Posted on 06/13/2012 6:05:21 PM PDT by Grig
This may be the post that gets me zotted, and if so, so be it, but it would be a nice sign of respect for free speech, and just plain old maturity if that doesn’t happen. I won’t lose sleep either way though.
All through the Clinton years FR played a key role in helping me really come to appreciate the wisdom of the founding fathers as Clinton violated their principles in so many ways. I found here a large community of wise, informed posters from a diverse background that added depth and clarity to the news of the day. It was here on FR that I found out about the WTC attack. Being Canadian, the second amendment always seemed kind of silly to me, but through FR I learned how wrong that view was and now wish my country had such a right for it’s citizens.
That was then, now more and more it has felt like FR has dwindled into an insular, nearly feral, group of political and religious thought police whose mission is to ferret out anybody who doesn’t fit their orthodoxy and get rid of them, while propagandizing against anything the disagree with. At times it feels more energy is spent attacking those who should be seen as allies rather than the true enemies. I used to spend a fair bit of time here each day, now perhaps a quick look once every few weeks because of this change in climate. I know many have left because of it, many have already posted their concerns about it, and their wise observations and suggestions have fallen on deaf ears.
I do feel I have a small measure of responsibility for the change (but no guilt). When FR started to fail to live up to it’s own rules about not bashing religions (when it came to my religion) we Mormon posters decided that instead of being party to the creation of long threads filled with contention that made it hard for the moderators see the difference in our behavior and theirs, we decided instead to simply post articles putting forward our position and leave the critics to show their true colors. (see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2013341/posts). Not only did the anti-Mormon posters oblige us and demonstrate the level of hate and bigotry in their hearts, but so did the anti-Momons within the leadership of FR. And thus began the decent of FR from a vibrant ad-hoc conservative think tank into an echo chamber of yes men with a loud group of religious bigots leading the way. It is sad to see it come to this, and I hope that the day comes when sanity returns. Something that needs to happen for that day to come is for the majority of people around here to face this reality: If you are not supporting Mitt Romney, you are playing into Obama’s hands. Any hopes of a brokered convention or third party conservative super-candidate are nothing but delusions fueled by a denial of reality. It comes down to either Mitt or Obama, and if you are not supporting Mitt you are helping Obama. Deal with it.
And don’t try to hide behind the idea that Mitt losing will be good in the long term for conservatism. That is putting your partisanship above your patriotism. Obama has done massive damage to the USA, and if you give him another 4 years you may not have a USA left at the end of his term. What good will this theoretical transformation of the GOP then? Truth is that if Mitt loses, no matter how conservative or liberal his campaign and policies are, the media will blame it on him being too right-wing and drive the GOP to the left as much as they can. Also, the good of the country should come first if you want to call yourself a patriot, and having Mitt in the White House will be much better for the USA than having Obama there.
While Mitt is not perfect (nobody is) I find many of the attacks on him so over the top, so full of exaggeration and fear mongering that ignores contrary evidence or any sense of proportion that I can’t help but suspect they hyperbole is just a mask for darker motives. The fact that in many cases these attacks come from those who also display great hostility towards Mormonism says it all. Deny it all you want, it is easy to see. For a satirical look at it, check this video I made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG68yz-mMgE
I am going to make some predictions I would like to make, and I hope this thread stays around so that in years to come you can all look back and see how it turned out:
- every conservative you respect will vote for Mitt, all of them (perhaps a couple excepts, but not many) will even endorse him and perhaps campaign with him
- Mitt will become the next POTUS in a landslide victory,
- President Romney will do very well on the economy and on foreign affairs/national security
- President Romney will conduct himself with honor and integrity both in office and in his personal life
- He will be a better president than either Bush was
- You will hear conservative pundits call him this generation’s Ronald Reagan, or Ronald Reagan’s 3rd term or something along those lines
- President Romney will be re-elected in another big victory
- His Vice President will become POTUS after his second term
- If there is an assassination attempt on him, it will either be by the Chineese, or by some religiously motivated nutjob (Islamic or Evangelical)
And for those of you anti-Mormons out there, I have some prediction for you too. And these apply even if Romney is not elected as POTUS:
- Your grandchildren will call Mormons Christians, and look at Mormonism as the third branch of Christianity alongside Catholicism and Protestantism
- All the attacks against Romney that stem from the anti-Mormon garbage you have bought into will result in the attacker either apologizing, or in their loss of credibility. The more anti-Mormon attacks are made in the mainstream media, the worse the attackers will look.
