Tiring of Hate
December 29th 2007 21:20
*I do not have sources for some of the claims I make, as such the credibility of the 'facts' I state in this article can be, and should be called into question.
Little Green Footballs really took off after 9/11 when a well intentioned yet misguided man by the name of Charles Johnson decided he should step up and inform people of the real threat to the United States and the free world. He decided to give up his liberal beliefs, adopt conservatism (or neo-conservatism, I cannot say) and through freedom of the press fight the enemy.
Unfortunately while his intention was noble, and even to this day I believe is noble, he decided to kill a fly with a cannon. He took the outright hate approach and in the process even if he did not mean to he attracted some of the most lowest of humans in existence. There's a message that echos through Little Green Footballs that I find very important, that I wish more people could see. However there is so much hate coming from the commenters of the site that the importance of what is being reported is taking a backseat to the hatred being passed on.
Charles' idea was that there is a single and defined, clear enemy, namely Islam, and through its elimination world peace can be achieved, or at least something close to world peace. Six long years after 9/11 Charles has finally starting to come around to the idea that Islam is not the enemy but extremism is. For now his opinion is that Islamic extremism is the only threat and has said that while extremists should be rightly punished those who practice their religion in their own homes, who do not attack other people, should not be disturbed.
Some have seen this as strange as Charles has held very strong views against Islam in the past. Perhaps even stranger still is Charles' opting to start blogging about technology, indeed his review of Amazon.com feels oddly out of place in a blog about political commentary and reporting. Some say this may be because Little Green Footballs is losing traffic hence income for Charles is dropping and by reviewing Amazon.com he'll make some extra cash though I personally think he's taking a breather on the whole issue of Muslims being an enemy.
I have nothing against Little Green Footballs, in fact I've even parodied it with Little Green Foosballs. Yes, I know, it's really just in poor taste but I find it interesting, playing the role of a political extremist that Charles may be attacking (if only the extremist was not Muslim). So why exactly am I parodying Little Green Footballs? Well if you look at the parody you'll see my generel point is that some forms of extremism can have merit yet no kind of extremism should be justified.
With this blog I'm trying to be more creative in the sense I represent all sides in as fair a manner as I possibly can. I wish for nothing more than if Charles could do the samething and fight extremism in a generel sense rather than in any one category. Basically I wish he could take what he does with Islamic extremists and do it with all extremists. He did well with the change of focus he gave Little Green Footballs after 9/11, he just didn't go the whole way, to fight extremism in the broadest sense.
Perhaps I'm painting a picture that just looks too pretty. I have to admit that Charles and I while agreeing in some ways on issues do disagree on others. For instance Charles believes promoting diversity does not help solve cultural problems wherein I think it's the only way to foster an understanding between people, Muslims, Christians, Jews and whoever else. We disagree on a lot of things but in principle and method agree on perhaps even more. We agree that the press should not be manipulated, that images should not be doctored, that freedom must be earned amongst other things.
Where we differ in my humble opininion is in the number of threats that exist. We agree on Islamic extremists being a threat to freedom and peace however thats where it stops, all the other threats and enemies I see Charles does not. Despite that I think he is beggining to see that the enemy may not be so obvious. He may actually be seeing the chaos of opinion and fact colliding and trading blows, and may have finally started to realize that all the hating simply made him tired of it. He may even have people who support him if only in spirit but who don't support him openly because his opinions as a whole indicate he's nothing but a hater. Those of weaker minds support him blindly, but then they turn out to be white nationalists.
Unfortunately for Charles he may not be able to go back and start over. His support right now seems to be deeply seated in the 'hate Islamic extremists blindly, blindly love those who attack Islamic extremists' and any attempt he may make to broaden his world view will be taken as an act of hostility by his readers who may choose to stop reading his blog. In the end, without readers what is a blog but the words of a writer?
Little Green Footballs really took off after 9/11 when a well intentioned yet misguided man by the name of Charles Johnson decided he should step up and inform people of the real threat to the United States and the free world. He decided to give up his liberal beliefs, adopt conservatism (or neo-conservatism, I cannot say) and through freedom of the press fight the enemy.
Unfortunately while his intention was noble, and even to this day I believe is noble, he decided to kill a fly with a cannon. He took the outright hate approach and in the process even if he did not mean to he attracted some of the most lowest of humans in existence. There's a message that echos through Little Green Footballs that I find very important, that I wish more people could see. However there is so much hate coming from the commenters of the site that the importance of what is being reported is taking a backseat to the hatred being passed on.
Charles' idea was that there is a single and defined, clear enemy, namely Islam, and through its elimination world peace can be achieved, or at least something close to world peace. Six long years after 9/11 Charles has finally starting to come around to the idea that Islam is not the enemy but extremism is. For now his opinion is that Islamic extremism is the only threat and has said that while extremists should be rightly punished those who practice their religion in their own homes, who do not attack other people, should not be disturbed.
Some have seen this as strange as Charles has held very strong views against Islam in the past. Perhaps even stranger still is Charles' opting to start blogging about technology, indeed his review of Amazon.com feels oddly out of place in a blog about political commentary and reporting. Some say this may be because Little Green Footballs is losing traffic hence income for Charles is dropping and by reviewing Amazon.com he'll make some extra cash though I personally think he's taking a breather on the whole issue of Muslims being an enemy.
I have nothing against Little Green Footballs, in fact I've even parodied it with Little Green Foosballs. Yes, I know, it's really just in poor taste but I find it interesting, playing the role of a political extremist that Charles may be attacking (if only the extremist was not Muslim). So why exactly am I parodying Little Green Footballs? Well if you look at the parody you'll see my generel point is that some forms of extremism can have merit yet no kind of extremism should be justified.
With this blog I'm trying to be more creative in the sense I represent all sides in as fair a manner as I possibly can. I wish for nothing more than if Charles could do the samething and fight extremism in a generel sense rather than in any one category. Basically I wish he could take what he does with Islamic extremists and do it with all extremists. He did well with the change of focus he gave Little Green Footballs after 9/11, he just didn't go the whole way, to fight extremism in the broadest sense.
Perhaps I'm painting a picture that just looks too pretty. I have to admit that Charles and I while agreeing in some ways on issues do disagree on others. For instance Charles believes promoting diversity does not help solve cultural problems wherein I think it's the only way to foster an understanding between people, Muslims, Christians, Jews and whoever else. We disagree on a lot of things but in principle and method agree on perhaps even more. We agree that the press should not be manipulated, that images should not be doctored, that freedom must be earned amongst other things.
Where we differ in my humble opininion is in the number of threats that exist. We agree on Islamic extremists being a threat to freedom and peace however thats where it stops, all the other threats and enemies I see Charles does not. Despite that I think he is beggining to see that the enemy may not be so obvious. He may actually be seeing the chaos of opinion and fact colliding and trading blows, and may have finally started to realize that all the hating simply made him tired of it. He may even have people who support him if only in spirit but who don't support him openly because his opinions as a whole indicate he's nothing but a hater. Those of weaker minds support him blindly, but then they turn out to be white nationalists.
Unfortunately for Charles he may not be able to go back and start over. His support right now seems to be deeply seated in the 'hate Islamic extremists blindly, blindly love those who attack Islamic extremists' and any attempt he may make to broaden his world view will be taken as an act of hostility by his readers who may choose to stop reading his blog. In the end, without readers what is a blog but the words of a writer?
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