From the WSJ Opinion Archives
MSNBC
Smears Charles Johnson
Charles Johnson's Little
Green Footballs is a delightful Web log. Johnson, a Los Angeles-based Web
designer, has one of the nicest-looking blogs around, and it's packed with interesting
information, mostly on the war and the barbarity of radical Islam.
MSNBC.com has a feature called Weblog Central, apparently written by someone named Will Femia. On Friday Femia cited LGF in his "Best of Blogs" feature. But then on Sunday, Femia posted an update, saying he'd heard from LGF critics who object, in Femia's words, to "the fact that LGF has, over time, increased its focus on militant Islam and terrorism." Femia updated his original description of LGF to say the following:
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.
This is an outrageous smear. The accusation of "racism" doesn't even make sense; is anyone stupid enough to think Islam is a race? And while there's plenty of hate on LGF, Charles Johnson isn't the source of it. He is simply documenting the murderously hateful ideology of radical Islam. It makes no more sense to call Johnson "hateful" than it would make to call the Anti-Defamation League anti-Semitic.
The chief anti-LGF agitator seems to be a blogger called Anil Dash, who outlined his objections in a post two months ago:
The attacks last September had a lot of victims, both in the obvious, literal sense and in the countless numbers of us who have suffered smaller losses. I'd count among my losses the pleasure of a weblog I used to read on occasion, Little Green Footballs. Its older incarnation was described quite well by Joe: "Before September 11th, Little Green Footballs was a mildly political, middle-left personal weblog with frequent links about biking, web design and GWBush foibles." . . .
Since the attacks, Charles, at least in the context of his weblog, lost his sh--.
There is one topic for Little Green Footballs now: The evils of contemporary Islamic society. That's it. Sure, it's explored in its many facets, from people in the U.S. who remain somewhat ambivalent about the causes of Palestinian violence, to those in the world who think that engagement or dialogue might be a more effective way to temper radical fundamentalism in Islamic countries. But always, always, this one topic.
If there's an award for the most fatuous statement, surely this deserves a nomination. (Take it away, Andrew Sullivan.) Oh sure, Sept. 11 was unfortunate and all, but it's no reason to lose focus on really important matters like "GWBush foibles."
This isn't the first time Johnson has been falsely accused of running a hate site. Back in August, the Arab News's splenetic news editor, John Bradley, described LGF as "a hate-mail oriented, extreme right-wing website that acts as a kind of magnet for Arab-haters." There are, of course, haters and racists on America's far right--but for the most part they are making common cause with radical Islamists. The Arab News, for example, has published the works of David Duke and the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review, not to mention an article just last week that denounced the "subhuman Zionist lobby."
This is the real face of hate. Some people prefer to avert their gaze from such viciousness and barbarity, and that is their prerogative. They don't have to log in to Little Green Footballs. But to call Johnson a racist and a hater is an outrageous smear, one that Femia repeated even if he didn't endorse it. MSNBC owes Charles Johnson an apology.
Civil
Liberties, French Style
Charles Johnson is lucky he doesn't live in France. (Come to think of it, we all
are.) There he might actually be hauled into court for criticizing Islam. A French
court has just acquitted Michel Houellebecq on charges of "inciting racial [sic]
hatred" because he remarked that Islam is "the stupidest religion" and that it
was "a dangerous religion right from the start." The acquittal is certainly better
than a conviction would have been, but why in the world is France putting people
on trial merely for expressing their opinions?
Of course, there are limits to free expression. The Associated Press reports on a Honolulu incident in which somebody threw "hundreds" of leaflets into the yard of a mosque in Honolulu. According to the Council on American Islamic Relations, the handbills bore the headline ATTENTION RAG HEADS and read in part:
During the war on terrorism, the vigilant, patriotic residents of Hawaii will be keeping an eye on our Muslim "friends." . . . Every curry fundraiser will be checked to ensure that funds are not being funneled to support terrorist groups. Anyone found in violation will be strapped with explosives and shipped to Iraq. MAY GOD (NOT ALAH [sic]) BLESS AMERICA!!
The FBI is investigating this as a "hate crime," and it probably makes sense to do so. Although the views expressed, vile as they are, are protected by the First Amendment, there is an element of harassment in the delivery method. More important, it's prudent for law-enforcement authorities to find out if there is a true threat of violence behind the pamphlets.
It's worth asking, though: If the FBI were investigating a similar act of leafletting by a pro-Muslim or far-left group, wouldn't we be hearing a lot of complaints from groups like CAIR and the ACLU about infringements on free speech and other civil liberties?
Muslims
Against Terrorism
"Indonesia's two largest Muslim organizations, claiming nearly one-third
of the population as members, today urged the government of President Megawati
Sukarnoputri to crack down on Islamic militants suspected of violent activities,"
the Washington Post reports from Jakarta:
Leaders from Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah have rallied behind a pair of government decrees issued over the weekend that make it easier to detain people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities, such as the massive bombing of Bali's nightclub district on Oct. 12, which killed at least 183 people. Some moderate Muslim leaders have urged Megawati to propose even more draconian measures.
