I’m delighted with my twice yearly link at Little Green Footballs. Thanks, Charles for boosting my site traffic three or four times. And I do so delight in rankling him so much he feels he must do battle with me. But that’s not of course why I attack him or his site. It’s for the lies and hate that he spreads like manure all over his share of the blogosphere.
I wrote here last night about threatening comments directed at Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR that were published at LGF. Charles got into high moral dudgeon in a post written today and devoted to your fellow “moonbat” (I do so love those tender terms of endearment Charles) because I wrote yesterday that he received two visits from the FBI when instead they were two phone calls. That’s what passes for rhetorical argument and refutation over there, I guess.
Anyway, Charles passes off the phone calls and the actual messages as much ado about nothing:
The facts: one reader posted one comment that could be interpreted as a threat against Mr. Hooper in particular (not against “Muslims”), and this comment was deleted soon after it was posted. The FBI contacted me months after the comment had been deleted, at the urging of CAIR. The FBI also contacted me (again on CAIR’s urging) about harassing emails sent with our “email this article” feature — and again these emails were sent directly to Mr. Hooper in particular, not to “Muslims.” Both of these incidents were handled promptly and with integrity on our side.
This reminds me of our beloved president’s rhetoric: “trust me that I acted promptly and with integrity but I can’t possibly share with you anything that would allow you to make a serious judgment of my actions.” How can we be the judge of Johnson’s actions when he refuses to let anyone see the actual comments or e mails? It’s certainly his privilege to sit on them. But he shouldn’t expect anyone other than a dyed in the wool rabid LGFer to trust his word.
I’ll ease the suspense somewhat by revealing at least one of the threatening comments which one of my readers has found through an internet search. The following is part of an e mail sent to CAIR and Johnson on July 29, 2005:
On the site, www.littlegreenfootballs.com, a commenter made the following statement:
“When is someone goimg [sic] to finally walk up to Ibrahim Hooper and put a bullet in his brain?”
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=16856#c0028
A commenter at LGF Watch also documents the comment. The full e mail is quoted at LGF Watch. A cursory check of LGF’s recent comment threads shows the would-be assassin, Rayra, is still a member in good standing of the LGF “community.” Why have you not banned him, Charles? Or is threatening to assassinate a Muslim-American leader not sufficient grounds for banning? Well, OK since Charles loves to engage in pilpul (look that one up in your Jewish dictionary, Charles), Rayra didn’t say HE would kill Ibrahim Hooper, he just expressed a wish someone ELSE would do the job for him. So that would make him an instigator of the crime but not the perpetrator. Someone who would rejoice at the crime, but who could not claim to be its author. Just to be clear so the LGF hellions don’t come screaming hysterically at me for my “lies.” Oh that’s right, it doesn’t matter what I write. It’s all lies as long as it criticizes the fearless leader.
Regarding the Herbert Sobel comment which I featured here in last night’s post (always worth repeating: “Goat-fucking koranimals. Unlike my last war, this war, I may have to consider collecting a necklace of ears. /loading more magazines/gotta finish post-FTX refit and weapons check.”), Charles notes correctly that he deleted the comment:
To illustrate the “hate speech” at LGF, Silverstein also quotes another reader’s comment—that was deleted almost immediately after being posted.
But he doesn’t answer why he didn’t ban the commenter (something I do here from time to time and certainly would’ve done with a comment of that “quality”). Why didn’t you Charles? Or do you find it easier to excuse homicidal mania from your own readers than excusing the same emotion among Muslims?
The following statement from Charles about the FBI’s investigation of threats against Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR tells you all you need to know about the former’s insular and self-protected bubble when it comes to hate from his minions:
They [the FBI] were not “investigating anti-Muslim speech,” they were asking about two specific incidents that involved specific threats against one specific person—Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR.
So you see, in LGF World if you threaten the leader of one of the nation’s leading Muslim-American organizations you’re not engaging in “anti-Muslim speech.” You hate the guy because he wears red socks and red socks really, really tick you off.
