Posted on 04/01/2005 4:26:00 PM PST by Poohbah
First, this is NOT an April Fool's joke.
I am leaving Free Republic.
Over the past two years, civility and thoughtful discourse has vanished from this site, replaced with demands for ideological conformity that are straight out of Stalinist Russia or China's Great Cultural Revolution, and unrelenting uncivility if said conformance is not forthcoming. This trend began with the California recall election, where certain posters were allowed to flame the living beejezus out of those who didn't wholeheartedly support Tom McClintock, or thought that he wasn't running a campaign capable of winning. It extended into the Keyes campaign last year, where any critique of Keyes' campaign strategy was shrilly flamed, despite the obviously flawed execution of his campaign.
(Aside: one person who flamed me during the Keyes mess later said that he hadn't intended to start a fight with his remarks that accused me of homosexuality, pedophilia, and other evils; I was instantly reminded of the time I had to bail one of my Marines out of the local lockup. "Honest, Sarge," this Marine told me, "I didn't mean to start a fight when I called that Army Ranger a faggot." My response was not [and still isn't] suitable for public consumption.)
Since then, the Terri Schiavo case has pushed FR over the edge. We had posts calling for people to ensure that "accidents" to befall Schiavo and Judge Greer. We had posts praying that Iran would soon develop nuclear weapons, so that they could destroy the United States. And until the FBI started making arrests, those posts were allowed to stay up, completely abnegating Free Republic's standards.
We had people on both sides of the issue point out that the Schindlers were associating with some people of extremely low character, and that our uncritical embrace of these parties would not rebound to our favor. Rather reasonable attitudes to take, actually; but the loudest of the loud were in no mood to think.
My personal favorite was the following exchange:
The issue is not legality, but public opinion. Which will not be helped in this case if the pro-Terry side becomes associated in the media with Christian Identity, white supremicists, neo-nazis, racists and/or anti-semites.
Diva Betsy Ross made a valiant attempt to...ahem...whitewash Christian Identity, but it didn't work.
To top things off, we had people embracing as some sort of conservative icon, to the extent of posting a fundraising link.
I always thought that conservatism valued thinking over feeling, careful contemplation of facts over wild-eyed repetition of every damn rumor to come down the pipe, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. For a while, Free Republic met those criteria in spades.
Those days are long gone, and I have serious doubt as to whether or not they're coming back.
I know that many of the usual suspects will cheer this on, as their longtime nemesis is leaving them the field.
Be careful what you wish for; you are in the process of getting it. You may succeed in driving the folks who disagree with you from the site; but you will end up being just another collection of shrill voices in Bedlam. When everything is an over-the-top scream, no one will be heard.
Farewell.
Here it is...
Someone please ping the rest of the WPPFF.
Sheesh. First, hchutch, now you. Must be the moon. You'll really be missed. Just take a break. Terri's plight was indeed trying but there is too much more to be done....
I seemed to remember people taking a lot of flack for supporting Tom McClintock.
You can't be series.
Nope just leave. We have to get back to calling for nuclear annihilation of our own nation, burning people at the stake, and kicking puppies.
"Since Sep 11, 1998"
Wow, maybe just a sabbatical instead?
I hope you are feeling better soon.
I have a feeling you will be back.
Good grief. Get over yourself. If you wanna leave, just leave and spare us your misery.
I saw a thread that actually called for troops to "hunt down" Felos, Greer and Schiavo. That thread stayed up for two days, and had over 200 responses before it was pulled. I've seen more Nazi references in the past couple of weeks than I can count. It's beyond disgraceful.
In all seriousness, best wishes to you, if you find a cool forum for this kinda thing, you know how to let us know.
If you are leaving, this place will never be what it was. I wish you the best no matter what.
Okay, man - if that's the way it is, that's the way it is. Can't say I agree, but I damn sure understand why, and respect your decision. It's been real.
Sorry to see you go...sure you won't just take a break? :)
Bye!!!
Don't look back. Just go.
Oh, I already miss you.
I completely understand.
I share your opinion.
This is what happens when you take FR (and yourself) way too seriously.
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