Von's "Idiotarian" Award.

I generally dislike the word "idiotarian." Among other things, it's horrible English. (What, the word "idiot" is too short and to the point for you?) A recent post on the bombing in Madrid by Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, however, has caused me to reconsider. Accordingly, I will now honor Mr. Johnson with "Von's First 'Idiotarian' Award" for the following unrepetent act of idiotarianism*:

At a Spanish demonstration protesting today’s terrorist attacks we find a perfect example of the sick hypocrisy that is poisoning Europe, as a useful idiot in knit cap and kaffiyeh proudly aligns himself with the symbol of Palestinian terrorism:

Mr. Johnson then includes a picture of a crowd of Spainaids grieving today's killing of 170-plus people in the Madrid bombings. Members of the crowd have raised both hands in the European sign to "stop". A young man in front -- one of literally hundreds of other people -- is wearing a knit cap and a kaffiyeh that suggests support for the Palestinians. Mr. Johnson continues:

I’ve always believed the signal to “stop” was a single hand held up. Holding both hands up in the air is a symbol of something else altogether.

A few, umm, minor comments: One hundred seventy-plus people have just been killed in an act of terrorism. Mr. Johnson's response is to (1) point out that one member of a grieving crowd may, in fact, be an idiot (and, really, how likely is it that a crowd of hundreds won't contain at least one idiot) and (2) make fun of the grieving crowd as a whole.

What cogent, emphathic analyses. What wonderful insight into the human condition. What glorious work in focusing on a single, droopy tree in the midst of a vast forest of grief. What good taste in decrying how that grief is expressed.

For shame.

Update: The death toll from the blast now stands at 190, with 1,200 injured. It's also worth noting that the photo that Mr. Johnson displays and criticizes on his web site does not appear to have run in any major news outlet. Rather, it appears to have been part of an online AP slideshow, which featured dozens of other photographs concerning the blasts and demonstrations relating thereto. Mr. Johnson chose to focus on this particular photo.

*Mr. Johnson occasionally responds to criticisms by preventing referrals. If he does so here, you may view the post in question by going to http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=10113#comments.

Comments

[Edward]

I will never visit LGF again, I'm afraid...promise to myself after some worldclass idiocy expressed at me there...if the moderators won't police it, that leaves visitors no option but to do so themselves.

Having said that, I share your disgust for people who immediately jump to make a political statement out of a tragedy like this...it's shameless.

[Edward]

Oh, and btw, I like the word "Idiotarian." It suggests someone devoted to remaining an idiot.

[Bird Dog]

'Round here in Seattle, you'd surprised not to see a guy in that garb in any respectable espresso bar, a kind of 21st century post-grunge.

[carpeicthus]

Where I come from, we use the old-school "asshole" to describe such folk as Mr. Johnson.

[Harley]

Still one of my proudest moments, banned from LGF in seconds flat, well, minutes, or as long as it took Charles to read what I'd posted about him. Blogville needs a village idiot, I guess. But a mean-spirited humorless idiot seems like piling on.

[Edward]

getting banned from LGF...now that's worth visiting there for...what was your time, Harley (I love a challenge).

[Harley]

I lasted about 45 minutes. Primarily for comments made about Charles. I didn't know anything about the site or its reputation. But was pretty amazed by the levels of anger and bile. Said as much. One poster wished I was a human shield in Iraq. (In fairness, I'd suggested to him that unless he was talking about the leader of Herman's Hermits, Peter Noone, then 'no one' is spelled differently.) And then I wondered aloud re Charles: "Who is this a-hole, anyway?"

He responded rapid fire with a high school insult ("loser") and a bit he stole from David Spade ("buh-bye").

Haven't been back since.

[Edward]

You were lucky!!! (as those in the Monty Python sketch would say). I was told that being in love with a Muslim was grounds for dismissing any opinion I had on anything essentially. I lasted three days before (and told one particularly offensive sh*t who insulted my relationship I'd meet his coward ass on the corner of 42 and 5th any time he wanted) before I couldn't stand it any longer.

The idea of intentionally getting banned never occurred to me...I'll wait until I've had a Manhattan or two and see how long it takes me.

Normally I dispise trolls, but that site deserves all it can get.

[bob mcmanus]

Until I linked your name, von, I was trying to think of where a link to LGF was.

My own position, or tentative attempts at it, I have discussed at Tacitus. Although I am more hawkish than most, I certainly hope to keep prejudice and emotion out of my analysis. On a population basis, what happened in Spain may be worse than 9/11.

And the Irish alter-ego below actually read the Wake, it drove him mad, poor fellow.

[rilkefan]

The picture in question is available on the NYT slide show linked from the lead article. For the record, plenty of people in the crowd have both hands up.

