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Revision as of 19:12, 4 May 2006 by 204.149.81.212 (talk) (The site's sole purpose is to stir hatred against Muslems. You have an entire page (with references) making this clear. The first paragraph stands out as totally different -- stop changing it.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Little Green Footballs logo
Little Green Footballs logo

Little Green Footballs (LGF) is a conservative blog run by California web designer Charles Johnson, frequented by xenophobes of the religion of Islam. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Johnson transformed his blog's discussion of bicycle racing, programming, web design, and the occasional humorous news item into a very active force against Muslim ideals. The site makes no distinction between Islamic fundamentalists and the core religion, and often uses violent images to stir up hatred among it's members

LGF has won praise by conservative organizations for its extensive "coverage" of foreign news stories, particularly those featuring examples of European anti-Semitism or Islamist terrorism. The site is also known for its cynical spin on Palestinian political issues, featuring Photoshopped treatments of Rachel Corrie as "Saint Pancake," Yasser Arafat as "Arafish" and jailed Palestinian militants as Elvis and Bob Dobbs.

In the United States, LGF is perhaps best known for helping to expose a forged document about President Bush, leading to the resignation of CBS' Dan Rather. As of 2005 LGF was the 5,582nd most popular English language website according to Alexa's traffic analysis).

History and notable events

Charitable contributions

Little Green Footballs supporters have helped raise thousands of dollars for such charity organizations as Spirit of America and Pizza for the IDF.

Ideological Influences

Posts on LGF frequently cite the writing and views of Daniel Pipes, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, Mark Steyn, Oriana Fallaci, and James Lileks.

Idiotarianism and the "Fiskie"

Main article: Idiotarian

LGF webmaster Charles Johnson coined the internet neologism and political epithet "Idiotarian," and runs an "Idiotarian of the Year Award" named for journalist Robert Fisk.

Killian documents

Main article: Killian documents
The animated GIF image posted at LGF, comparing what CBS claimed to be a 1973-era typewritten memo with a 2004-era Microsoft Word document made with default settings.

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.

Within hours of the segment, the authenticity of the documents was questioned by posters on Free Republic, a conservative Internet forum, and discussion quickly spread to various weblogs in the blogosphere. The following morning, several blogs including Power Line and Little Green Footballs concluded that the memos were almost certainly forgeries, as they appeared to have been produced on a modern computer, not on any typewriter available in the early 1970s. At 11 am on September 9, Charles Johnson at LGF produced an animated .gif file (at right) superimposing the photocopied memo on a copy he produced using the default settings of Microsoft Word. Others, including typography experts Peter Tytell and Thomas Phinney, analyzed the memos, concluding they were indeed crude forgeries. (See Killian documents authenticity issues)

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 bloggers and journalists (e.g., Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, Michael Barone, Tammy Bruce, John Podhoretz, Michael Ledeen), with some liberal participants (e.g., David Corn, Marc Cooper).

Changes and controversies

Accusations of Bias

Fans see Little Green Footballs as an alternative media outlet which provides a counterweight to alleged anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Conservative bias of mainstream media outlets such as Reuters - "al-Reuters" in LGF slang. Observes one such regular:

"...if the "mainstream" media were doing its job and reporting facts, instead of passing all information through a "Do-Not-Offend-Arabs-and-Muslims" filter, this entire site would likely not exist. It would have no reason to exist, as the public would be honestly informed, and already know everything Charles posts here."

Critics point to the hyperbolic language, references to violence against liberals, and dehumanizing slurs employed by some commenters and charge the webmaster with encouraging groupthink, jingoism, and Islamophobia, but the pressure to conform to leftist standards of political correctness may be backfiring; as LGF community members "Ben" explains:

"I will refrain from slurs such as "sand nigger" or "dune coon" or any of the others which have any semblance to African-American slurs."

The member goes on, however, to incite hate:

"The use of "camel-jockey", "rug pilot", "sand flea", "raghead" or "towelhead", however, will be used in reference to members of the Arab world. I would heartily encourage all Americans to engage in these ethnic slurs, which at the very least convey an appropriate level of disgust at the acts of the members of these societies."

