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Template:Infobox weblog Little Green Footballs (LGF) is a political blog run by California web designer Charles Johnson. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Johnson - who describes himself as "pretty much center-left before 9/11" - transformed his blog's discussion of bicycle racing, programming, web design, and the occasional humorous news item into a very active discussion of the War on Terror, Islam and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Media observers have described the site as "ultraconservative" or "right wing"; observes Johnson:

I'm not pretending I'm giving equal time to both sides. But I do think what I'm advocating, and what I believe in, is the right side.

For "promoting Israel, and Zionism" and "presenting Israel's side of the conflict," LGF won the "Best Israel Advocacy Blog" award from the Jerusalem Post in 2005 ; opines Gil Ronen, a reporter for internet news outlet, Israel National News:

If anyone ever compiles a list of Internet sites that contribute to Israel’s public relations effort, Johnson's site will probably come in first, far above the Israeli Foreign Ministry's site.

In the United States, LGF is perhaps best known for playing a key role in raising doubts about the authenticity of the Killian documents regarding President Bush, which preceded the resignation of CBS' Dan Rather. The site won the Washington Post's reader poll for Best International Blog in November 2004 and played a large role in exposing the forged and altered photographs in the Adnan Hajj photographs controversy.

History and notable events

The software for the website was written by Johnson himself, in PHP. Until Spring 2007, all data was stored in flat files. The website now uses MySQL.

Killian documents

Main article: Killian documents
The animated GIF image created by Charles Johnson and posted at LGF, comparing a 2004-era Microsoft Word document made with default settings to the document that CBS presented as a typewritten memo from 1973.

LGF was one of four sources, along with the Power Line and Allahpundit blogs and the Free Republic discussion forum, who conducted the initial investigation of Dan Rather's assertions on 60 Minutes that the Killian documents were genuine.

Charitable contributions

Little Green Footballs supporters have helped raise thousands of dollars for Spirit of America's "Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge". Supporters also donate pizzas for IDF soldiers.

Pajamas Media

Main article: Pajamas Media

In late 2005 Johnson, along with blogger and author Roger L. Simon launched a news site called Pajamas Media (briefly called Open Source Media) featuring mostly conservative and neolibertarian bloggers and journalists (e.g., Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, Michael Barone, Tammy Bruce, John Podhoretz, Michael Ledeen, Cathy Seipp) with some liberal participants (e.g., David Corn, Marc Cooper). The name refers to Jonathan Klein's comment about bloggers working in their pajamas.

Doctored Reuters photographs

Main article: Adnan Hajj photographs controversy

On August 5, 2006, LGF showed how a photograph of Beirut after an Israeli air strike taken by Adnan Hajj was manipulated before being published.

Recurring themes

Ideological influences

Charles Johnson's posts on LGF frequently cite the writing of authors representing conservative and/or neolibertarian viewpoints, such as Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, Mark Steyn, Oriana Fallaci, and James Lileks.

"Palestinian child abuse"

Johnson often posts photos taken by Associated Press and Reuters photographers, among others, of Palestinians dressing their children in paramilitary uniforms, or in clothing emblazoned with violent slogans such as "Death to Israel." These children are often shown carrying realistic toy guns and even wearing mock-ups of the explosive belts used by suicide bombers. Johnson refers to such photographs as evidence of "Palestinian child abuse."

Rachel Corrie

Johnson has stated many times that he is disgusted with media coverage of the death of ISM activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah, a town in the Gaza Strip. Johnson disputes the ISM's account, holding that Corrie was "trying to 'protect' a house used for drugs and weapons smuggling". Claims Johnson:

Rachel Corrie was emphatically not a “peace activist.” She sided with terrorists and criminals, and advocated—in fact, was excited by—violence and mass murder.

In support of this view, he has cited a diary entry from Corrie in which she claims that the Palestinians are justified in their terror attacks because the Israeli military's capabilities, aided by the U.S., put the Palestinians at a disadvantage.

In posts about her on LGF, Johnson often features a photo of Corrie burning a hand-drawn American flag and surrounded by Palestinian children.

Slang

Discussing slang terms used by Johnson and his readers, Paul Farhi, a writer for the Washington Post, notes:

...Little Green Footballs doesn't always traffic in subtlety and nuance. Dissenting points of view often are dismissed as "idiotarian" or "LLL" (for "loony liberal left"), and Islam is mockingly referred to as "RoP," meaning "religion of peace.

