Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

When did Freepers turn so nasty? (vanity)
vanity | 2/12/2016 | Optimist

Posted on 02/12/2016 10:04:27 PM PST by Optimist

Over the past several months, Free Republic has begun to show an ugly side of its members. Although admittedly comprised of many strong-willed, opinion-charged individuals presenting thoughtful, conservative insights into the topics of the day, this forum has begun to show a seamier side as the Trump-Cruz-Rubio-Carson 2016 Primary heated up. You all know what I mean. Many of you have either been at the giving or receiving end of EMOTIONALLY-charged attacks against various candidates or even individuals as their supporters.

Herewith a few thoughts I would like to share:

  1. Passion for a candidate and buying into the campaign is exciting and important for exposing others to knowledge and understanding more about "your" candidate.
  2. Most of us WILL NOT be able to have a voting impact on which individual becomes the candidate, so why such vitriol? A little perspective is really needed. What are you going to do if by mid-March (when only 20% of the country has had any type of primary vote) and your candidate has fallen off the slate? Face it ANY of these candidates are better than any Democrat or potential Independent opposition, and will have a better chance of being elected than nay 3rd/4th/obscure party candidate.
  3. When did we turn into the Ron Paul group? Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but you know what I mean: personality driven, my guy can do/say no wrong, I'm going to get in your face if you don't see things my way, and .... well, you hopefully see the similarity.
  4. None of the candidates is 100% perfect, but they all have characteristics that are admirable:
  5. Yes there are negatives for all of them, but this is THE BEST crop of candidates we have ever had to choose from, unlike past elections when it seemed inevitable that the hand-picked, it's-his-turn, establishment candidate was chosen for us. And, besides, go back and re-read number 2.
  6. And (finally?) a word about pundits: (Glenn Beck, Rush, Fox News, et. al.):

Well, this is what happens when one (Ok, I) become frustrated with the ad-hominem attacks against so many good people both on this site, and otherwise supportive of conservatism and the rise of a conservative Republican Party. We are all decent, America-loving conservatives who are driven to strive for what is best for returning this country to its pride.

Please Freepers, make your best case, and trust that whoever eventually runs against the Demobeast will, with God's light, be the right person for the job.

Let the flame-war begin, I have donned my suit! And God bless.


TOPICS: FReeper Editorial; Free Republic; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: 2016; 2016gopprimary; cruz; cruzcontrol; cruzorlose; election; faq; trump; vanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 341-347 next last
To: Optimist

Are you kidding? Ok, maybe it is more than the past, but really not THAT much more. This is normal.

I remember when supporting Reagan how viciously he was attacked by the establishment and others, oh he was “California, closet Democrat”, or “he used to be a Democrat, Union guy, how can we trust him now?” or the disgusting attacks on his wife as a “Hollywood leftist”, Reagan’s multiple marriages, Reagan was “an entertainer” from “B rated movies”, in fact one of those who were assaulting him was the Bush family, some folks don’t know that.

So yes, it is the way it is. Now watch.


41 posted on 02/12/2016 11:56:05 PM PST by ShivaFan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerClaws; Optimist

Indeed, it’s the primaries, but the level of vitriolic arrogance seems to be elevated.

The problem isn’t the Trumpets vs the Cruzers — that’s good fun. But we’re now seeing charges of intellectual inferiority, out-of-control emotions, blind ignorance to a liar, etc. And needless to say, that kind of malice is bad for morale.


42 posted on 02/12/2016 11:58:35 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ROCKLOBSTER

Good post. Well, at least in this primary we apparently have two anti-establishment candidates.


43 posted on 02/13/2016 12:01:23 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: ShivaFan

You weren’t here during the last primaries.


44 posted on 02/13/2016 12:02:18 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

Seeing your fellow conservatives and friends being duped by a charlatan can be infuriating.


45 posted on 02/13/2016 12:02:40 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JPX2011

Show me the stats to back up your assertion.


46 posted on 02/13/2016 12:05:31 AM PST by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

Excellent post. Thank you.

I’ve noticed the nastiness- and how!

I’ve been viciously attacked lately and called names I can’t even repeat here.
We can debate and still be civil to each other.
Besides, last time I looked, vicious attacks and name calling is against the rules.

I can truthfully say I’ve never resorted to calling
our fellow FReepers filthy names, and I’ve been here eight years.
(Hope to be around many more unless Jim runs me off for being so anti- Cruz LOL)


47 posted on 02/13/2016 12:08:08 AM PST by patriot08 (5th generation Texan ...(girl type))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson

You can’t be that elderly. You’ve had plenty of opportunity to show your cantankerous side, but didn’t...

- - -

Urban Dictionary - Geriatric Profanity Disorder

A common medical disorder in which a cantankerous, old, senior citizen will not stop swearing. Usually directed toward ungrateful “youngsters” meaning anyone from 1 to 55 years of age.

The reasons behind this ailment are quite simple. They’ve lived long enough that they no longer give a shit who they annoy. So you damn well better listen, you ingrate, or you’re gonna get a cane upside your head.


48 posted on 02/13/2016 12:12:14 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: HiTech RedNeck

Thoughtful post.


49 posted on 02/13/2016 12:12:21 AM PST by Flick Lives (One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast. -- Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

A well written piece and spot on! I was wondering if Jim Robinson would have made a commentary by now on the type of dialog occupying our threads. Kickass Conservative said it best: “Good Lord, this place is wound tighter than a long tailed Cat on a Porch full of Rocking Chairs.”

