Replies

IHMO They whole ZOT thing is silly.

And sad.

Remove trolls, but forget about the brownshirt behaviour.

I guess you Yankees has not experienced occupation and oppression on your land.

But, for a Euro, the brownshirt behavour doesn’t feel right.

Cheers,

Euro.

I guess you Yankees has not experienced occupation and oppression on your land.

As a Southerner, the war between the states.

But, for a Euro, the brownshirt behavour doesn’t feel right.

One doesn't have to live under brownshirt behavior to recognize it. I've recognized it and fought against it here.

The FreeRepublic clearly identifies in its mission statement what the purpose of this website is.

You think that when others promote causes in direct opposition to that mission, or commit freepercide by launching personal attacks on others (including the host), it is “brownshirt behaviour” for them be unwelcome?

IHMO They whole ZOT thing is silly.
And sad.

Remove trolls, but forget about the brownshirt behaviour.

Not quite sure what you are terming "brownshirt behaviour". Most "zots" I've seen ARE the banning of a troll, followed by a well deserved mocking the said troll's posted idiocy.

"Brownshirt" implies vindictive persecution based on bigotry, not earned ridicule.

I guess you Yankees has not experienced occupation and oppression on your land. But, for a Euro, the brownshirt behavour doesn’t feel right.

I don't think this was an issue of being a "brownshirt". One of the basic values of conservatism is "respect".

Those who were banned most likely exceeded the boundaries of good taste. I've had plenty of discussion with reasonable Guiliani supporters. I think situation is "does the debate promote the conservative values promoted by FR?" If one goes about bashing conservatives stances while trying to make a point I doubt they'd last long.

I think that someone promoting Guiliani on his ability to appeal to liberals as well as conservatives needs to rethink that argument. It'd be like having a FReeper harangue us about the virtues of Al Gore and Fidel-style beards.

Bad behavior is absolute grounds for being banned. Again, JimRob's house, they need to watch the language and play nice.

I believe there is enough room in this forum to voice differing opinions without letting it develop into a full blown flame war. I think JimRob, in his experience knew where some of those posts and posters were leading us. We don't need a repeat of the "Shaivo Flame Wars". We lost enough good people then.

Remove trolls, but forget about the brownshirt behaviour. I guess you Yankees has not experienced occupation and oppression on your land. But, for a Euro, the brownshirt behavour doesn’t feel right.

Uh, perhaps you remember that brownshirts were para-military thugs who used physical intimidation, beatings, murder, and blackmail to advance politically. What, pray tell, does kicking a bunch of phonies off of a privately owned website have to do with "brownshirt" behavior?

If anything, the brownshirts were the phony pro-Rudy trolls who were well-organized and pounced upon everyone and anyone who disagreed with them in a most uncivil and belligerent manner. If Jim didn't recognize the danger they were posing not only to the conservative mission of FR but to the GOP and the nation as well, they would have taken over FR.

I think you need to re-read your history of the Third Reich before making such outrageous and frankly stupid comparisons in the future.

A couple of points, FRiend:

1. Remove trolls, but forget about the brownshirt behaviour.

The "Zot" threads are intended to be humorous and fun. Just a little "blowing off steam" as we sometimes say. The person getting zotted has almost invariably come to the site for the purpose of posting inflammatory leftist nonsense and getting flamed and banned for doing so. We are just having a little harmless fun while taking out the trash. Sort of a "whistle while you work" kind of thing. There is nothing fascistic about it, it's just the site rules are being upheld: no leftist trolls allowed. So please reconsider your use of the term "brownshirt". I think it is unfair in this context.

2.I guess you Yankees has not experienced occupation and oppression on your land.

Brits and other foreigners sometimes call Americans "Yanks". That's fine. "Yankees" are something else, namely Americans from the North and in particular from the Northeast. We Americans from the South are almost always happy to be called "Yanks" but we most certainly are not Yankees. (And we have experienced occupation, but that is an internal matter among us Americans.) FYI.