Registration and Posting Protocols

Registration

Johnson began requiring users to register for posting privileges in June 2004, closing the site to new registrations later that year; as of 2007, new user registration for the site is "occasionally open... during weekend afternoons, Pacific time."

Posting Filter

Johnson has put in place a filter which stops LGF members from using certain derogatory and racist terms in their posts to the site. While Johnson stresses that the number of comments filtered in this way are "minuscule", the filter is intended to stop any such comments from being "used against" him.

Rivalries

Johnson and LGF "regulars" (the self-proclaimed "Lizardoids") have engaged in a number of high-profile feuds and flame wars, pitting LGF supporters against readers of other blogs (e.g., Daily Kos) and alternative media sites (e.g., Misplaced Pages, Fark and Digg). Claims Derek van Vlie, a writer for the Blog Herald:

In the past, Charles Johnson, the owner of the (LGF) blog has rallied his readers to establish a “beachhead” on Digg to counteract the perceived liberal bias. All the while peppering pejoratives like “moonbat” throughout the content directed at Digg users. Meanwhile, their site does not allow open discussion. Registration is required to comment. And opportunities to register are rare. Digg users are known to rail against closed systems. After all, they came to participate...

Redirects

Johnson often redirects incoming links from sites critical of LGF to the Israel Defense Forces homepage.

Claims and controversies

Claims of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment

In At LGF... you can regularly find comments that call both Muslims and liberals 'vermin' and 'subhumans' and say that 'targeted genocide... will become necessary.
  • R. J. Smith, writing in Los Angeles Magazine, has alleged that LGF is a "dysfunctional mix of beautiful photos Johnson takes on coastal bike rides and constitutionally protected hate speech" which "believes all Muslims are terrorists until proven innocent.".
  • Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) called Little Green Footballs "a vicious, anti-Muslim hate site" and claims that the FBI has "investigated several threats of physical harm against Muslims posted by Little Green Footballs readers".
  • Journalist Eric Boehlert has written that LGF "oozes disdain for Arabs and journalists (and most of all, Arab journalists)" and is "obsessed with proving that all MSM reporting from Iraq and the Middle East is biased in favor of Islamic terrorists."

Claims of Censorship

  • In March 2005, Johnson called attention to Google's inclusion of the white supremacist National Vanguard site (and simultaneous exclusion of LGF) in its news index; the NV site has since been dropped.
  • In April 2007 Johnson reported that Little Green Footballs was being blocked by Websense under its "Racism and Hate" category. Websense admitted that the site had been thus categorized briefly and subsequently reversed the decision.

Claims of support for violence against a former US President

Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon, charges in a March 15, 2007 article that:

... commenters at Little Green Footballs have not only expressed surprise, but outright support, for Mohammed's assassination plot against a former U.S. President. They are out in droves expressing sorrow that Al Qaeda did not have the opportunity to carry out its plot... multiple comments from Johnson's standard, regular followers -- all of whom have to register as LGF users, a device Johnson uses to ban commenters of whom he disapproves -- (are) expressing explicit support for Al Qaeda's plot against President Carter..

Media attention

2002

  • MSNBC's Will Femia wrote of LGF:
This site is the focus of considerable controversy for its focus (and particularly the focus of the constituents in its comments section) on Islamic culture and dogma as the source of Islamic terror. As a popular, active, and well presented site, it is worth checking out, but some may find its content hateful or even racist.
  • Syndicated columnist James Taranto defended LGF after MSNBC 'smeared' Johnson.

2004

  • On September 25 2004, the New York Times Sunday magazine ran a cover story about political bloggers. Although Johnson had been interviewed for 43 minutes by author Michael Klam, neither he nor LGF got a mention in the final piece - Klam focused instead on longtime rivals Wonkette and the Daily Kos. Johnson struck back with a post entitled "They Smile in Your Face" (an allusion to the 1972 soul hit "Back Stabbers" by the O-Jays), noting:
There is not one word about the anti-idiotarian blogosphere... The mainstream media’s shameful, arrogant bias up there for all to see.

2005

  • Vanity Fair theater critic James Wolcott characterized the LGF community as "sort of like a disorganized Nuremberg Rally, a lot of angry ruffians with nowhere to go...." after Johnson described an attack on Daniel Pipes by Wolcott as "the sort of high-toned writin’ that made Vanity Fair the journalistic juggernaut it is today."

