In Which I Get Free Advice from Various Conservatives
My recent Vanity Fair piece on Charles Johnson as well as my proposal to screw with the mainstream media (working title: Operation Fuck Everyone) has prompted a few reactions here and there. Antiwar.com director Justin Raimondo, whose political views are rather complicated, e-mailed this afternoon to warn me about, among other things, Johnson’s pro-Israeli sentiment; I explained to him that I’m among the three or four Americans who don’t really care about Israel one way or the other, and that at any rate Johnson’s views on that country seem to be reasonable. Raimondo also took issue with the idea that Johnson is really a “secularist” insomuch as that the blogger does not seem to have ever spoken out against religious fundamentalism among Israeli Jews; I noted that I myself am the director of communications for a quite secular political action committee and have never gotten around to speaking out against religious fundamentalism among Israeli Jews, either. Why would I? They’re in Israel. Nonetheless, I am clearly a secularist, and so is Johnson. You don’t have to point out that the Torah is gobbledygook to get your secularist wrist band.
Raimondo rounded out his criticisms with the following assertion:
And I might add that he is still pushing the same war-mongering agenda he’s always pushed: war with the entire Muslim world.
… which is obviously not the case, as Johnson has never said or indicated anything of the sort. He’s just not big on Islam. Neither am I, for that matter. So, there you go; Raimondo doesn’t like Johnson.
Meanwhile, conservative blogger Dennis the Peasant is unimpressed with the few details of Project Fuck Everyone that have been laid out thus far, wrongly believes me to be a “progressive” (he may be right about the “knob” part, though), and warns me not to deal with Charles Johnson:
Hey Barrett: If you value your sanity and your wallet, read all my posts under Mockery: Ragging On Raj. Make sure you start at the beginning, and take heed, my friend. Take heed.
I’m a maniac and my wallet is empty, so I’ll pass. Notes Mr. Peasant in response to what’s thus far been laid out regarding the anti-media campaign:
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
Fair enough.
So, how does the fellow at the conservative blog Jawa Report respond to the article?
Bwwwahahahahhaaaaaaaa!!!!
Okay, which one of you guys is plagiarizing from the other?
Although the Jawa fellow isn’t exactly on board with what I’m proposing, he does seem to be interested in potential methods by which to improve the virtual infrastructure of the blogosphere, which is encouraging.
Meanwhile, I’ve gotten a few e-mails from other bloggers who have decided to participate. I’ll start recruiting in earnest next week.
END COMMUNICATION LOL
**Update***
Justin Raimondo shows up to comment further on my defense of Johnson:
So it’s okay to support religious fundamentalism in another country, so long as it isn’t America. Another country in which certain people — who happen to be the original inhabitants — are second class citizens, and living under occupation.
I said nothing of the sort. What I meant is that neither Johnson nor I have denounced Jewish fundamentalism in Israel. I don’t think either of us have denounced Shintoism, either. This is because neither of us find either movement to be particularly worrying. For my part, I’m more concerned with religions that manage to competently market themselves, such as Islam and the various Pentecostal branches. And I’m only concerned with those to the extent that they prompt their followers to interfere with the free action of other individuals. Otherwise, I don’t care.
I’ve got a Hasidic landlord, for instance. He doesn’t care what I do. His religious dictates don’t apply to me. He’s not looking for converts. Most importantly, he does not have tens of millions of other Hasidic Jews with which to form a powerful voting bloc and thereby cramp my libertine style. So I don’t spend a lot of time denouncing religious Jews or even thinking about them. This doesn’t mean that I “support” their religion. I don’t. And Charles Johnson doesn’t seem to “support” religious fundamentalism in Israel. He simply doesn’t consider it to be an issue of particular importance.
