Little Green Footballs

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Little 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 was "a liberal until he got mugged" — in this case, by September 11.

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 American War on Terror and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Fans and Critics

Little Green Footballs is 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 miltants as Elvis. A vocal admirer of controversial pundits Daniel Pipes and Oriana Fallaci, Johnson is also responsible for coining the word "idiotarian."

Fans see the website as an alternative media outlet which provides a counterweight to the alleged anti-American, anti-Zionist, anti-Conservative bias of mainstream media outlets like Reuters (or "al-Reuters" in LGF slang). LGF also features extensive coverage of under-reported news stories, particularly those featuring examples of European anti-Semitism or Islamist terrorism.

Critics point to the hyperbolic language and derogatory slang (e.g., "Paleostinians," "oil ticks" and "koranimals") employed by some posters and charge the webmaster with encouraging groupthink, jingoism, and Islamophobic hate speech.

LGF regulars (the self-proclaimed "Lizardoids") counter negative evaluations of the website by appealing to the clash of civilizations metanarrative. In their view, the war between the Western world and global Islamism is so revolutionary in scope and significance that the neutral point of view can only be understood as a defeatist anachronism.

Changes and Controversies

In an August 2002 blog entry, Anil Dash lamented LGF's shift in focus and urged Johnson to return to the discussion of website design issues. The resulting war of words spilled into the comment boards of both sites, flaring up again in October 2002 when MSNBC's Will Femia described LGF as "hateful or even racist" in that site's weblog reviews.

In October 2003, LGF was the victim of a denial-of-service attack carried out by the members of various jihadist internet forums. This attack, although directed against another pro-Israel website (Internet Haganah), also affected Little Green Footballs, as it shares the same web hosting provider.

In April 2004, an anonymous critic constructed a satirical quiz comparing comments left by LGF users advocating the "sterilization" of "subhumans" and "vermin" to quotations from the writings of Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. Loyal "Lizardoids" objected, noting that LGF users had been quoted out of context on a largely unmoderated (and very popular) blog. Some also noted that even most objectionable statements on LGF are no worse those made by radical imams in the Arab world - the latter being responsible for actual (and not merely rhetorical) violence.

As left-leaning bloggers (e.g., Matthew Yglesias) began linking the LGF Quiz, a series of intermural flame wars erupted; Johnson's "Lizardoids" were well-prepared, having previously clashed with the users of Kathryn Cramer, the Daily Kos, Indymedia, Metafilter and the Straight Dope. As each new confrontation brought a stampede of unfamiliar vistors, Johnson began redirecting traffic from rival sites to the Israel Defense Forces homepage instead.

Like other highly partisan internet forums (e.g., Free Republic, Democratic Underground), LGF attracts users who rail against the perceived mindset of its virtual community. These users are branded as "trolls" (or "Morlocks" in LGF slang) and banned by Johnson if they are deemed to have become disruptive. As the volume of comments from "morlocks" rose with the site's increasing profile, many regular users requested a simple registration system; Johnson obliged them in June 2004.

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. "There is not one word about the anti-idiotarian blogosphere..." he fumed. "The mainstream media’s shameful, arrogant bias [is] up there for all to see."

Accomplishments of Note

LGF was one of four blogs (including Free Republic, Power Line, and AllahPundit) responsible for the initial stages of the Killian memos investigation.

LGF also helped break the short-lived Pocketgate scandal less than a month later.

LGF was voted "Best International Blog" by readers of the Washington Post in November 2004.

See also

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