Free Republic: glass ant farm for zealots

Globe and Mail ^ | 10/27/06 | IVOR TOSSELL

[endthematrix]

"but man, they're diligent little things."

He wanted to write intelligent. An attribute that you can't locate on liberal sites. Intellectuals of all stripes roost on FR because they can't have any rational discourse on childish sites.

[BigCinBigD]

Ivor? Ivor? What the Hell kind of name is Ivor? I wonder if he has a hump?

[Allegra]

Wow, he read my profile page!

Hey, you've got some great graphics there. I may...err...borrow from time to time.

[familyop]

"IVOR TOSSELL"

Heh. They could have at least had someone with an American name write such a whiney piece.

[SunkenCiv]

An oldie about the Dixie Beeotches' movie.

[Slings and Arrows]

Thanks, and use them with my blessings.

[Allegra]

I'm only suggesting that we all think a little bit more before we hit post.

But thinking is so exhausting, you know? So labor-intensive. It huuurrts.

[Slings and Arrows]

This jerk is stealing your metaphor.

[leadpenny]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.
And, I appreciate your comments too.


I don't think "Slurs are encouraged," but I do think the "Barf Alert" addition to thread titles is childish, stupid and unnecessary.

[Judith Anne]

From the article:

It's like a glass ant farm for zealots. It's a little stomach-turning, but man, they're diligent little things. It's hard not to stare sometimes.

I have news for the author of this piece: from your the top of your "I"-vory tower, we may look like little ants to you, but we are hundreds of thousands of posters and readers, and you are an insignificant little pontificator nobody ever heard of. We are actual humans who work, study, love, marry, bear children, pay bills, and by God, we VOTE! And honey, people have heard of us.

[Bozworth]

The MSM and the left so badly want to be the "hero" that we must become their "villian", regardless. It's nearly pointless to even attempt to dissuade them. I've taught liberals how to recycle, promoted vegetarianism to them (I am one), but as soon as they find out my political leanings, they start looking at me like I just shot their grandma and strangled a puppy in front of them. At this point, I find the facial expressions highly amusing.

It doesn't matter how I want to be percieved. They've already made up their minds based on ONE aspect of my personality. Maybe it's because they are so open-minded?

[MonTinaGirl]

is this really how we FReepers want to be perceived - as a crowd of "the most paranoid, xenophobic and reactionary characters the political landscape has to offer" who "attempt to outdo each other in posting the most pungent, juvenile reactions to stories"?

This just sounds like something a far-left person would say about any conservative, right before they call President Bush "Hitler". I wouldn't take it too seriously.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

the worst site on the Internet, political-rhetoric division.

Dumkopft! Das WURST site. Ich bin ein Berliner. You are a Berliner. We all are Conservative Berliners here.

[Sam Hill]

We should all bow down to Ivor Tossell. He has a degree in English from the University of Toronto.

[EternalVigilance]

I have news for the author of this piece: from your the top of your "I"-vory tower, we may look like little ants to you, but we are hundreds of thousands of posters and readers, and you are an insignificant little pontificator nobody ever heard of.

[Rastus]

"I'd resign my commission before performing a ceremony to marry a couple of bone-smugglers"

Bone-smugglers? Heh.

[conservative in nyc]

Hey, where's the Barf Alert?

Does an article calling this website a glass ant farm for zealots really need a barf alert? That's like saying liberal MSM or liberal Nancy Pelosi. It's redundant.

I posted this article because some on Bob J's excellent thread think one of the reasons that some people have stopped posting here is because of the increase in one-sentence non-substantive comments over time, with certain one-issue posters chasing people away while giving this website a bad name. This website somewhat backs up that perception.

[EternalVigilance]

[FairOpinion]

I couldn't believe that this really IS the actual title of the article! -- in the Globe and Mail which is a mainstream Canadian news site,

[Quick or Dead]

This is DemocraticUnderground, an exercise in political extremism that, despite being and something of an anthropological train wreck, keeps popping up square in the mainstream.

The "grassroots" backlash that followed -- orchestrated, in part, by the people at DemocraticUnderground, who mobilized their large and largely disgruntled membership -- saw the President savaged in the press and at box office (Farenheit 9/11).

The site is a venerable and storied Web forum for American Socialists.

So it is that, day in and day out, DUmmies attempt to outdo each other in posting the most pungent, juvenile reactions to stories.

It's a hateful place that, if the world was working as it should, would be relegated to the Internet's endless fringes, where conspiracy theorists and pyramid-power believers roam the wasteland. But what's interesting about DemocraticUnderground is that, despite having attracted a crowd of the most paranoid, xenophobic and reactionary characters the political landscape has to offer, it continues to find itself in the news.

But if DemocraticUnderground has a virtue, it's that, unlike other pressure groups, it's transparent: You can see the cogs turning, the anger mounting, the members joining the half-baked me-too condemnations that will surface on tomorrow's news agenda.

See? I'm such a nice Conservative, I corrected his article for him, free of charge.