Charles tries to issue himself a clean bill of health from the FBI by quoting this alleged statement from the agent who questioned him:
I’m sure this will come as a disappointment to Mr. Silverstein, but one agent specifically told me they were not in the business of policing free speech.
I’m not surprised they told him that. But the fact is that the FBI was concerned enough about the comments to call Johnson himself. And Charles, if you don’t know the difference between “free speech” and “hate speech” that advocates harming other human beings then perhaps you should have someone with a little more background on these issues moderate your comments for you. It might improve the “quality” of the discussion AND avoid future FBI telephone calls.
Further, Johnson contends:
I have fully explained the situation, contrary to Silverstein’s ignorant assertion.
No, revealing the contents of the threats would be a “full” explanation. Anything short of that would be a partial explanation at least where I come from.
Came from LGF to see what the noise was about.
Interesting blog. Fits Steven Plaut’s description of “Jews for a Second Holocaust” like a glove onto a hand.
You’re not the first. A lot of Jews throughout history preceded you in taking this path. And if you read up on Jewish history, you’ll also find out where this path leads:
The End of Chomskyanism [link removed by author]
It’s still not too late for you to turn back, Richard. We’re waiting to welcome you in open arms. Ki Achinu V’sarenu.
Shalom Richard – May the upcoming new year see a marked improvement in peace, justice, and happiness in the world.
I am a long time reader of LGF, as well as Juan Cole, Counterpunch, DailyKos, and Michael Totten. I never read the comments in LGF. They are completely inane. I do, however, appreciate Charles’s tireless work at exposing the Islamists and their agenda, which IMHO are completely at odds with what I consider to be Tikkun Olam. Charles is an Al Franken type, but your smearing him as a David Duke type may undermine your own credibility as a critic with much to say on the matter.
Read the latest Martin Amis piece on the Guardian’s website. How does what Amis says differ that much from what Johnson says on his site?
Go to town talking about what a bunch of neanderthals his posters are, but I’d think harder about what you subscribe to them. Or at least use the same standard and be as vocal about what is coming out of the Islamist camp.
The “Left” which I’ve considered myself a member of for almost 40 years, is in danger of losing all credibility due to the alliance of many on it with Islamic Fundamentalists. I don’t like Kahane kach and I don’t like the Islamists. Charles Johnson seems to be of the same mind.
I think you’ve gotten yourself up on a precipice and need a way to get down without losing face. How about an acknowledgement of where Charles has been on target on matters.
Good luck.
Hugo Bergman
😉
I’m so pleased to see you reference Plaut, a right wing lunatic so extreme that an Israeli court found him guilty of libel & incitment after an Israeli academic sued him & won. And I do so love the accolade Jew for a Second Holocaust by which you prove not only Plaut’s lunacy, but your own.
You’re not only a lunatic, but a moron to boot. I have an undergrad & grad degree in Hebrew Literature and studied Jewish history at a college level for many years. What do YOU have to teach me??
The very thought of it makes me wretch. I don’t fall into the arms of slanderers, liars and cheats even if they are fellow Jews.
“I’m so pleased to see you reference Plaut, a right wing lunatic so extreme […]”
Is it not grand, how a Jew who agrees with G-d that the Promised Land does indeed belong to us is an extremist, while a Muslim who “only” wants all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip judenrein is a moderate?
“And I do so love the accolade Jew for a Second Holocaust by which you prove not only Plaut’s lunacy, but your own.”
I do not suppose for a moment that you want a Second Holocaust. But your actions could lead to that (G-d forbid). Can you not see your blog posts being used by the Muslim enemy as propaganda against Israel? I’d be ashamed, and stop it all, for that reason alone.
“I have an undergrad & grad degree in Hebrew Literature and studied Jewish history at a college level for many years.”