2006

I'm losing patience with this notion, surely one of the most successful media Big Lies of the past few years, that Charles runs a racist hate site. By now it's been repeated so often that even normally reasonable people believe it.

External links

References

  1. Gil Ronen (2004-05-11). "At Israel's Right". Israel National News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. Elaine Jarvik and Deborah Bulkeley (2007-02-15). "Vitriolic e-mails zero in on 'Muslim'". Deseret Morning News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. Doree Shafrir (2006-10-05). "Speaker System". Slate. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. Paul Farhi (2006-08-09). "Blogger Takes Aim At News Media and Makes a Direct Hit". Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. Jerusalem Post "2005 Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards". Jerusalem Post,. 2006-02-02. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  6. Gil Ronen (2004-04-29). "At Israel's Right". B'Sheva. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Charles Johnson (2004-09-09). "Bush Guard Documents: Forged". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. Howard Kurtz (2004-09-20). "After Blogs Got Hits, CBS Got a Black Eye". Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. "2004 Best Blogs - Politics & Elections Readers' Choice Awards". Washington Post. 2004-10-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. Charles Johnson. "Fauxtography Updates". LGF.
  11. Charles Johnson (2007-04-03). "LGF Database Mongo Makeover". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. Charles Johnson (2004-12-14). "Of Money and Mouths". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. "Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge". Spirit of America.
  14. Charles Johnson (2002-05-22). "'za for the idf". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) (See http://www.pizzaidf.com/.)
  15. Charles Johnson (2006-08-05). "Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ""Reuters admits altering Beirut photo"". Ynetnews. 2006-08-06. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. "Search results for "Palestinian Child Abuse" in LGF entries".
  18. ^ Charles Johnson (2003-04-12). "The ISM Whitewash Continues". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. Charles Johnson (2003-03-19). "No Tears for Corrie". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. Charles Johnson (2003-03-19). "No Tears for Corrie". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. Paul Farhi (2006-08-09). "Blogger Takes Aim At News Media and Makes a Direct Hit". Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. Charles Johnson (2007-03-22). "Sane Remarks About Blog Comments". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. Charles Johnson (2005-07-20). "LGF Misplaced Pages Battlefield". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. Charles Johnson (2006-09-06). "Misplaced Pages's Fatal Flaw". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. Derek van Vliet (2007-02-07). "Warning: Polictics Can Get Messy On Digg". The Blog Herald. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. Charles Johnson (2003-06-23). "LGF Al-Zawiya Yahoo Group Notices LGF". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. al-Zawiya (2003-06-23). "Al-Zawiya posting". Yahoo Groups. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. David Neiwert (2005-11-13). "Unhinged: Unhonest". Orcinus. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. RJ Smith (February 2006). "Pajama Game". Los Angeles Magazine.
  30. Paul Farhi (2006-08-09). "Blogger Takes Aim At News Media and Makes a Direct Hit". Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. Antonia Zerbisias (2006-08-09). "And now it's 'Reutersgate'". Toronto Star. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. Eric Boehlert (2006-08-15). "Little Green Footballs, Staged War Photos, and the Story the Press Won't Tell". Huffington Post. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. Charles Johnson (2005-03-20). "Google News High Standards, Exhibit N for Nazi". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  34. Charles Johnson (4 April 2007). "Websense Damage Spreading". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. Charles Johnson (5 April 2007). "Websense Update: Block Removed". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. Glenn Greenwald (March 15 2007). "Support for al-Qaida plots on large right-wing blog". Salon Magazine. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. James Taranto (2002-10-22). "Best of the Web Today: MSNBC Smears Charles Johnson". OpinionJournal.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  38. Charles Johnson (2004-09-25). "They Smile in Your Face". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  39. Charles Johnson (2005-01-27). "Sullivan Off the Rails Again". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. James Wolcott (December 2005). "Headhunters". JamesWolcott.com.
  41. Charles Johnson (2005-12-22). "Wolcott Hits Another Low". LGF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. Dean Barnett (2005-03-02). "Kos Party". The Weekly Standard. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  43. Cathy Seipp (2006-02-17). "Los Locos: Not-so-brilliant media insights from the City of Angels". National Review. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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