People who read and believe everything they read at left-leaning blogs are at least as fixed in their position about Israel as LGF readers could be.

I do not follow Dov’s argument at all.

You would be suprised about a shift to the right in americans on israeli politics, if you look at the many polls (maybe not the ZOA one, becuase that has much bias) there are many American Jews which are Anti-Disengagement, which is one indicator of political affilation in current Israeli politics.

DB ought to try reading it without opening the comment threads .

I certainly don’t blame the blog since they can’t exactly control the comments (without policing them constantly or shutting the comments off altogether) but it does detract from the blog and the quality of the message. If someone were to go to the blog for information or an understanding on a matter…. and then sees what kind of people support that blog… it might devalue the blog in that person’s eyes.

Left or right is not the issue in the Arab Israeli conflict. It simply does not break along these lines. In fact, I find it quite offensive that some of the blogs to the right of center seem to assume that support of Israel is a right wing cause. It is not. America hosts the second largest Jewish community in the world. About 80 percent of us are left leaning. The American Jewish community has supported Israel from the start and continues to do so through thick and thin. We lobby our government, write letters to the editor, and send large sums of money to different Israeli causes.

On the Arab Israeli conflict, we see in the press horrible distortions of fact, and spin on events that can make you dizzy and sick. I’ve always felt that the areas of advantage that supporters of Israel have over the Palestinian apologists are intelligent discourse, and shear weight of fact.

When I looked at the comments in LGF I was shocked. I saw stupidity, and spin worthy of a Palestinian press release. This does the cause no good. We have to take the high road if we are to succeed in stemming the tide of world antisemitism. It is the only road we have.

Stan

If those critics of LGF were ran a blog as succesful and popular with over a thousand comments a day, then they surely would hate to be judged by the worst and most vulgar comments on their blog.

I myself have been a daily reader of LGF for 3 years. But I hardly read or leave comments there as I am a busy guy blogging from work and only spend 5 minutes there.

I’ve paid close attention to Charles’ blog and how he presents news and he certainly sets himself very high standards. Whilst it is clear that the information/news/stories he puts forward is quite obviously selective, he makes his blog a worthwhile source by not editorialising, spinning or ignoring the truth.

I’m sure that LGF’s leftwing and politically correct critics think the site is populated by Arab hating rednecks and bigots. Well perhaps there are a few of them in the comments. But once again, I’m not discussing the value of his comments section, its his actual posts that are invaluable for one outstanding reason.

They fill the void that the politically correct media create. LGF often shows examples that are outrageous, barbaric and shock our Western values no matter which side of politics you are on. This should continue to be its primary job in the future.

The media so often ignore foiled terrorist attacks. They so often avoid mentioning the religion of those involved. They so often ignore or spin stories of rampant anti-semitism in the middle east. They so often avoid the backward oppressive mentality in many middle eastern states that treats women as 2nd class citizens. They so often label violent or radical Marxist/Islamist groups as peace activists or moderate community leaders.

LGF fills the gaping void created by the media. Any person with an interest in the war on terror, the biggest issue of our times, would need this information to make informed judgements.

I will admit that since last year’s US elections, Charles has been getting a bit too political with some of his posts. I think the primary role of LGF should remain as highlighting news that the mainstream media avoid.

When LGF starts to critique other blogs and many Democrats (as easy as a target that moonbats like Howard Dean and Al Gore are), I think it conflates US political commentary with other hard news and distracts from the bigger issues.

But I don’t think Dov gives enough credit to people’s intelligence – you ‘re right;most people can see past the remarks made by some commenters. Those that cant, well, they are not going to be convinced anyway – They could be shown the truth in black and white and still choose to ignore. dAWK is a prime example.

As far as I’m concerned it’s all about being fair and open –minded. After seeing many comments from ‘leftist’ bloggers or the like. I’m convinced if anyone is myopic; they are.

What irks me is that their ‘friends’ can do no wrong. I can’t recall any example that readily comes to mind, of where they admit any wrong doing by those they support. It seems any time an atrocity takes place they wheel out the same apologist rhetoric and try to project the blame elsewhere.

There is still no real acceptance by many ‘lefties’, that as you say “pumping bullets into a pregnant Jewish woman” – is really a vile and unacceptable crime. Its all about Israel all the time.

What irks them though, is that it is they who hold the minority views. And because the majority don’t believe them its all because of a host of conspiracies. The joke is that propaganda machine is working for them and they still cant convince everyone and nor will they.