I've linked to Charles Johnson over at Little Green Footballs since the first day I had a blogroll. Let's be honest -- he was, at the time, one of the giants of conservative blogging, and an important voice on the conservative side of the spectrum.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that any longer.

Over the last several months (or longer), Charles has set out to somehow purge the conservative movement, the GOP, and the blogosphere of those voices with which he disagrees. In the beginning, it was a bit odd -- a couple positions I saw as counterproductive and overly curmudgeonly. But one could take his position on Intelligent Design to be reasonable even while disagreeing with him -- though anyone who disagreed with Charles on the issue was immediately labeled a "stealth creationist" -- even me, despite the fact that I explicitly have for many years taught evolution as the best available explanation of the development of life, just because I expressed the belief that the best way to deal with the issue of Intelligent Design is to talk about it as being a philosophical/theological adjunct to science's evolutionary theory.

And then there was the issue of opposition to Islamism. Though once a strong opponent of terrorism, Charles apparently became disenchanted with many of those who agreed with them. He began throwing around charges of racist and fascist when discussing not only actual racists and fascists, but also when discussing anyone who might cross over an ill-defined line or those who might continue to associate with/link to them.

Then came the abortion issue. Charles, it appears to me, may be pro-choice, but i'm really not sure. But in the wake of the murder ofGgeorge Tiller he began issuing edicts about what language was acceptable for opponents of abortion to use. Disagree with him, and you were little less than an accessory to Tiller's killing.

And now Charles has decided that support for the Tea party movement is somehow suspect, and has launched into a jihad against a great many bloggers who dare to disagree with him -- echoing the media line that opposition to Obama is racism.

Along the way, he has done his best to make LGF an echo chamber, banning folks who dare to dissent from his orthodoxy for perceived violations of rules, even while allowing his supporters to violate those same rules. Personally, I got banned because, in response to his diktat on pro-life rhetoric, I gave a one sentence, non-profane response that indicated i would not change my rhetoric just because he said to do so.

In tone, Charles Johnson has come to sound like one of the loony local liberals blogging here in Houston. Frankly, the purges he keeps advocating at LGF sound Stalinist. The creeping nature of those purges remind me of the gradualism of the Nazis described by Martin Niemöller. I won't call him a liberal, a Stalinist, or a Nazi -- I think that may be a bit over the top -- but I will call him both wrong and out of control as he crosses over the line into angry personal attacks on those on the right with whom he disagrees. So I'm joining with some of his targets and a great many other bloggers in cutting my links to LGF in the hopes that concerted action will cause Charles to come to his senses and reconsider the direction his once-great blog has taken -- or that he gets that daily show on AirAmerica for which his recent antics appear to be an audition.

Posted by: Greg at 11:21 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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