Also in the NYT: "Spanish Official Says New Line of Investigation Opens After Van Is Found With Detonators and Arabic-Language Tape of Koranic Verses" - so perhaps it's ETA-related groups pretending to be al Qaeda or even v.v.

[rilkefan]

Someone on DailyKos pointed out that OBL cites Spain as still belonging to the Islamic empire. And it's been 2.50 years since 9/11.

[praktike]

You know what the scariest part is?

It's">http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog">It's the #8 weblog in the Truthlaid Bear Ecosystem.

[Phil]

I gave up on LGF more than a year ago. As sympathetic as I could be to the reasons why the man feels he does, and as valuable a service as keeping the words of the militant Islamists in front of an audience who might not otherwise hear them is, Johnson is certifiable loony at this point.

By the way, Charles, putting out two hands is the signal for "Stop NOW!" See also "North by Northwest, scene with Cary Grant trying to stop a semi in."

[Bird Dog]

I actually read von's courageous stand some months ago. Then a few commenters came over to Tac's site to rustle things up. Charles threw out a few insults and that was it. In the interest of full disclosure, von, it wouldn't hurt to briefly report your prior unpleasant experiences over at lgf.

[Joel]

Glad that someone out there had the good sense to post on this latest piece of hysterical nonsense from LGF. This isn't much better than a certain blogger's gloating over the UN HQ bombing in Iraq some months back. A couple of years ago, though I rather strongly disagreed with his viewpoints, I found LGF to be a pretty essential read. Then the lunacy in the comments section seemed to drift upward into the posts themselves. finally overwhelming the blog as a whole. Like Phil I stopped taking anything he wrote at all seriously about a year ago. Oh well, I guess every conflict gets the John Birch society it deserves. For the War on Terror, that's LGF.

[James Casey]

As someone pointed out a while back, there are militants in the comments on Kos, Atrios, Hesiod etc. I guess being more of a centrist than right-leaner, I don't feel as outraged by them. But if they are wrong, then the LGF ones certainly are. I was horrified on my first visit.

[von]

In the interest of full disclosure, von, it wouldn't hurt to briefly report your prior unpleasant experiences over at lgf.

Ahh, yes, my experience as a "foul mouthed troll." Picked up by Tacitus here. Which provoked this response by Charles.

In a prior comment thread, I was blasted by everyone around when I suggested that it was improper to refer to Muslims as "flies on our asses."

[Slartibartfast]

&*^$% you, von. 80

I used to hang out at LGF too, but invective got a bit deep for me. I try to stay away from places that shame me even a little for being of the same species as those who post there.

Mostly, back then, Charles was pretty reasonable. Dunno what happened.

[Matthew Stinson]

You know, von, I think this thread could turn into the generic "I gave up on LGF when..." thread. For example, I gave up on LGF when I read a thread where posters said we should go ahead and kill all Palestinians/Muslims to end terrorism once and for all. Heh.

[Gary Farber]

It seems to me that a fair number of bloggers started out with a mere tendency towards a prejudice in one direction, and then -- through some sort of cycle of getting more and more positive feedback for going in that direction -- became, over a couple of years, more and more extreme as they continued a journey down their path in one direction, eventually resulting in leaving the orbit of the planet Earth, and alighting somewhere near the little-known planetoid Obsession.

I'll charitably not name names, but I'll bet others than myself can think of some examples of yet other bloggers who seemed pretty reasonable a couple of years ago, because they were. And aren't any more, at least on their pet topics.

What saddens me is that it seems to be inevitable in the blogosphere that extremist blogs (on whatever topic or from whatever POV) seem to be, generally, highly popular by dint of throwing red meat to their fans. Blogs that are more idiosyncratic, or questioning, or centrist, tend to be less so.

[Matthew Stinson]

/me nods sagely at the words of Farber

Radio talk show hosts love to throw the red meat around, so it's only natural that some bloggers behave in the same fashion.

[Gary Farber]

It's a subset of "people want to be told what they want to hear."

They're duly thrilled, and come back for more; they tell their friends; word spreads among the True Believers.

The blogger is thrilled at the increase in readers and the positive comments. Ups the ante a bit, and gives more of the same, a bit more emphatically. Readers are further pleased. Wash, rinse, repeat. Blogger eventually arrives down the road a raving demagogue with a highly enthused following, but also detached from the world as The Rest Of Us know it.

Doesn't tend to work for centrists and eclectics. But it's a process that works for extreme partisans of any ilk.

[Stan LS]

I visit LGF daily. I don't participate on forums, but its a great resource for images and links.

[von]

I visit LGF daily. I don't participate on forums, but its a great resource for images and links.

It can be a great resource for links, translations, and the like. But the perspective is so skewed (and I don't merely mean skewed against the Palestinians) that I truly question whether it, nonetheless, should be shunned. (And whether, by extension, those who do business with the webdesign side of LGF should be shunned as well.)