Site supporters note that Johnson himself has never used ethnic slurs on the site and has even implemented a comment-submission filter which replaces offensive terms with innocuous descriptors (SEE: LGF Filter Test). Johnson also runs an altered version of the Serenity Prayer in the comments section urging the posters to think before posting.

Defenders further argue that those who accuse the site's commenters of religious and ethnic bigotry make such accusations in an attempt to police or censor opinion by characterizing any criticism of Islam or Muslims as pathological and irrational "islamophobia":

"Islamophobia is a destructive myth that needs to die. What's so ironic about this is that the Muhammedans themselves invented it to deflect the attention of the Western man-in-the-street from their real agenda of conquest.

Ironically, the person then demonstrates xenophobia.

"So yeah, Down with Islamophobia. Up with rounding them up and humanely deporting them..."

Netiquette and Redirects

Johnson and LGF "regulars" (the self-proclaimed "Lizardoids") have engaged in a number of high-profile feuds and flame wars. At various times, these debates have pitted LGF supporters against readers of a number of other blogs and alternative media sites, including Misplaced Pages. When such confrontations triggers a stampede of visitors from rival sites, Johnson sometimes redirects the traffic thus generated to the Israel Defense Forces homepage.

Slang and Posting Protocols

The LGF comments board is heavily laced with in-group slang meant to deride opponents - not least by the webmaster, who sometimes claims credit for coining the political epithet "Idiotarian." Other terms popularized by the site include "moonbat" and "Islamonazi." LGF regulars are known as "Lizardoids."

Like other political forums on the Internet (e.g., Democratic Underground), LGF attracts dissonant commenters. LGF claims not to ban posters for dissenting opinions while critics say that dissenters are drowned out by supporters and even legitimate critiques have been banned outright. Per one LGF user's "Troll Detection Kit":

"Trolls' beliefs follow a standard outline, whose roots are in the anti-American, Jew hating, Marxist rhetoric of Noam Chomsky, Said, etc. along with generous doses of Jewish loony-leftist rhetoric, courtesy of Israel's New Historians (read: anti-Zionists) and Jewish anti-Semites such as Ben Shapiro." (Note: The author was probably confusing Ben Shapiro with Adam Shapiro, the Co-Founder of the International Solidarity Movement.)

Registration

As the volume of comments from argumentative newbies rose with the site's increasing profile, many regular users requested a simple registration system; Johnson obliged them in June 2004. Registration was closed in 2004, and is briefly opened on a near-daily irregular basis - you have to catch it open. This is primarily to prevent waves of trolls during times of high emotion like suicide bomber attacks. In order to register, one must give a verifiable email address.

Mainstream media attention

Since founder Charles Johnson's claimed post-9/11 "turn to the right", many mainstream media sources have accused LGF of promoting ethnic hatred and bias. This has led many LGF fans to illogically conclude that the mainstream media is itself biased against LGF. A few examples used to back this claim:

"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."

  • 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 his weblog 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.

"Little Green Footballs believes all Muslims are terrorists until proven innocent. Slangy, clever, the site is a dysfunctional mix of beautiful photos Johnson takes on coastal bike rides and constitutionally protected hate speech ...most of the time site isn’t about high-wattage scoops; it’s about shaping opinion on the fringes, about giving haters a place to hang."

Johnson has frequently complained about the failure of Google News to index his blog. In March 2005, he called attention to that service's inclusion of the white supremacist National Vanguard site, sparking a controversy that forced Google to remove it from the news index.

On the other hand, LGF has of course found support from many conservative media outlets.

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. ()

Although, one should note above, Pajamas Media is run by LGF's founder, among others.

Awards and honors from conservative media outlets

In November 2004, LGF won the Washington Post's reader poll for Best International Blog.

LGF won first place in IsraellyCool's 2004 Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards for "Best Overall Mega Blog" and "Best Israel Advocacy Blog"

LGF won first place in the 2005 Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards sponsored by The Jerusalem Post in the categories of "Best Overall Mega Blog" and "Best Israel Advocacy Blog".

External links

Pro

Anti

Feuds & Flamewars

Other

Notes

  1. "Power Line: September 2004 Archives". Retrieved 2005-12-21.
  2. "lgf: Bush Guard Documents: Forged". Retrieved 2005-12-21.
  3. "lgf: The Smoking Memo". Retrieved 2005-12-21.
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