You are the exception, I think.
But that is common on Freerepublic. The people here are exceptional people, far above average.
I recall a thread on Meyers Briggs personality types here on freerepublic. The percentage of critical thinking, high level leadership types was astounding.
I suspect that is what is keeping freerepublic membership from reaching tens of millions. There are not that many high level thinking leadership types around!
You say that now, but wait until you read any thread about space. You will see so many jokes about Klingons around Uranus that you will think you are among fifth-graders. And you won't believe how many "in before the...." posters there are.
I worked with a guy who actually "studied" for the Meyers Briggs test. He'd managed to figure out what traits management was looking for in a supervisor, and he kept taking the test to see what it took to get those results.
Apparently back-stabbing weasel was not a category management was interested in.