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Little Green FootballsLittle Green Footballs (often abbreviated as LGF) is a political weblog run by California web designer Charles Johnson. Much like neo-conservative icon Irving Kristol, Johnson claims that he was "a liberal until he got mugged" — in this case, by the September 11, 2001 attacks. History Before September 11, Johnson's blog had been geared towards the discussion of bicycle racing, programming, web design, and the occasional humorous news item. After September 11 it became a very active warblog, focusing on the United States' War on Terror and the Arab-Israeli conflict. LGF features extensive coverage of sometimes under-reported news stories, particularly those featuring examples of European anti-Semitism and Islamist terrorism. LGF is also known for its irreverent spin on hot-button issues, featuring Photoshopped treatments of Rachel Corrie as "Saint Pancake," Yasser Arafat as "Arafish" and jailed Palestinian terrorists as Elvis and Bob Dobbs. LGF was one of four sources, along with the Power Line and AllahPundit blogs and the Free Republic discussion forum, responsible for the initial stages of the 60 Minutes Killian memos investigation. LGF was voted "Best International Blog" in an online poll by the Washington Post in November 2004. LGF won first place in IsraellyCool's 2004 Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards for "Best Overall Mega Blog" and "Best Israel Advocacy Blog" http://www.israellycool.com/blog/_archives/2005/2/15/324028.html Little Green Footballs supporters have helped raise thousands of dollars for such military public relations and charity organizations as Spirit of America and Pizza for the IDF. Changes and controversies Fans see the website as an alternative media outlet which provides a counterweight to the anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Conservative bias of mainstream media outlets such as Reuters (or "al-Reuters" in LGF slang). Critics have interpreted Johnson's selective posting and retitling of news items related to Islam as hate speech (post titles include "AP Reveals: Arabs Hate America, Israel" http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13275), a view reinforced by Johnson's frequent defense of explicitly anti-Muslim authors and texts. Observers also point to the hyperbolic language, references to violence against liberals and dehumanizing slurs employed by some commenters (e.g., "Palesimians," "Oil Ticks," "koranimals," "ragheads") and charge the webmaster with encouraging groupthink, jingoism, and Islamophobia. Supporters of the site counter this argument by noting that Johnson himself has never used ethnic slurs on the site and has posted a disclaimer disavowing responsibility for the site's comment section. Johnson also distinguishes between those Muslims and Arabs who welcome western military intervention and those who are terrorists. Johnson and the 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. When such a confrontation triggers a stampede of visitors from rival sites, Johnson often redirects the traffic thus generated to the Israel Defense Forces homepage. Denial of service attacks On Thursday, October 16, 2003 Little Green Footballs was knocked offline when a Denial-of-service attack originating in Malaysia and aimed at Internet Haganah (another pro-Israel site on the same server) took down the entire Hosting Matters system http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=8570#c0119. On Sunday, January 9, 2005 Hosting Matters was subjected to another Denial-of-service attack; Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit believes this was a Distributed Denial-of-Service attack (DDOS). Service was restored around 11:40 pm EST on Monday, January 10. Slang and posting protocols The LGF comments board is heavily laced with in-group slang - 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." Other users call for nuclear bomb attacks on Arab and Muslim countries and ethnic cleansing. Like other politically charged internet forums (e.g., Democratic Underground), LGF attracts dissonant outsiders. These users are shunned as "trolls" or "morlocks" and banned through their IP addresses if they are deemed to have become disruptive. 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. 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. Mainstream media bias Since founder Charles Johnson's post-9/11 turn to the right, some "mainstream media" sources have accused LGF of promoting ethnic bias. This has lead many LGF fans to 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 Charles 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 medias shameful, arrogant bias is up there for all to see."" Johnson has also 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 also found considerable support from mainstream media sources, leading some to point to a possible bias towards it. - Syndicated columnist James Taranto (see links below) has dedicated an article to its defense
Despite Johnson's stated distaste for mainstream media news sources, most of his blog's posts consist of links to (and excerpts from) the same. Frequently quoted External links Pro Anti - Catalyst - "Hate site comes out on top in Jewish Blog Awards"
- Crooked Timber - "LGF: Like Flypaper to Sociopaths"
- Anil Dash - "Little Green Monsters"
- LGFWatch - "Keeping an eye on those rabid racists at Little Green Footballs"
- The LGF Quiz - "Little Green Footballs or Late German Fascists?"
- Peking Duck - "Charles Johnson does Auschwitz -- and gets it all wrong"
- Tripias - "Fact Based Hate Speech"
Feuds & Flamewars Other
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