In our day and age the university-schooled academics are often more likely to hold to incorrect views than the man in the street. Like the learned Harvard academics who still insist Islamic terrorism is the result of poverty in the Muslim world (the 9/11 hijackers were rich Saudis, but let’s not put some facts in the way), or Juan Cole, who takes such pains to explain why Ahmadinejad’s plain promises to wipe Israel off the map (G-d forbid) aren’t really anything of the sort.
“What do YOU have to teach me??”
It’s not what I have to teach you, it’s what Jewish history has to teach you: “In every generation people come upon us to annihilate us”. By G-d’s supernatural decree. Anti-Semitism won’t stop until G-d puts a stop to it. Sucking up to the enemy won’t do the job. Sorry.
“I don’t fall into the arms of slanderers, liars and cheats even if they are fellow Jews.”
You want to stay a Jewish quisling, so be it. “He who comes to defile himself, it (the route) is opened to him”. But it stays open always, in case you should ever change your mind.
And speaking about lying:
“The End of Chomskyanism [link removed by author]” (from my post above)
Nope. The link was removed by the blog owner–you.
I’m sure Al Franken would find your comparison quite humorous, but not in the way you intended. As for the David Duke comparison, you used it. I did not. Charles is a bigot, but he’s in his own special category & I choose not to compare him to anyone else. But you certainly may if you acknowledge it’s your own words & not mine.
For the sixth time in these threads over the past 2 days, there is plenty of criticism of Arab extremism in this blog if you’d bother to search for it. I have nothing to explain or apologize for on that score. The fact that you believe I don’t do this reflects on yr own lack of familiarity w. my views and this blog.
I’m afraid you delude yourself on that score. Any blogger who will not ban a commenter who advocates murdering a Muslim leader or another who speaks of his wish to kill as many Lebanese as possible in the last war, marches to the same drummer as Meir Kahane and the Israeli extreme nationalist (including the settler movement).
Well, then either I’m a mountain climber & quite comfortable up here or you’re vision isn’t working and I’m not on a precipice at all. Either way, I’m quite secure in my beliefs & it is you & Charles who will have to look to yr consciences to uncover yr motivations for hating your fellow man so unmercifully.
You, sir are either a liar or in deep denial for this is what you wrote:
Unlike you, I am not in a war with any other religion so I’m not concerned with issues of loyalty, betrayal & whatever issues obsess you. I write what I write expressing truth as I see it. When you write something that is really truthful extremists on both side will hate you & this is proven by yr response & by the response of Arabs who write against me. I’m in the comfortable space between two groups who hate ea. other to death.
The Jewish tradition holds education sacred and you cannot know very much about our traditions to hold such anti-intellectual views.
Your ignorance is so tiresome. First of all only one of the two academics who wrote The Israel Lobby was from Harvard so that would “Harvard academic” singular. Second, I don’t recall them writing anything at all in their article about the origins of Islamic terror being rooted in poverty. What the hell ARE you talking about?
Ah, yes “Jewish history.” The last refuge of Jewish scoundrels up to no good. That quotation refers to AMALEK, not to Muslims. Amalek is an ancient historical event. It has nothing to do with Muslims & no amount of pseudo-historical propaganda from your side can force that square widget into that round hole.
Good, keep up the ridiculous insults which reflect on yr small-mindedness much more than on me.
You are the one who defiles my beautiful Jewish tradition. You are the one who makes it hateful, ugly and petty. But I’m comforted that today’s news and the future in general will render yr hate irrelevant & obsolete. The Mideast of the future will have little or no room for your hate or the hate represented on the Arab side. Thank God for that.
What are you ON about? Lying? What passes for thought in that brain of yours? I removed your link to right wing propaganda because this blog is not in the habit of promoting it. You have yr own blog. Go promote yr stupidity there. Don’t try to use my blog to do it for you. Second, this discussion has nothing whatsoever to do with Noam Chomsky (nor do I). Third, the neologism ‘Chomskyanism’ is an ugly, bloated, disgusting non word that offends my love of my language.