If only Muslim leaders were this moderate in the Arab world--or, for that matter, in America.
The Australian, meanwhile, reports that Luh Ketut Suryani, "one of Bali's foremost academics and cultural leaders," is calling the Bali bombing a "good thing" because, in the paper's words, it will help "cleanse Bali of unwanted foreign influence." Suryani, who "speaks for a growing lobby of Balinese nationalists," is also proposing, as the Australian puts it, "to leave the bomb site on Jalan Legian untouched, as a memorial to the evils of tourism." But isn't one man's tourist another's freedom fighter?
The Australian also reports that "Australian law enforcement sources" believe the source of one of the two Bali explosions was "a huge fertiliser bomb, similar in size to the one used by Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing."
You
Don't Say--I
"Australian and Indonesian police have described the bombing as . . .
designed to kill as many people as possible."--Australian Broadcast Corp.,
Oct. 22
Great
Moments in College Journalism
In our item
on Bali yesterday, we cited an article from Berkeley's Daily Californian about
some outrageous comments a pair of UC Berkeley professors purportedly made. The
Californian now acknowledges it got the story wrong. It has appended to the article
the following correction:
Editor's Note: In Monday's article "UC Berkeley Panel Probes Cause of Deadly Bali Blast," the article incorrectly stated that members at a panel, including UC Berkeley professor Jeffrey Hadler, said the United States may have had an active role in carrying out last week's bombing of an Indonesian night club. Hadler and the other panelists actually said some Indonesian groups have alleged U.S. involvement in the blast as a possibility. At this time, there is no actual evidence supporting these claims by some Indonesian groups.
The Daily Californian regrets the error.
Jew-Free
Furniture
National Review's Jay Nordlinger offers this disturbing little anecdote:
I have a correspondent who works for UBS, in Europe. UBS is the largest Swiss bank, owning Paine Webber and other companies. They've just opened a new office in Bahrain, and an interesting invoice surfaced, from a German furniture company. I am in possession of a copy of that invoice. Stamped on it are the following words:
"We herewith confirm that [the] above-mentioned goods are not of Israeli origin, nor do they contain to any degree Israeli components, nor have they been imported from Israel."
Lovely. My correspondent says, "To sum it up: Fifty-seven years after Auschwitz, a Germany [sic] company (no less) issues a paper certifying that its products are Judenrein. Shouldn't there be some outrage? Or at least some concern?"
The New Yorker Imitates 'South Park'
From "I
Can Change," a song sung by "Saddam Hussein" in the 1999 movie
"South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut":
It's not my fault that I'm so evil
It's society, society
You see my parents were sometimes abusive
And it made a prick of me
From an article by Jane Mayer on "Know Thy Enemy," a new book, The New Yorker, Oct. 28, 2002:
Saddam's mother handed him off to a relative until he was three years old, when she remarried. Although she took the boy back, Saddam's new stepfather apparently despised and abused him. "These early experiences can be seen as profoundly wounding Saddam's emerging self-esteem," the authors write.
Hard of Hearing
"Allah decreed that the Jews would be humiliated; he cursed them, and turned them into apes and pigs."--Al-Jazirah, a Saudi newspaper, June 7
"We are proud that they define us as someone who strikes terror into the heart of the enemies of Allah and our enemies, but not according to the definition they [the Americans] want. America wants us to define terror according to its criteria. The American definition of terror is that anyone who resists America's colonialist and religious interests is a terrorist."--Saudi sheikh Mohsin Al-'Awaji, interviewed on al-Jazeera television, July 10
"It is enough to see a number of congressmen wearing Jewish yarmulkes to explain the allegations against us."--Prince Sultan bin Abd Al-Aziz, the Saudi defense minister, quoted in London's Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, June 23
"According to the Western view, flogging is illogical. Execution is unacceptable, and the same goes for amputating hands and stoning. These are things that in Muslim eyes are at the core of the Islamic faith."--Ghazi Al-Qusaibi, former Saudi ambassador to London, quoted in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, June 5
"To my ear the harsh denunciations of Saudi Arabia as a terrorist state sound as unbalanced as the conspiratorial ravings of Saudi fundamentalists themselves."--Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, Oct. 22
You
Don't Say--II
"New Report Says Twin Towers Did Not Collapse Because of Structural Flaws"--headline,
Associated Press, Oct. 22
The
Defense's Offense Against the Fence
Here's a strange little report from Israel's Arutz Sheva: "Shamai Leibowitz,
the attorney of Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, was apprehended red handed
last week as he and a colleague were spray-painting 'Barghouti is a good, brave,
and courageous lawyer' on the walls of his neighborhood."
No Further
Comment
The Columbia World of Quotations lists this epigram, from a Sept. 10, 1995, article
in the New York Times: "Celebrity distorts democracy by giving the rich,
beautiful, and famous more authority than they deserve." The aphorist is
none other than Maureen Dowd.