- Your grandchildren will likewise look at such attacks as being as bigoted and wrong, even when they come from you.
- Some of your grandchildren or great-grandchildren will become Mormons, and after you are dead they will have temple ordinances performed for you, and you will be glad at the time that they do.
I dare you to post your own predictions of what a Romney presidency will result in.
I dare FR to leave this thread open and available for comments and to not delete a single comment from it.
I dare FR to start respecting freedom of religion by not playing favorites towards one religious group as is currently done by disallowing Mormon caucus threads, and if that is too big a challenge for you, the do away with the Religion Forum altogether.
I dare you all to give Mormons and Mormonism the respect it deserves to have as the 4th largest denomination in the USA, stalwart defender of traditional values, glowing example of Christian charity at home and around the world, the most conservative people of all religious groups, and staunch defenders of the principles of the constitution and values that built the country. No matter how much you disagree with us on religious matters, we are and should be treated as valuable conservative allies. Until FR does that, all they do is shoot themselves in the foot.
There's that fetish most of you seem to have about being softspoken and polite to a fault.
We have free speech ~ Margaret Thacker said it best, when it comes to freedom of speech the world is divided into two parts ~ America, and the rest of the world.
So, you find us saying the most outrageous things ~ and that's the way it's supposed to be.
If Mormons can't fit into America, that would be a problem for them I suppose.
The Flying Inmans have been giving out the message for five years that running a mormon against a black man is utter stupidity. Just wait for the racist past of mormonism to catch up.
So you're saying there is no difference between the Flying Imams and the Democrats anti Romney agenda....
Ok, I agree with that.
Hey, Hun you want to talk about islam, Judaism start a thread.
This thread posted by Grig had ZERO to do with that. It did have to do with his whining and persecution complex, and the threats against Christians.
Hi Grig.
Nice deflection Hun.
You have learned your lessons well.
We wuz anti-Romney before being anti-Romney wuz cool...the dems didn’t even have him on their radar, cuz.
Where you been? Grig rode the zot train earlier...he’s over at the anti-FR site saying, “it feels good”!
Dont’ bs me reaganaut.
I’ve seen many of those threads. Most of those posters were attacked on multiple fronts by you flying monkeys until they got mad and said something stupid.
Your ping list has gotten very good at trapping opposition posters into zots.
Its disgusting.
There's that fetish most of you seem to have about being softspoken and polite to a fault.
We have free speech ~ Margaret Thacker said it best, when it comes to freedom of speech the world is divided into two parts ~ America, and the rest of the world.
So, you find us saying the most outrageous things ~ and that's the way it's supposed to be.
If Mormons can't fit into America, that would be a problem for them I suppose.
Interesting. What did he get zapped for again?
Why the focus on Mormonism instead of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc....? Don’t they all proselytize?
- - - - - -
NO, with the exception of some Muslim groups, they don’t all proselytize. Jews and Hindus do not proselytize at all!
Christians are called to defend their faith, specifically from false teachers who claim to be Christians.
Muslims, Jews, Hindus don’t claim to be Christians while at the same time insulting Christ and other Christians with statements like....
What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world”
- Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 270
“...all the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.”
- Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. , The Elders Journal, v. 1, no. 4, p. 60
“With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.”
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 8, p. 199
“Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century.”
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, v. 6, p. 167
And I can post over 100 more. The entire basis of Mormonism is to insult Christ and Christians while at the same time claiming to be ‘just another Christian denomination’.
FR is a CONSERVATIVE site, not just a political one.
And, no, with the exception of some Muslim groups, they don’t all proselytize. Jews and Hindus do not proselytize at all!
Another crock. Democrats have hated Romney since before he was Gov of MA. HES A RETHUGLICAN!
Romney was at one time the conservative alternate of choice to McCain here btw.
I saw that after I posted.
“you have thereby bought into the homosexual agenda ... by assuming that opposing the homosexual agenda somehow = opposing the homosexual person.”