Richard – Shalom. I agree with you that Charles should have banned the poster who made the Hooper threat. He does have red lines and this is usually one of them. I am not interested in defending him on this issue, but I urge you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Not knowing you or the canon of your work, I’m guessing there are instances in which you’ve shown such flexibility for those who are more in line with your positions.
If you haven’t already viewed this video by Dr. Wafa Sultan, I strongly urge you to. I first saw it on LGF. To me it epitomizes what Charles Johnson is seeking to do.
http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/09/one_womans_trut.html
Charles is not a psychiatrist. He is a former musician and web designer. He lives in So Cal. His style is consistent with that of many of his generation. I think you may be misreading some of his ironic postings.
I dare say you are likely to make a more valuable contribution to Middle East Peace by concentrating more of your keen intellect on Assad and his cronies, and the under-reported influence of the Arab Lobby on the media, academia, and Washington, than on Charles Johnson. The fact that you are in the middle of a hate sandwich is an indication that you are doing something right, but don’t pee on the peanut butter just to win points with the jelly.
Sincerely,
Hugo
“You, sir are either a liar or in deep denial for this is what you wrote”
No. To be for something you don’t have to abet it actively, you just have to support it by action or inaction. Like Chomsky’s and Avneri’s writings ending up on Muslim sites advocating a second holocaust (G-d forbid) for the Jews. Chomsky and Avneri don’t advocate that, but they’re helping those who do.
“Unlike you, I am not in a war with any other religion”
You may not be in a war with any other religion, but another religion is in a war with you. If the Muslims have their way, they’ll give you, like all Jews, a chance to live a second-class tribute-paying citizen at best, or execute you at worst (as their prophet did to the Jews of the tribe of Bani Koreizah).
“When you write something that is really truthful extremists on both side will hate you & this is proven by yr response & by the response of Arabs who write against me. I’m in the comfortable space between two groups who hate ea. other to death.”
So you say both Jews like me and Muslims hate you for your writings. Yet I only throw words of tocheiche at you, while the Muslims want you a second-class citizen under their rule at best.
“The Jewish tradition holds education sacred and you cannot know very much about our traditions to hold such anti-intellectual views.”
It was nice of you to drop the words, “In our day and age”, Richard. HaShem, through His prophets, did say that, in the end of the days (and only then), the learned people of the time would often be less wise than the masses.
“First of all only one of the two academics who wrote The Israel Lobby was from Harvard so that would “Harvard academic” singular.”
I’m not talking about The Israel Lobby, I’m not talking even about Harvard alone, I’m talking about Western academe in general. The academic world in the West, following up on Edward Said’s book of intellectual terrorism, “Orientalism”, are now fully captive to the idea that the West, and not the Muslims themselves, are to blame for the plight of the Muslim world and Islamic terrorism.
“That quotation refers to AMALEK, not to Muslims.”
No, it refers to all those particular non-Jews who want to annihilate the Jewish people (G-d forbid). That means Ahmadinejad today, for example.
“Amalek is an ancient historical event.”
Nothing in the Torah is just an ancient historical event. The Word of HaShem is timeless. And we can see that today: anti-Semitism become fashionable again just 70 years after the Holocaust.
“Good, keep up the ridiculous insults which reflect on yr small-mindedness much more than on me.”
All I’m saying is you’re helping our enemies. Nothing more. Nothing personal either–I’d say that to any Jew who did the same (and I do so indeed).
“You are the one who defiles my beautiful Jewish tradition. You are the one who makes it hateful, ugly and petty.”
The Jewish religion isn’t a kumbayological Zen Buddhistic meditation, Richard. It acknowledges the reality of enmity between the peoples of the world, as well as the promise that G-d will do away with them in the future.
“What are you ON about? Lying? What passes for thought in that brain of yours? I removed your link to right wing propaganda because this blog is not in the habit of promoting it.”