You've
Come a Long Way, Baby
An increasing number of Egyptian women are breaking down barriers and smoking
water pipes, the New York Times reports from Cairo. "I see it as my freedom to
have what I want whenever I want it," 25-year-old Samah Zaky tells the paper.
"Girls in our society have been overprotected, so they want to say, 'No, we can
be stronger and say what we want to do.' "
Profiles Encouraged
A Sikh man "has filed a $60 million lawsuit against Southwest Airlines and
the Town of Islip for requiring him to remove his turban during a security inspection
in October 2001, at the Long Island MacArthur Airport," Law.com reports (third
item). This is another example of why racial profiling at airports is a good idea.
There has been no Sikh terrorism against America, so there's no reason to think
a Sikh man in Long Island would be a threat. If only the security folks practiced
profiling, they'd have left this guy alone.
¡Viva
España!
"The Spanish government has cancelled a state banquet in honour of President
Mohammed Khatami of Iran after Tehran insisted that he would not sit down to a
meal with wine on the table," London's Daily Telegraph reports. Khatami had
said that for religious reasons he would not eat at a table where alcohol was
served. A Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman says Madrid canceled the dinner to
ensure that "the Spanish custom of drinking wine with meals was not dishonored."
War
Is Peace?
President Bush has signed the Sudan Peace Act, a bill designed to encourage the
resolution of Sudan's 20-year-old civil war, which pits Muslims in the north against
Christians and animists in the south. The law authorizes the government to spend
$300 million on "peace efforts" and calls for sanctions against Khartoum
if it fails to negotiate in good faith.
The Boston Globe's headline on this story? "Bush Signs Sudan War Plan."
Don't
Have a Cow, Man
"A Hindu religious leader has welcomed the murders of five men accused by
a mob of killing a cow, India's most sacred animal, claiming that the life of
the creature is more important than that of a human," Britain's Guardian
reports from New Delhi:
The victims in the north Indian state of Haryana hailed from the downtrodden Dalit caste, called "untouchables".
Police claim a 4,000-strong mob, incensed by the cow skins carried in the men's truck, attacked the Dalits and killed them. Other witnesses, however, insist the police killed them because they had refused to pay a bribe. Officers then allegedly spread the word that the Dalits had killed a cow to induce a vengeful mob.
To compound suspicions of a cover-up, the officer in charge of the case carried out a postmortem late last week--on the cow. And police have yet to make any arrests.
He's
In Again
Mike Taylor, the Republican Senate candidate from Montana, says he's back in the
race. As our John
Fund explained, Taylor dropped out earlier this month after Democrats aired
an ad that Taylor said suggested he was gay. Taylor calls his renewed campaign
the "Countdown to Decency" and says he wants to punish Sen. Max Baucus,
the Democratic incumbent, for "gutter politics."
"By smear tactic, the ads placed against me are what I mean," he says in his re-entry speech. "Max Baucus is the standard bearer of the Democrat party, and those are the standard he carries. Shame on Max!"
Taylor has a catchy slogan, too: "Montana needs an engine in Washington, not a caboose."
Shop
Till You Drop?
"Students Head to Malls to Divert Their Attention" reads a headline
in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch. Schools in the Virginia capital are closed
for the second straight day because of the wave of sniper attacks in the area
surrounding Washington, one of which was in nearby Ashland.
Of the sniper's 12 confirmed victims, one was shot at a school and five were shot in the parking lots of shopping centers or retail establishments (not including gas stations). Does it really make sense for kids to spend their days at the mall?
You
Don't Say--III
"Police Seek Contact With Sniper"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 21
Kodak
Moment
A Greece, N.Y., man tells Rochester's WOKR-TV how he lost his job at Eastman Kodak:
Kodak's diversity group sent out an e-mail asking employees to "be supportive" of colleagues who choose to come out on Gay and Lesbian Coming-Out Day. Rolf Szabo replied to the memo telling the company not to send him this type of information and that he found it "disgusting and offensive."
"I said it and I meant it. I'm not going to take it back," Szabo said.
Though Szabo had been with the company 23 years, it doesn't appear as though they're going to take him back, either. Kodak has every right to fire an employee who doesn't fit with its corporate culture. But wouldn't the company's "diversity group" be truer to its name if it learned to tolerate differences of opinion?
(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Napoleon Cole, David Vest, Joe Littrell, Natalie Cohen, Aaron Gross, John Archer, S.E. Brenner, Julia Sen, Alex Robson, Paul Almond, Evan Graham, Bruce Barnhart, Peter Hart, Bob Fields, William Dabney, Bennett Ruda, Rosanne Klass, Mara Gold, Rick Bullen, Martin Heilweil, Martin Kimel, Steve Zak, Michael Segal, Jim Tarantino, Ted Villa, Steven Getman, Jeannette Boot, C.E. Dobkin, Jim Orheim, Jim Bass and Joe Hancock. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Will Saddam go the way of Nicolae Ceausescu?
- Tom Bray: The Democrats are aces at playing the race card.
- Joe Queenan: Looking for cheap thrills? Skip the Museum of Sex.