I think we all should turn down the needle in our vitriol. We need more positive comments in support of our favored candidate. Let Sarah Palin’s endorsement of The Donald be our guide. She graciously bestowed sagacious perceptions that could describe our next President of the U.S. They are her gift to her fellow citizens. Let us do likewise. Our comments will be ours for the record to give dignity to what may be the next President of the U.S.


50 posted on 02/13/2016 12:14:30 AM PST by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental disorder: A totalitarian mindset..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: patriot08

I have made 10 times more comments to other posters but then i just close the page and it gets dumped, never posted.

It just like playing around with drunks and loaded guns, smart people just don’t do it.

So day after day, often very early i just read comments, occasionally i reply, but mostly its become a spectator sport here, its like a big Roman coliseum, tigers against gladiators type of stuff. Gore, blood, body parts, you get moderators that either do thumbs up or thumbs down....


51 posted on 02/13/2016 12:18:02 AM PST by Daniel Ramsey (You don't have to like Trump, his enemies certainly don't.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

This season is no different from the rest..lurked for a year before finally signing up amid primary season 2000 and it was Bush cheerleaders and Steve Forbes “the businessman” in the mix. Going bavk to 1988 election. I wasn’t fond of the “kinder gentler” conservatism even if it was repackaged as “compassionate”, especially since I tr gave us eight years of the Clintons (and we’re still not rid of them!). Got in a few back and forth scuffles between bushbots since I picked Alan Keyes. We got a moderate and almost gave it to the donkeycrats.

In 2004, when our incumbent was fully weakened, it looked like we’d lose to an even weaker DUmmycrat who wasn’t fit for Doo-dee.

In 2008, we had our spats with the Paulinistas and I picked Duncan Hunter, the man responsible for the law on the books that says “shall build”. His was the candidacy I was most eager to support and volunteer for. Many on the site chose to throw in with Fred Thompson who only hung in long enough for McLame to walk away with the nomination and hand the election to Ozero. To make matters worse, handed both houses of Congress to the jackass party for the trifecta disaster, giving us two extreme radicals on the Supreme Court. Thanks guys!

2012, Newt was all the rage. I was “on the wrong side” for supporting Santorum, but again another moderate hung around long enough to walk into the nomination and hand another four years to Obola.….woohoo we’re all socialists now!

We find ourselves at another crossroads. Go for the Trojan Horse candidate (Trump) and hand another election to a socialist, or fight like hell for the proven and tested conservative. He has the best chance to go the distance and each of the talkers mentioned have not only been highly complimentary of Cruz, but each have all but endorsed him.

Cruz is eligible, Cruz can win, and Cruz can dismantle the entrenched progressivism in DC.


52 posted on 02/13/2016 12:24:00 AM PST by RasterMaster ("Towering genius disdains a beaten path." - Abraham Lincoln)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Optimist
Hear hear!

Although, I have stated a number of times recently, I think many are trolls just trying to rile people up. :/
53 posted on 02/13/2016 12:24:44 AM PST by hawaiianninja (Palm note to self: "Prepare for some serious 2016 house cleaning. Trump/Cruz or Cruz/Trump 2016!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Washi

All I know is if I see someone supporting Jeb on this forum I will viciously attack them, oh wait, nothing to worry about, there is no such animal as a Jeb supporter on this forum!


54 posted on 02/13/2016 12:26:44 AM PST by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: JPX2011

55 posted on 02/13/2016 12:36:41 AM PST by Daffynition (*Security, confiscate their coats. Get them out of here. It's 10 below zero out there ~DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: right way right

“Trump is a big poopie head!”

OMG! I was thinking of posting the exact same thing!

So - just to balance the hate out - Cruz is funny looking. (But still - go Cruz!)


56 posted on 02/13/2016 12:39:17 AM PST by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts It is happening again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

Just mentioning Mr. Trump’s biography is upsetting to some people who have decided he is the apotheosis of conservatism. Meanwhile, he’s leading the way in being nasty to all of his opposition. He’s even turned on his old friends the Clintons having now discovered that they’re not his type of people if they can deny him the White House. I guess there is a possibility of a blind pig finding a acorn and Trump stumbling onto the character of the Clintons when the situation suits his needs.


57 posted on 02/13/2016 12:40:48 AM PST by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution. Go Cruz.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: central_va

Word.


58 posted on 02/13/2016 12:43:13 AM PST by Salamander (I made friends with a lot of people in the danger zone...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

This seems to happen every presidential election here. Maybe the worst was 2008 where you had McCain, Romney and Huckabee. Face it, none were stellar candidates. Yet people were still tearing each other up for supporting the “wrong” guy, as if the one they supported was a combination of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan rolled into one, and the other was Satan.


59 posted on 02/13/2016 12:46:46 AM PST by Hugin ("First thing--get yourself a firearm!" Sheriff Ed Galt, Last Man St anding.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Optimist

Semi-agree with your assessment.

Trump/Cruz/Carson are our only choices if we want to turn this country around. Anyone else would be a vote for the uni-party such as we have now. For example, Kasich would be an open borders/pro homosexual marriage/obamacare loving disaster. I know, I live in his state.

I’m most concerned with the animosity that certain Cruz/Trump Freepers are showing towards each other. Don’t they each realize that once one of these choices is the nominee, they will have to humbly request the votes of the other nominees’ supporters? That’s hard to do once they’ve crossed the line and horribly insulted the intelligence and faith of the other side’s members.


60 posted on 02/13/2016 12:47:04 AM PST by Reddy (B.O. stinks)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 341-347 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson