Anna Julia Cooper (d. 1964, at age 105), the pioneering black American scholar and educator: “Bullies are always cowards at heart and may be credited with a pretty safe instinct in scenting their prey.”
From the wise and courageous, i.e., Geert Wilders, to the (almost) ridiculous, were the stakes not so high:
Charles Johnson doth protest too much. For months I have endured in silence his distressingly stupid and vicious calumnies and threats—private, as well as public—against colleagues and friends—brave, decent souls who, unlike Johnson, are serious scholars, authors, and journalists, investigating the burgeoning threat of violent and non-violent jihadism/ Islamization in Europe.
When Johnson put my dear friend—the perspicacious writer and journalist Diana West—in his crosshairs, I was compelled to break my silence. Following Johnson’s e-mail threat to another close friend—the brilliant scholar and author Robert Spencer—after Raymond Ibrahim (editor/translator of The Al Qaeda Reader) simply blogged a favorable discussion (subsequently removed by Spencer, pace Johnson’s threat!) of Diana West’s September 18, 2008 Town Hall.com column at the Jihad Watch/Dhimmi Watch website—I noticed that National Review Online had a featured link (on 9/19/08) to the same West column.
As a rather gentle rebuke of Johnson’s bullying (not to mention months of his indiscriminate, irresponsible, and just plain idiotic spraying of charges of “Fascism”), I sent “CJ” an e-mail link to the NRO featured posting of West’s September 18, 2008 essay with the subject line heading, “Lookie!-NRO ‘Fascists’ have featured a link to Diana West’s ‘We are losing Europe to Islam.’” A week later, when Diana’s follow-up column was also a featured link at NRO (9/26/08), I again forwarded the NRO link with a similar subject heading. And the next day (9/27/08) when social critic Roger Kimball (of The New Criterion, and Pajamas Media) had a lengthy, favorable discussion of West’s 9/26/08 column, I sent another e-mail with the subject line title, “Oh No! ‘Fascist’ Roger Kimball on Cologne and ‘Fascist’ Diana West.”
Johnson responded to this latter e-mail accusing me (on the basis of the three rather innocuous e-mails above, sent during a week) of “stalking” him!
I wrote back in admittedly (albeit deservedly) caustic language highlighting the hypocrisy of Johnson’s attacks on those he perceived (see Anna Julia Cooper’s observation about a bully’s “pretty safe instinct in scenting their prey”) as vulnerable—independent writers and thinkers such as West and Spencer—while lacking the guts to similarly attack well-established conservative icons such as NRO, or Roger Kimball who had endorsed West’s writings (NRO twice, in successive weeks) on the Islamization of Europe.
Johnson then proceeded to blog the comments (below) at his website, which included a “threat” to publish my e-mails to him. Johnson’s warped characterization of my correspondence, and idle threats to “expose” those e-mails reveal his mendacity and prototypical bully cowardice. The e-mails are included below, preceded by Johnson’s public comments at his blog.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/showc/74/5941013
Charles: 9/27/2008 8:46:07 am PDT I’m now getting hate mail from Andrew Bostom, who believes we should all be joining forces with European white nationalists, calling me all kinds of names and insults. It’s an eye-opener about Bostom.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/showc/105/5941049
Charles: 9/27/2008 8:52:05 am PDT
I may publish Bostom’s emails, so people can see what he’s like behind the scenes when he isn’t writing lengthy anti-Islam articles.
—– Original Message —–
From: Andrew Bostom
To: Charles Johnson
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2008 2:36 PM
Subject: Lookie!-NRO “Fascists” have featured a link to Diana West’s “We are losing Europe to Islam.”
Lookie!-NRO “Fascists” have featured a link to Diana West’s “We are losing Europe to Islam.”
http://corner.nationalreview.com/#webbriefing
NRO Web Briefing | 9/19/08
1) Obama is stoking racial antagonism. Rush Limbaugh, Wall Street Journal
2) We are losing Europe to Islam. Diana West, townhall.com
—– Original Message —–
From: Andrew Bostom
To: Charles Johnson
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 8:43 AM
Subject: Lookie, Again: NRO “Facists” Feature Diana West on Cologne
http://corner.nationalreview.com/#webbriefing
NRO Web Briefing | 9/26/08
Make time to look to Cologne. Diana West, townhall.com
—– Original Message —–
From: Andrew Bostom
To: Charles Johnson
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:33 AM
Subject: Oh No! “Fascist” Roger Kimball on Cologne and “Fascist” Diana West
September 27th, 2008
Roger Kimball (at Pajamas Media, citing Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan speaking in Cologne from Diana West’s essay of 9/26/08) “assimilation is a crime against humanity”
—– Original Message —–
From: “Andrew Bostom”
To: “Charles Johnson”
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 11:32 AM
Subject: Re: Oh No! “Fascist” Roger Kimball on Cologne and “Fascist” Diana West
> Pointing out your maroonish (see Buggs Bunny) hypocrisy is hardly akin to
> “stalking,” let alone comparable to the public calumnies–by both you, and
> your mindless following– of people far more serious, intelligent, and
> courageous than yourself, such as Diana West.
>
> And I could care less about changing what passes for a mind like yours.
>
> But at least in your self-righteous idiocy have the guts and consistency to
> call NRO and Roger Kimball “Fascists” as well.
>
> AB
> —– Original Message —–
> From: “Charles Johnson”
> To: “Andrew Bostom”
> Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 11:07 AM
> Subject: Re: Oh No! “Fascist” Roger Kimball on Cologne and “Fascist” Diana
> West
>
>
>> If you think your stalker-ish emails are going to change my mind, think
>> again. The only thing you’re achieving is to make yourself look like a
>> fool.
>>
>> CJ