I’ve noticed that too. AH, I recommend caution here. The most nastiest liberal, left-wing thing in the world right now is hate crime legislation, and it is philosophically rooted in this confusion where rejection of a belief system is falsely equated with rejection of the person.
This is because in the postmodern mind, there really is no such distinction. A person is not a human soul, but a mere collection of belief constructs. Like transgender theory. A person is whatever gender they believe themselves to be. Biological truth doesn’t matter. Old-fashioned ideas like truth, with its logic and labels and categories, are all just tools of the old guard used to oppress poor victim class X. Fill in the blank. It works for any group.
Well, except those who actually still believe in true truth. They are the ones the left really does love to hate, because they spoil the party. Logic and truth might actually lead to some members of victim class X to move out of that group and see themselves and others objectively. And that would be bad, for the left, because truth can actually stop fights, and they need, above all, the fight. It’s how they gain power.
So you see why Colofornian is right. Your premise is functionally postmodern, even if that is not your intent, and it makes you vulnerable to the same line of reasoning used by every other victim class that has ever become a pawn of the left. That’s who the left is. That’s what they do. Enslave and cocoon people in their matrix of victimology. But once you have taken the “red” pill, you can’t go back to the illusion.
Congrats on getting published on a commie hate fest blog screel.
- - - - - - -
THAT is how you describe, FreeRepublic? Why are you still here?
OK, you win! Romney is a RETHUGLICAN! Just like you say.
LOLOL.
OK, how about Jehovah’s Witnesses, Davidians, Scientologists, or any of a hundred other splinter religions?
(Point taken about Jews and Hindus...oops. Muslims do proselytize, just at the point of a gun.)
I've had family members who were members of that church die from bleeding out after giving birth. Others died of curable viral infections.
I've spent upwards of 40 years finding information about this crowd because my people LEFT THEM BEHIND ~ but now is the time to CURE THE PROBLEM.
To my delight I"ve found former members and state attorney generals who see it my way. We must cure the problem even if we have to send every single one of them to prison!
Which is fine.
Along the way I discovered that this movement or church group had a guy named Joseph Smith as a member ~ one of the congregations has a record of his membership. Some of the congregations followed after him for a while and still have their first edition Book of Mormon ~ which they all keep as an antique, but not as a spiritual guide.
Most of them never got wrapped up with the Mormons.
I'll credit the Mormons with only one thing ~ their infant and maternal death rates are certainly lower than the Apostolic Church of the First Born, but there are things that need "fixed". I see no reason to get into the details when it comes to their religious practices though, but I'll tell you if there were a guy who wanted to be the Republican candidate for President and he had a strong Church of the First Born background I'd fight his candidacy with every thing I could muster.
I am sure some Mormons would agree with me ~ and that's one of the problems that needs "fixed". ALL Mormons should agree that this particular church's practices should be squarshed like a bug ~ but they don't.
Until I see all the intramountain West attorney generals leaping on these guys there'll be continuing levels of distrust.
Dinner time...’night all.
Too long, tried to read, didn't make any sense.
Presume the gist of your diatribe is that Romney is a RINO, a Morman and/or something else you disapprove of. We've heard it all before and it's probably all fairly accurate, or at least based on a nugget of truth. It may have been interesting the first dozen times I read it, but now it's just boring.
Want to capture my attention? Name a viable alternative to the GOP candidate. I already know Romney stinks, but Obama is stinkier. Romney also seems to lead among all those other demographics on the political right as well as some disgruntled right-leaning dems. Conservatives ain't the only folks registered as Republicans, you know. We can't push a candidate over the top by ourselves -- presuming we could get our rear-ends unmounted from our shoulders and *agree* on a candidate in the first place...
So,unless you can come up with a more viable alternative that can beat Obama, I'm voting for the GOP candidate. If you just want to recycle the same old crap we already know about RINO Romney, then you render your opinion worthless. Give me someone who can take the lead from Romney among the folks currently polling in Romney's favor. If you can't do that, then you aren't bringing anything new to the table. In which case, why should I not simply ignore you as background noise?
Oooh, I’m a flying monkey...
And yet I am still smart enough to argue facts on mormonism as well as politics and other issues instead of being sucked in by the persecution complex off a very well run cult...
So if a flying monkey can’t be suckered in and you can, where exactly do you fall...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.