***ZOMG ANOTHER UPDATE***
This Dennis fellow seems to have misunderstood a portion of my Vanity Fair article dealing with Johnson. In an update to his post cited above, the blogger cites Johnson’s 2007 statement regarding his departure from Pajamas Media and contrasts it with a quote from my piece:
Sorry, but if there’s a denunciation of a “right-wing parrot organization” in there, I must have missed it.
Johnson referred to Pajamas Media as a “right-wing parrot organization” in a conversation with me a few weeks ago. My article did not claim, nor did he, that he made any such characterization about the company at the time when he left; rather, that seems to be his opinion of it today.
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Nothing “complicated” about my politics: I’m a libertarian, Ron Paul variety.
So it’s okay to support religious fundamentalism in another country, so long as it isn’t America. Another country in which certain people — who happen to be the original inhabitants — are second class citizens, and living under occupation. If this is “secularism,” then give me Jerry Falwell any day. At least he’s honest about his convictions, and consistent albeit wrong.
Charles Johnson is a warmongering jackass: his alleged “switch” is all about being on the side with Power. Like Andy Sullivan, he spent the entire post-9/11 era whipping up hatred against Muslims, especially American Muslims, at a time when they were just as vulnerable as Japanese-Americans during WWII. And we know what happend to THEM.
It’s not for nothnig that Yahoo deemed LGF a “hate site.” Charles kicked up quite a fuss about that: the truth hurts.
Are you fucking insane? Andrew Sullivan came out against the Bush Administration in 2004, and while he may not have been the biggest cheerleader for the Kerry-Edwards ticket replacing Bush-Cheney, he was forceful in his denunciations of the prosecution of the War on Terror, including being one of the first and still the most outspoken critical voices regarding our detention policies in it.
Do you actually read Andrew Sullivan or did you stop in the middle of 2003 and figure Sully stayed the same till 2007 or something?
In response to another comment. See in context »Since fact checking clearly doesn’t play into your modus operandi, Charles has written posts criticizing the ultra right wing Avigdor Lieberman, so his “oh he never criticizes extreme Israeli Jews” statement is utter bullshit.
In response to another comment. See in context »“modus operandi” — a pretty big word for such a little punk as yourself. But you really need to do some, uh, FACT-checking before you accuse others of not, um, FACT-checking. Here is your Fuehrer Charles defending Lieberman:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/7558_Palestinians_Try_to_Turn_the_Tables
and here:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/25035_Daily_Kos_Passover_Greetings
Neoatheist? Neocon is more like it.
In response to another comment. See in context »Few things:
1. Reading comprehension is your friend. I never said “Charles has changed and is now a consistent critic of Israeli policy,” simply that you’re wrong that Mr. Johnson never criticizes Israeli policy.
2. You forgot to add “MIRITE?!?!!!11″ to the end of your reply.
I especially hope that bullet point two is corrected in future “more like” comments, because the thrust of the statement was weakened without it.
In response to another comment. See in context »My bad, forgot to provide link:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/34352_Israeli_Police_Recommend_Indictment_of_Lieberman
“Far right Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is probably going to be indicted on bribery and fraud charges: Israeli Police Recommend Indictment of Foreign Minister.”
Written last year while Johnson was being pilloried by the far right for considering the far right a perjorative.
In response to another comment. See in context »Your friend,
Justin Raimondo
Your hat is pulled down just a little too tight, Barrett: your Hasidic landlord has nothing to do with — oh, but wait a minute. I forgot. You’re a New Yawker. So you don’t give a flying f*** about anybody but your self-involved little self. War? Oppression? Palestinians? It’s all kinda like “Shintoism.” That’s right: how could I have fogotten?
Never mind: forget what I said. I hope you and Charles “Kill All Muslims” Johnson live happily ever after…..
“Hot, Fat, and CLOUDED”?
Hey Dennis Justina Raimondo sorry to see that despite all those cigarettes you smoke that you are still alive. How is your 9/11 troofer shit going? You’re the freak who thinks the “wrong side” won the War in the Pacific. Dirt bag!!