In your edit, you said this of my link: “[link removed by author]”. I am the author of that post. I did not remove it, you did. Therefore it is not the truth to say “[link removed by author]”. My complaint isn’t about the removal of my link (a blog owner is the king of his blog, after all), but about the untruth as to who did it.
“You have yr own blog. Go promote yr stupidity there. Don’t try to use my blog to do it for you.”
I just followed the LGF link. All right, I’m going. You’re welcome to read the “stupidity” on my blog, and to comment there without fear–I don’t edit comments unless they contain absolutely nothing to argue with (profanity and that kind of thing). Bye.
An error that escaped my preview of the last post:
“as well as the promise that G-d will do away with them in the future.”
should be
“as well as the promise that G-d will do away with it in the future.”
Sorry. Goodbye.
You ought to get yr terms right if you want to engage in serious debate. NOT Shlomo Avneri, but Uri AVINERY. That’s who you meant to attack.
You make a serious mistake in believing that the world needs to be shielded from certain ideas because they will cause damage to Israel. That’s ridiculous. The very nature of intellectual/political debate is that all ideas can be argued only to have the weakest ones drop by the wayside. If Chomsky’s or Avineri’s ideas are not good they will be heard by the few who like them & ignored by the rest. You can’t damage Israel through ideas, even bad ones.
NO, absolutely not. Adherents of another religion are at war with me. NOT the entire religion. That’s where you make your fatal mistake. This is not a Crusade (as Bush outrageously called it after 9/11), not a World War. This is a battle with a small group of diehard fanatic who ought to be fought & defeated. But to see this as a battle with an entire religion guarantees endless war & bloodshed, rather than an eventual peaceful resolution.
That being said, I completely reject the notion that any of my ideas or Avineri’s ideas damage Israel in any way. On the contrary, virtually no one in Israel is attacking the militarist consensus that all thorny issues bet. Israel & the Arabs must only be solved through the barrel of a gun. Pointing out that there is another path possible is a deep service to Israel and that is the motivation for what I write here. You can think it’s traitorous, unfortunate or aiding the enemy–I don’t really care. It’s not any of those things, but you’re welcome to believe what you will.
Utter hysteria.
You are truly pathetic. As far as I’m concerned you should get yr Crusade, go kill Muslims & be killed in return. As far as I’m concerned you & Al Qaeda deserve ea. other. They may be worse than you, but not by much.
If you wish to misread the Tanach by attaching interpretations that are not valid you’re free to do so. Actually, I don’t so much object to your misreading, I object to the lesson you draw fr. that misreading. You draw the lesson that Iran must be treated like the Nazis or Amalek & wiped fr. the face of the earth. THAT is chilling. That is what is so pernicious about yr misreading of our traditions.
I agree that the Torah is a timeless book. But I do not believe the Torah should be used to justify killing or hating other human beings. Beware those imperfect mortal human beings who invoke God to justify their bigoted, twisted views of others.
Your stupid insults & those of other LGFers are VERY personal & you’re being disingenuous to say otherwise.
WRONG. Judaism acknowledges the existence of evil in the world, yes. But there is evil in our enemies & there is evil in US. You have much evil lurking in yr heart & you don’t recognize or acknowledge it. Work on the evil you see in others, but don’t forget your own as well. Furthermore, you bowdlerize Judaism by characterizing it ONLY as a religion of vengeance. It certainly has those elements. But it is a religion that also embraces humanity (not just Jews). You can’t write out of the religion that loving, merciful, universalist elements as you wish to do. Then you’ve created a twisted caricature of Judaism. You’re welcome to it. But you will forever remain a Jew on the fringe by practicing such hate.
