Why do so many right-wingers troll Al-Jazeera?

[LastVoter]

It would seem to me that the name of the news agency would be offensive to believers of this ideology, but it seems like every fourth comment on their articles is just pure right-wing hackery. Is there some kind of astro-turfing effort, or does the name of the newspaper rustles their jimmies so much that it brings them out in droves to comment?

[Redalgo]

I imagine most of this could be explained by ethnocentric biases and ensuing prejudice against Arabs, Muslims, and/or media outlets which are not explicitly both pro-American and pro-Israeli. Incidentally, I am used to many left-wingers being just as absurd in many places they comment.

[tpfkaw]

Drudge Report occasionally links to them.

[Vermin Supreme]

I imagine most of this could be explained by ethnocentric biases and ensuing prejudice against Arabs, Muslims, and/or media outlets which are not explicitly both pro-American and pro-Israeli. Incidentally, I am used to many left-wingers being just as absurd in many places they comment.

Besides Daily Kos and DU, what sites has this occurred to you?

[angus]

It would seem to me that the name of the news agency would be offensive

The peninsula?!  How could that possibly be offensive?  It's sleek, imho.  Besides, that's what Arabians call the Arabian peninsula.  Al Jazirah is simply that peninsula.

Anyway, I don't watch it.  Not that I don't like to watch folks speaking in Arabic, and not that I don't enjoy reading it--I have a copy of the Qur'an and a Hans Wehr Arabic-English dictionary--but the only news show I watch religiously is the PBS Newshour.  All else is sensationalism.

[tpfkaw]

I imagine most of this could be explained by ethnocentric biases and ensuing prejudice against Arabs, Muslims, and/or media outlets which are not explicitly both pro-American and pro-Israeli. Incidentally, I am used to many left-wingers being just as absurd in many places they comment.

Besides Daily Kos and DU, what sites has this occurred to you?

Ever seen the CNN comments section?

[Beet]

I've never noticed that on Al-Jazeera, but if only one of every four comments is right-wing hackery, that's moderate.

On the sites I frequent that have comments I care to read (I read comments not for elucidation but rather to get an idea of what's popular at that venue), the breakup of the commenters as follows-

Mostly right wing
The Economist-- generally right wing on economics, left wing on social issues, and anti-Anglo
Marketwatch.com-- right wing but occasionally populist
The Guardian-- center-right
The Telegraph-- right wing
Wall Street Journal-- right wing
Yahoo! News-- right wing most of the time
Politico-- mostly right wing

Mostly left wing
New York Times-- left wing
NPR.com-- left wing
Washington Post-- mostly left wing
Huffington Post--center-left
Daily Kos--duh.

[LastVoter]

I've never noticed that on Al-Jazeera, but if only one of every four comments is right-wing hackery, that's moderate.

On the sites I frequent that have comments I care to read (I read comments not for elucidation but rather to get an idea of what's popular at that venue), the breakup of the commenters as follows-

Mostly right wing
The Economist-- generally right wing on economics, left wing on social issues, and anti-Anglo
Marketwatch.com-- right wing but occasionally populist
The Guardian-- center-right
The Telegraph-- right wing
Wall Street Journal-- right wing
Yahoo! News-- right wing most of the time
Politico-- mostly right wing

Mostly left wing
New York Times-- left wing
NPR.com-- left wing
Washington Post-- mostly left wing
Huffington Post--center-left
Daily Kos--duh.

You sure? I remember Anglos talking positively about Melenchon there.

[Redalgo]

I imagine most of this could be explained by ethnocentric biases and ensuing prejudice against Arabs, Muslims, and/or media outlets which are not explicitly both pro-American and pro-Israeli. Incidentally, I am used to many left-wingers being just as absurd in many places they comment.

Besides Daily Kos and DU, what sites has this occurred to you?

I honestly don't keep track. It was more in reference to the other forums and chat rooms I happen to frequent, what I stumble across on Facebook and Youtube, in how I at times see lefties try to counter right-wing commenters beneath news articles, and in nearly all of my experiences doing volunteer work for campaigns associated with the MDP. If memory serves me right though, I have seen some pretty stupid things posted on New York Times and Washington Post pages as Beet eluded to. That is not to demonize the left so much as to note that it is not above such nonsense.

None of my past experiences have pointed me toward a conclusion that many right-wingers are ridiculous but not also an appreciable number of their opponents. Most folks in general don't know a whole lot about politics or government. Their well-intentioned but nonetheless cringe-worthy ignorance often surfaces into view when controversial subjects are broached.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The strangest example of this was the old Google Dow Jones discussion forum, which was nothing but a hotbed of crazy teabagger types blaring anti-Obama stuff that makes krazen look non-hackish and even conspiracy theories/Birther nonsense and where the only actual discussion of the Dow was the flood of "OMG OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST/MARXIST KILLING THE ECONOMY" every time the Dow had a drop. Google later effectively killed the forum by removing the links from the Dow Jones report, but you can read it here (as you can see, there is still very little actual Dow discussion, though now the hackery is a bit more balanced in coming from both sides.) See this for an example of the idiocy that used to be so prevalent.

[dead0man]

I imagine most of this could be explained by ethnocentric biases and ensuing prejudice against Arabs, Muslims, and/or media outlets which are not explicitly both pro-American and pro-Israeli. Incidentally, I am used to many left-wingers being just as absurd in many places they comment.

Besides Daily Kos and DU, what sites has this occurred to you?

Seriously?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

CiF stuff depends on the thread. Though the general tendency is for the domination of utter idiots, no matter what badge they currently wear.

[angus]

I don't know why it should surprise anyone that Jazeera Satellite Channel would appeal to the right.  It's owned by the state of Qatar and run by the fabulously rich son of an oil sheikh.  In fact, Qatar is an absolute monarchy and it is the royal family that controls the Qatar Media Corporation.  It is very careful of what it says, lest it offend its state sponsors (and its corporate ones, which include the Wall Street Journal.)  I don't watch it, but NGM did a nice story about it a few years ago, and I've seen interviews with its managers in TIME magazine as well.  The name, of course, conjures up an image of simple, nomadic desert dwellers since, after all, Jazirah means peninsula in Arabic, and when prefaced with the definite article, as in Al Jazirah, it invariably refers to the Arabian Peninsula, but that was probably a perfect name for a news outlet which the Emirate class would use to indoctrinate the population of the Arabian Peninsula.  The owners, though, are all ultra-conservative types with ties to Big Oil.  I do think it is regarded as being Liberal, in the true sense, and it has won kudos for free expression in a region where free expression could get you killed, but the controversies that Qatar Media has witnessed involve perceptions of bias (e.g., Egyptian rulers prior to the "Arab Spring" accused them of being too critical of their leadership) or they have been outright falsehoods (Donald Rumsfeld accused Qatar Media of showing beheadings when in fact they never ever did, although several beheadings televised by other Arabic-speaking outlets were falsely attributed to Qatar Media, possibly by Rumsfeld himself.)  

Anyway, as I said I don't watch it, but I have read a number of well-researched articles and from what I have read I think that Al Thani and his Qatar Media Corporation are trying their best to deliver legitimate news while not offending their rich backers.  And the stories they report should be of interest to folks of any ideology, and I don't think anyone accuses them of being left-leaning.  If anything, they are supportive of free markets and free expressions of ideas, so it is no surprise that they would appeal to people who in the US would be Libertarians and Republicans and Constitutionalists (i.e., the "right wingers").