Jew Loving Nazis

“Blogging Research Wordle” by Kristina B is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Jew Loving Nazis

April 12, 2004

Comments

Jim Henley and Matt Yglesias comment on a quiz (currently unreachable owing to bandwidth issues) wherein readers are invited to discern between posts on Little Green Footballs and rants from Nazi Germany. In response to a deluge of comments defending LGF, Matt concedes,

Yes, it’s true, I’m a sick, deranged leftist driven only by my self-hatred (as a Jew, an American, and, more generally, a member of Western Civilization) who wishes to see the world plunged into Islamofascist barbarism.

Meryl Yourish weighs in on the topic as well.

Obviously, the differences between LGF and the Nazis are numerous, not least of which is that LGF isn’t responsible for the deaths of several million people–which still counts for something in my book. On the other hand, I find the site unreadable. It’s essentially Ann Coulter without the humor or looks. Still, one shouldn’t confuse a popular weblog with its comments section. I can’t think of a political weblog that routinely draws 50 comments to a post where the section isn’t dominated by yahoos.

11 responses to “Jew Loving Nazis”

Kevin Drum

April 12, 2004 at 12:41 pm

You’re right about not confusing commenters with the blog itself, but LGF is in a different class. Many (most?) bloggers who get overheated commenters at least try to put a stop to it (though I can attest from personal experience that it doesn’t work very well), but Charles doesn’t. In fact, he revels in his commenters and quite obviously eggs them on to the best of his ability. He wants comments like the ones he gets.

On the other hand, I agree with you about the several million person thing. That’s a pretty high bar, though…..
The Commissar

April 12, 2004 at 12:56 pm

“On the other hand, I agree with you about the several million person thing. That’s a pretty high bar, though…..”

How about one person? Not killed, injured? How about one person who has suffered financial damage from LGF?

Whatever LGF’s commenters say, it’s harmless.
TexasToast

April 12, 2004 at 1:08 pm

I guess it depends on how you define “yahoo”.
Drezner’s commentators are predictable, but there seems to be a bit more thinking and less cheerleading.
McGehee

April 12, 2004 at 1:34 pm

Is a comment section dominated by googles better than one dominated by yahoos?

</yahoo>
Rob M

April 12, 2004 at 1:51 pm

As a classical Yahoo, please do not compare me to these neo-yahoos. I act that way in public not by anonymous postings on the Internet. :)YAHOOO!
McGehee

April 12, 2004 at 6:32 pm

Down with the neoyahs! Up with compassionate yahooism!
Kevin T. Keith

April 12, 2004 at 6:40 pm

How about one person? Not killed, injured? How about one person who has suffered financial damage from LGF?

When DailyKos made his (now infamous) “screw them” remark about the mercenaries killed in Fallujah (the avenging of whom has now killed several times as many regular US troops, and hundreds of Iraqis . . . but I digress), LGF organized a campaign to harass advertisers at Kos’s site, and also to embarass several Democratic politicians running blogads there (who had nothing to do with Kos’s remarks). Within hours they had managed to convince three of the four advertisers to pull their ads, and at least one of their political opponents to begin running ads tying the Democrat to Kos’s remark about the mercenaries.

Kos claims that he suffered no net financial loss because he quickly replaced the advertisers, but at any rate they definitely cost him business, as well as injecting scurrilous charges into 4 Congressional campaigns as part of what they themselves referred to as a “secondary boycott” (actually a smear campaign) of the advertisers.

This is not a “marketplace of ideas,” or a fair debate. The LGF clowns did not merely post that they disagreed with Kos’s assessment and invite others to adopt their views, still less did they offer any reasoned opposing view (logical argument being somewhat rare at LGF). This gang of howling cretins orchestrated a campaign to flood advertisers with abuse and threats of political attacks, specifically to, as one of them put it explicitly, “punish” someone whose views they did not like. And, to some extent at least, it was effective – against not only the person they disagreed with but others only distantly associated with him. This is deliberate harassment by mob action – an attempt to cause harm to someone they disagreed with in order to silence their views, and to take unfair advantage of that opportunity to cause harm to political candidates they opposed as well. In both cases they had visible impact; though how much net effect will result in the long run is hard to say, you can hardly call LGF benign (let alone rational or civilized).

Finally, though I also am leery of Nazi comparisons, I don’t think whether LGF has actually killed anybody is quite to the point. The comparison offered, obviously, is between the rhetoric used by both groups, and on those grounds alone the comparison does not involve questions of more active abuses. As to whether it is a fair comparison, I think it is, thought it must be viewed in perspective. That LGF (perhaps) uses rhetoric indistinguishable from the vilest speech and ideas known is worth recognizing. Going from that to a conclusion that they are likely to actually become Nazis is probably unfounded. Few at LGF impress me as likely Ubermenschen.
Jim Henley

April 12, 2004 at 9:34 pm

The comparison between the denizens of LGF and actual Nazi leaders is inapposite. The better comparison is with enthusiastic amateurs in Germany or Italy. It’s not enough to say “They haven’t killed anyone.” Fascism differed from traditional right-authoritarianisms by its desire to energize a mass base. LGF is the mass base.
SwampWoman

April 12, 2004 at 9:41 pm

I thought DailyKos “Screw Them” remarks were egregious and wholly worthy of censure. Seems to be a whole lot of people that cannot tell right from wrong.
JP

April 13, 2004 at 3:17 am

I thought DailyKos “Screw Them” remarks were egregious and wholly worthy of censure. Seems to be a whole lot of people that cannot tell right from wrong.

Can’t tell whether this comment is dishonest or stupid.
Westward Ho

April 13, 2004 at 8:47 am

LGF is the Ideological HQ of the campaign against Radical Islam. We beleive that the war against Radical Islam cannot be won by flower power but only by Daisy Cutters. There is no namby pamby touchy feelie I feel your pain Bullshit on LGF. If you cannot stomach it Fuck off & go back to 8/11.

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