irresponsible. It kind of drags down the discourse to a level that I, for one, am not comfortable with."
4 comments:
"...for years Johnson's LGF has been one of the most popular blogs on the right..."
Whether one applauds that fact or deplores it, LGF is NOT, to all intents and purposes, a "blog on the right", unless being pro-Israel turns one automatically into a "rightwinger".
I like Beck. I followed him from the "other" channel and was very happy to see him at Fox, where he belongs.
Yes, he can seem a bit outlandish at times. But, that's because he's not afraid to say, what we out here are thinking. He is a huge believer in the first amendment and I applaud him for it.
Pansy techniques will get us no where. Our ancestors were not pansie's. If they were, we would be owned by Britain or, Islam.
As much as we berate the left for their craziness, we can't say they are pansies.
Yes, I am calling the right pansies. I'm guilty. Sue me.
Beck is opinion AND entertainment.
Christine is correct in that Beck is sometimes the 'unfiltered id'.
So what.
Frankly it seems that Charles Johnson is headed well down the road to self important irrelevance.
He was right that VB should not be in the 'mainstream' of anti jihad activities, and was among the first to recognize the character of the real danger from the ginstu wielding freaks, but since then has deviated into some kind of cyber-torquemada, excommunicating to outer hell some very good people, and finally existing potentially in a world of one. Sort of like the SPLC fighting the good fight with the KKK and Aryan Nation (KILLING THE LATTER), and then making all activity they disapprove of politically, hate and racism.
It's a goddamn shame.
But that's how it is.
Years ago I was there several times a day, then it dwindled over the stupid personal nature (on both sides) and detritus of the GoV/Atlas war, and now maybe once a month, MAYBE.
Beck is if anything Libertarian, but hardly hard right. Huckabee is a creationist, but I'm sorry, even though I think that's not based in science, that hardly makes you hard right.
One can only wonder what all these judgmental people would have made of the incredible radicals of 1775, firebrands all, who defy labeling.
I see only those who think they are right and tolerate dissent, and those who don't really want to.
I see those who think mankind's role in society is to share our individual gifts with 'the less fortunate' by their definition, and to make CERTAIN we do so by enforcing such outcomes, and those who believe mankind's gift IS PERSONAL FREEDOM AND ALL THAT FLOWS FROM IT.
Maybe Johnson now, ought to just stick to AJAX, Javascript and Mysql ... I'll read his stuff anytime on that. And I'll learn something
I see Johnson as being pretty much right on on the Creationism argument (though I don't think it is as important as he thinks it is, he does present a good case). And, by the way, I am a Christian, as most people who read here already know.
I see him as being exactly right on the VB, though lacking in a philosophical basis upon which to criticize the VB and other far-right European political parties. I think IBA has done a better job no that subject, as has BabbaZee, but far fewer people read our sites than his.
I think Johnson is correct in his criticism of Fox News.
However, I have had difficulty figuring out why he is so transfixed with Glen Beck, and that gasoline video. Johnson lost me there. In my opinion, that was a good piece of theatre on the part of Glen Beck.
And, I can't fault Glen Beck for responding. For God's sake.
It seems Johnson has some credible reasons for being unhappy with the right-wing. But, really, he should just look at his friend Zombie's website, and he will find that he has FAR MORE REASONS TO BE UNHAPPY WITH THE LEFT.
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