Re: Threats
The Huffington Post has a piece about James Rainey’s interview with me in the Los Angeles Times, focusing on threats I’ve received recently: Charles Johnson Got Threats After Breaking With Right, Relocated.
Some conservative readers were apparently not pleased with Johnson’s critique. In a profile of Johnson, the LA Times reports that the blogger moved into a gated community partly due to violent right-wing threats.
As I talked to Johnson in his office, an alert flashed on one of his two giant computer monitors. An angry screed targeting him on another website concluded: “I think a visit to Mr. Johnson’s home might be warranted. Anybody got his address?”
Such veiled threats are at least one reason why Johnson, 56, relocated not long ago. He remains in the Los Angeles area, but now is in a gated community.
The impression this gives is slightly misleading; a lot of people seem to be interpreting this to mean I moved because of threats I’ve received. So to clarify — that’s not really true. I did not move recently just because of receiving threats. The extra security was one factor, but not the only one; in other words, yes, I’ve received threats, but they are not the only (or even the main) reason why I live where I do.
Another point — I haven’t only gotten threats from right-wingers, either. Since Little Green Footballs began, I’ve had the privilege of being threatened by a rich panoply of unsavory humans: militant Islamists who wanted to cut my throat, neo-Nazis (in particular, Bill White, friend of white supremacist blogger Robert Stacy McCain) who tried to find my home address and post it on the web, and lots of random threats posted on blogs that were less specific.
Since Rainey’s piece mentions one of those “veiled threats” that actually appeared while he was interviewing me, here’s a link to it. The comment in question is at Ryan Mauro’s blog, at David Horowitz’s Newsreal website. It’s been posted for three days.