Donald Douglas brought a post from Pam Geller to my attention the other day, and it got me thinking. Is there really a dirty little secret on the Right?
Actually, it’s a big dirty secret. [Scroll for updates]
I could not help but notice, over the past few years, the right wing blogosphere’s silence on jihad and Islam. When I started blogging back in 2004-2005, there were literally scores of counter-jihad blogs in an already crowded field. Seven years later, it is a paltry few, save for Jihadwatch, The Religion of Peace, Creeping Sharia, and political bloggers like Logan’s Warning, IOTW, American Power blog, Zilla, ….. [UPDATE: and The Right Planet].
The first jolt and obvious disconnect was back in 2008, when Michelle Malkin and Hot Air suddenly and without explanation stopped running Robert Spencer’s “Blogging the Quran” series and his Jihad Watch v-logs. They were fantastic, informational and needed. Around the time she dropped Spencer, Malkin had a short-lived show on Fox and was trying to get more exposure there, and she also stopped writing as much as she had about Islam and jihad. I was surprised and disheartened at the time, but was unaware that these were just some early signs of a decision by the most influential people on the Right to sanction the jihad and sharia with their silence. Silence is sanction. Malkin still posts on big jihad stories every now and then (as do other right-of-center bloggers), and acts as if nothing has changed and she is still in the fight, but it has gone to the periphery of her concerns. Bloggers have to cover big jihad attacks because if they didn’t that would be obvious.
But this is not about just Michelle Malkin — not by a long shot. I wrote about her because the evidence in her case is fairly clear. But it is also about all of them: Drudge, Rush, Kathryn Lopez of National Review, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, etc. The email below makes the Right’s actions intelligible. It is unlikely — in fact, inconceivable — that the blogger described in it, who saw his path to money and traffic in abandoning the fight against jihad and Islamic supremacism, was the only one. Obviously, many others have gone down this road as well. The big blogs on the right never link counter-jihad blogs. They have all but surrendered.
Now, I might not be a big blogger, but, quite frankly, I take offense to the smear that we have “all but surrendered”. I’m not going to get into the issue of Weasel Zippers having a problem with Pam and Robert Spencer. That’s his business. Same with going after Ace Of Spades. What I will say is that I doubt most bloggers, big, medium, small, are intentionally ignoring Jihad, Islamic terrorists, etc, particularly because Geller and Spencer push it hard.
From my own perspective, I think that many have just moved on. There are many others who do a great job, and, interestingly, Pam leaves out The Jawa Report. Oh, and that Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch is linked at Hot Air, as are many other War On Terrorism blogs. Many bloggers got into counter terrorism when they first started back in the early 2000’s. That was one of two reasons I started, the other being the re-election of George Bush. I have 906 posts in the category of “War On Terrorism”, as well as many more under “RoP” (Religion of Peace), Islamification, and Dhimmitude. But, time can change concerns, and when our own country is being destroyed by Obama and the Democrats, well, it’s kinda hard to be focused on Islam.
What the counter-jihad blogs do is great, and necessary. But, not everyone is that focused, or hard core (I do not mean that in a bad way), on it. There was a time up till a few years ago when I would intentionally look for stories on Islam. My own priorities have shifted, so, along with typical political stories, I focus on anthropogenic global warming.
The blogosphere is constantly shifting. Back when I started, blogs judged themselves not on traffic but about links. There were constant meme’s being passed around. The themes (ie, like these) were constantly changing. How often do you see a theme change now? Especially big changes? I’ve had the same theme for at least 2-3 years. Before then, I probably had at least 10 themes. I often changed every 6 months or so. And many used theme switchers. The blogosphere was wide open. There was more humor, more off-beat. Personally, I try to still post non-political stuff now and then, of course, many of the wacky stories are linked to “climate change.”
Things change.
But, what this seems to be about is Weasel Zippers having a problem with Pam Geller. Somehow, though, this was turned into “the Right doesn’t give a crap about counter-terrorism anymore, and they are doing it because they are scared, are being moderate, and are selling you out.” That the big blogs have to “watch what they say.” Poppycock. Mule fritters. Pelosi(4)! Just because we do not write about it that much anymore doesn’t mean we don’t care, just that it is not top tier on what we write about now.
There is no big conspiracy. Does anyone think that if Michelle Malkin or Ed Morrissey had a problem with Pam Geller they wouldn’t have told her? And that the info wouldn’t have ended up on Geller’s website? The most likely reason for the loss of focus on jihad, sharia, terrorism, etc, is that, again, people have other concerns, particularly as we watch our own country be destroyed.
Read: Did The Right Actually Abandon Discussing Islamic Jihad? »
