BY: Sibel Edmonds BFP, Saturday, 27. July 2013
Boiling Frogs Post: An Independent Site … Not a Duck Nest:
The saying goes something like this: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. While the duck philosophy, if you chose to call it that, may apply to lots of things in life, it does not apply to everything. I am going to provide a specific context to narrow the scope of the 
philosophy’s application. The context: millions of political news, activism and blog sites.
At any given moment I can go and randomly pick out a dozen websites, spend less than fifteen minutes on each, and come back with a conclusive evaluation as to whether the website is Conservative, Liberal, Left-Wing, Right-Wing, Libertarian or Socialist. I can sample a minimum of 23 posts, check out the bio and background of the main operators-authors, read several dozen readers’ comments, and I’ll tell you right away not only if it is a duck, but also what breed of duck it is. Try me. I’ll show you. I’ll prove it to you. Granted, with some there may be a few of sub-categories and secondary sub-categories involved, just like variations in breeds and sub-breeds, but those do not change the end result: It is a duck.
Are there any exceptions to my observations and conclusions within the context above? Yes. Surely. No matter how rare, and no matter how infrequent, exceptions do come along, and unlike popular belief, some exceptions do change the rules. Allow me to elaborate.
In December 2012, one of my favorite journalists and authors, William Jasper, wrote an excellent review of my book Classified Woman. In his comprehensive and well-written piece he briefly introduced and discussed this website- Boiling Frogs Post. Here is an excerpt [All Emphasis Mine]:
Classified Woman is a blood-boiling exposé that reads like a Robert Ludlum spy thriller. But this is not fiction, and the protagonist is not a macho Jason Bourne action hero. She is a petite, five-foot-three-inch woman of incredible courage and, seemingly, indomitable will who has stood toe-to-toe against forces of evil that have caused many other would-be patriots to wilt or cut and run. Her story is one of real-life heroism, and it is still being written. She continues to fight the good fight as founder/director of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition and as editor of BoilingFrogsPost.com. Unfortunately, most of Edmonds’ contributing editors at Boiling Frogs are decidedly left of centre, and their anti-globalist, anti-war, anti-police-state arguments and analyses tend to range from the “progressive” to the Marxoid.
Contrary to what you may expect this characterization did not make me cringe. In fact, it made me smile, and then chuckle. I know you are scratching your head, so let me explain why before you end up with scabs on top of your head:
During the last four years I have been reading characterizations of Boiling Frogs Post being put forth by many different authors, groups and websites. Some characterize us as the ultimate left-wing bleeding heart liberal (aka Lefties) site, and they throw in a few samples as evidence to support it:
She showcases people like Christopher Hedges (Truth Dig), Shahid Buttar (Bill of Rights Defence Committee), Russ Baker, Chase Madar, Stephen Lendman … She has left-leaning partners such as Peter B. Collins and Eric Draitser …
While some are busy spewing the above characterization, others are engaged in a totally opposite portrayal of this same website-Boiling Frogs Post: The ultimate right-wing and conservative website. And while that is happening, another front is busy labelling us as an ultra-anarchistic and Libertarian front:
The website’s partners list include anarchist such as Andrew Gavin Marshall and James Corbett, and they showcase people such as Charlie McGrath… Boiling Frogs Post is a propaganda front for Libertarian and Capitalists with partners such as Guillermo Jimenez, and with their showcasing of figures such as Dr. Tom Woods, Ron Paul, and Lew Rockwell…
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All this at the same time another group is painting us as Reaganisque Republicans with authors such as Paul Craig Roberts…
And of course there is this question of What about Sibel Edmonds? She is an anarchist. No, you are wrong. She is a leftie liberal, and definitely a Democrat. No, you have that totally wrong; in fact, she is ultra-conservative Right Wing-a Republican. Sorry, wrong again. Edmonds is an avid supporter of the libertarian view and party. That’s not right either. She is a Middle-Eastern terrorist who hates America. Wrong again, pal. She is a patriot who risked it all with her whistleblowing- a true American….
Now, can you see why I smile or chuckle when I see such characterizations and labelling, with all the opposing portrayals, of me and this website? I love it. What are we? A duck, goose, donkey or an owl? I dare anyone to come out with a conclusive and absolute characterization. But I know they can’t. They won’t.
Interestingly, two years ago, I write a piece on this same exact topic. Here are a few excerpts:
I write on Imam Fethullah Gulen, and some attack me with Anti-Muslim & Anti-Islam labels.
I write on the Israel lobby contributions to candidates, and others come after me with Anti-Israel & Anti-Semite tags.
I write on the Turkish lobby and it’s octopus like tentacles in purchasing politicians, and I become Anti-Turkey & Anti-Turkish to some.
I interview a respected guest like Chris Hedges, and my new label becomes Socialist-Communist within certain circuits.
My Boiling Frogs Podcast presents an admirable expert Dr. Woods on significant issues, and I get Tea-Bagger labels thrown at me from various websites and forums.
I criticize certain Neocon policies, and I am an Unrealistic Liberal Fantasist to certain people who consider themselves realists.
I go after our out-of-control federal government police practices, and I am called Libertarian Anarchist by a few.
I stand by my rights and do my share by handing out information on TSA-DHS airport abuses, and many stop to call me Terrorist Sympathizer.
I choose to raise my daughter as a full-time stay at home mother, and to some I become a disgrace to the Feminist movement.
My whistleblower organization members happen to be mainly men, and I’m accused of being Sexist.
I can proudly declare this great website an exception to the duck philosophy. A non-duck among millions of ducks. On the other hand, I am realistic enough to know that the majority want and see ducks. Sadly this is due to the majority being ducks themselves. They seek one limited and narrow path to take. They seek a single lens to narrowly view the world around. They choose the easy way out by following one party or another, and believing in one philosophy or another. Yes, I know. Some call them the sheeple. I like to call them, at least in this commentary, the ducks- the consistent ducks who look like ducks, swim like ducks, and quack like ducks.
All this brings me to the non-duck exceptions. They are what I started this website and forum for: the irate minority. You see, if I wanted the majority, the ducks, I’d become or pose like one. But what for? What’s the point for being a duck among tens of millions of other ducks?
The ducks who find it difficult to view the world and its politics around them through many different wide-scope lenses should not come to this home of the irate minority to become members. If you are one of those-we don’t want you here. I don’t. There are millions of duck-nests out there ready to receive you – where you all get to quack as a big duck-choir.
The ducks who seek a singular narrow-path to waddle on do not belong here either. They can go waddle in millions of identical duck-paths all leading to the same destination.
As for all our non-duck visitors and members: we’ll remain the exception, and remain proud of it. Always remember: “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds” – Samuel Adams.
Sibel Edmonds is the Publisher & Editor of Boiling Frogs Post and the author of the Memoir Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story. She is the recipient of the 2006 PEN Newman’s Own First Amendment Award for her “commitment to preserving the free flow of information in the United States in a time of growing international isolation and increasing government secrecy” Ms. Edmonds has a MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University.
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