Now, I see what you’re on about. ‘Author’ means me. I’m the “author” of this blog. Anyone who blogs (except you apparently) knows that a commenter cannot go back & edit their own comment. No one except you would make the mistake of believing that I was claiming you removed the link. I wasn’t trying to claim that either. The only person who can edit a published comment is the author of the blog. I removed the link & that’s all I meant to say. I guess I should’ve added my initials or used the abbreviation “ed.” or some such. I thought what I wrote should’ve been self-explanatory.
Good for you. I don’t edit comments either except in few instances. When someone publishes offensive comments here that insult my Jewishness & accuse me of being a dupe to Israel’s enemies AND THEN ALSO wishes to promote his own propaganda through links to his own site–well, then I just might edit out such a link. BTW, I haven’t removed all links to yr site as it is still linked via your nickname in the comment.
It has been about 40 years ago that you were in my high school social studies class, those were difficult times. The battle for civil rights for Black Americans and the war in Vietnam had unleashed the voices of hate. With your quiet dignity you led the class to walk in the shoes of the “other” side. At that time the voices of hate called you and others “nigger lover’ and anti-American. So it no surprise that 40 years later, you are still a beacon of light in the darkness. Now it is another conflict that is raging and you stand again against the forces of hate and ignorance. Most of us would like to be told that we are right and they are wrong; that we are good and they are bad. You refuse to take the easy route; the popular route–instead you try to lead us through understanding and reconciliation to a better world for all of us. Today it is obvious that the stakes are higher–we will either find a peaceful way to resolve our differences or all go down in a nuclear blaze. Your family and your religion instilled in you a deep sense of justice, morality and love of your fellowman. You speak to the best in all of us.
Jeanna wrote: “You speak to the best in all of us.” And Mr. Silverstein does this by calling people with whome he disagrees names? I mean just look at his responses on this page alone: lunatic, moron, slanderers, liars, cheats, scoundrel, small-minded, pathetic etc. Mr. Silverstein possesses no character traits worthy of emulation, well none that are evident here.
No her name is JEANNE. I don’t give a crap that you don’t respect me (in fact I’m rather pleased at that thought), but you at least owe her the respect of quoting her name properly. And she has known me since roughly 1967 when she was my high school teacher & you know me not at all. So I think I’ll trust her judgment over yours any day.
How convenient for you to ignore the fact that I was responding (get that, I didn’t sling insults first) to these delightful calumnies (and this is only a partial list): ‘kapo,’ ‘Judenrath member,’ ‘Chamberlain,’ ‘quisling.’ I could go on & on. These were names flung at me before I’d uttered a word to any of the individuals who wrote them. And you have a lot of nerve trying to take me to task for my supposed interperate language when you’ve slung insults at me in previous comment threads innumerable times. I’d quote them to you but going back & rereading yr previous insults here would be about as much fun as the prospect of root canal surgery.
And as I sometimes have to say here when things with the pro-Israel hacks (pls. note I distinguish bet. supporting Israel and being an ideological extremist) get out of hand: if you insult my parents (someone said they must’ve been kapos), or you use such insults against me–by God, I’ll give as good as I get. If you want to behave like a shit here you won’t get a pass.
On the other hand, if you argue civilly (well not YOU, because you don’t argue civilly, at least not here), even disagreeing with me, you will receive a civil rebuttal. It’s that simple. Many conservatives who comment here seem to be able to present their arguments in a such a way. But not LGFers. They were raised in a barn and seem trained to shit all over the furniture wherever they go.
I’d feel insulted if you tried to emulate any of my character traits as you’re but a smoother and oh so smarmier version of the previous commenters here who took their dumps in this thread.
BTW, haven’t you bid a fond farewell in a previous thread here implying you’d never return? Why is it when the LGF hacks descend on this blog that you’re right there in their tracks. Birds of a feather??
CK lecturing someone on civility? What next Daniel Pipes hosting a wingnut/Islamist love-in?
MJ: He is a guy who wrote to me in an earlier thread that he is a “liberal.” Yet he supports targeted assassinations AND does not view the Green Line as an international border. Guess they’re letting just about anybody into our club these days.