To anyone who has observed the brownshirts who now seem to have overrun FR, it's clear that the current environment is even more toxic than in past election cycles because the nuts now have the sympathy, full-blessing, and the empowerment of the ownership.
In reading the arguments of the Caucus of the Angry, the purists, the "true conservatives" here on FR, in assessing their tone and behavior in their interaction with others, we need to conclude that what were seeing here isnt evidence of a political ideology; what were seeing is evidence of a personality disorder. Consider:
The Caucus of the Angry, generally, consistently exhibits certain character traits --
-- Perfectionism
-- Inflexibility
-- Stridency and argumentativeness
-- Impracticality/detachment from reality
-- A tendency to view the world from the perspective of the ideal, and inability to consider practical alternatives
-- Aggressiveness
-- Narrow viewpoint and the inability and unwillingness to consider other viewpoints
-- Inability to see the big picture
-- Elitism, and a tendency to consider only their position as being the right one
-- Rigidity and the inability to accommodate, compromise, or exhibit flexibility
-- Judgmentalism and defensiveness
-- Lack of civility
-- Negativity
-- A preference to destroy what they disagree with rather than build on previous progress
-- Inability to focus on an overall goal and to work cooperatively with others toward that goal
-- Individuality, to the point of personal isolation
Interestingly enough, these character traits are found in extremists of every stripe, left as well as right. These character traits seem to be common to extremists, independent of ideology, which is why their behavior and attitudes are symptomatic of a personality disorder rather than a political philosophy. In fact, many of these traits closely parallel the symptoms of Paranoid Personality Disorder as identified by the American Psychiatric Association (see http://mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=569&cn=8 for confirming information).
FR has some great people on it. Unfortunately, it also has some rude and infantile morons. Sadly, the morons seem to have the run of the place.
Because of my public support here for Rudy Giuliani, I'm surprised I haven't been banned yet. So, I'll save the Mods the work of monitoring my posts for some "banning offense," and simply ask that they delete my account at FreeRepublic. I don't want to be associated with this site any longer.