Poohbah's Opus

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, sayeth Qohotoleth... | 01 April 2005 | Poohbah

[Poohbah]

First, this is NOT an April Fool's joke.

I am leaving Free Republic.

Over the past two years, civility and thoughtful discourse has vanished from this site, replaced with demands for ideological conformity that are straight out of Stalinist Russia or China's Great Cultural Revolution, and unrelenting uncivility if said conformance is not forthcoming. This trend began with the California recall election, where certain posters were allowed to flame the living beejezus out of those who didn't wholeheartedly support Tom McClintock, or thought that he wasn't running a campaign capable of winning. It extended into the Keyes campaign last year, where any critique of Keyes' campaign strategy was shrilly flamed, despite the obviously flawed execution of his campaign.

(Aside: one person who flamed me during the Keyes mess later said that he hadn't intended to start a fight with his remarks that accused me of homosexuality, pedophilia, and other evils; I was instantly reminded of the time I had to bail one of my Marines out of the local lockup. "Honest, Sarge," this Marine told me, "I didn't mean to start a fight when I called that Army Ranger a faggot." My response was not [and still isn't] suitable for public consumption.)

Since then, the Terri Schiavo case has pushed FR over the edge. We had posts calling for people to ensure that "accidents" to befall Schiavo and Judge Greer. We had posts praying that Iran would soon develop nuclear weapons, so that they could destroy the United States. And until the FBI started making arrests, those posts were allowed to stay up, completely abnegating Free Republic's standards.

We had people on both sides of the issue point out that the Schindlers were associating with some people of extremely low character, and that our uncritical embrace of these parties would not rebound to our favor. Rather reasonable attitudes to take, actually; but the loudest of the loud were in no mood to think.

My personal favorite was the following exchange:

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To: Old Professer

Is being a christian identity sympathizer, a white supremicist, a neo-nazi, a racist or an anti-semite illegal activities in themselves?

The issue is not legality, but public opinion. Which will not be helped in this case if the pro-Terry side becomes associated in the media with Christian Identity, white supremicists, neo-nazis, racists and/or anti-semites.

212 posted on 03/17/2005 11:05:13 AM PST by malakhi

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 211 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

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To: malakhi

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Terri's fight being associated with Christianity. That is unless someone is a radical leftist.

229 posted on 03/17/2005 12:02:29 PM PST by Diva Betsy Ross

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 212 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

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Diva Betsy Ross made a valiant attempt to...ahem...whitewash Christian Identity, but it didn't work.

To top things off, we had people embracing as some sort of conservative icon, to the extent of posting a fundraising link.

I always thought that conservatism valued thinking over feeling, careful contemplation of facts over wild-eyed repetition of every damn rumor to come down the pipe, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. For a while, Free Republic met those criteria in spades.

Those days are long gone, and I have serious doubt as to whether or not they're coming back.

I know that many of the usual suspects will cheer this on, as their longtime nemesis is leaving them the field.

Be careful what you wish for; you are in the process of getting it. You may succeed in driving the folks who disagree with you from the site; but you will end up being just another collection of shrill voices in Bedlam. When everything is an over-the-top scream, no one will be heard.

Farewell.

[malakhi]

Is being a christian identity sympathizer, a white supremicist, a neo-nazi, a racist or an anti-semite illegal activities in themselves?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Terri's fight being associated with Christianity. That is unless someone is a radical leftist.

[Howlin]

Now that's an interesting thought.

[NeoCaveman]

You spoke too soon:

Their response time is too slow.

[Wolfstar]

Most of the extreme views about Terri are just that extreme and not the majority of the Christian Right.

I hope you're correct in this assessment. BTW, in case you missed it, I was raised a Roman Catholic, so I understand and am sympathetic toward some of the concerns raised by others. I just do not in any way agree with or condone the breathtaking extremism I've seen all over these boards (and elsewhere) lately.

[RushCrush]

And for the record I thought you got crappy treatment on a Michael Jackson thread, by the same FReepers who are now leaving the site because they're whining about the treatment on FR! It makes absolutely no sense.

At one time or another, everyone gets slammed on this site. Big deal!

[nopardons]

Oh yes, I recognize that VK patch. :-)

Ahhhhhhhh...I see.

[PhiKapMom]

Is he still around at the other site? Or has he come back here and I missed it?

[Petronski]

What is CP?

[Nam Vet]

Nobody knows what I would have said on those threads either. As soon as I saw wild posts I would vacate for another thread.

Nam Vet

[Delta 21]

Remember, Once you see the flash....there is very little you can do about it.

[lilmsdangrus]

and then calling someone and a*hole, and complaining about getting suspended! Thanks for a voice of reason!

[NeoCaveman]

you have freepmail.

[redgolum]

Maybe I have been living under a rock lately, and I admit I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention, but did someone say we had people making terroristic threats on FR?

I have been in some of the Terri threads, and my blood is fired up. I have had family members in similar situations, and have some very deep feelings on this. However, I don't remember seeing someone saying "Let Iran nuke us for our sins." Then again, I am usually hanging out in the religion forum.

As for the neo nazi's, well didn't someone (Jim himself I think) start a thread a while back about how some of the groups had wanted to infiltrate FR? Looks like they tried. They are also getting ferreted out.

I admit it, I am not proud of how the nation handled the Terri S. case. We failed. I am also not to proud how some on FR have been advocating violence. That IS NOT what would have saved Terri. All it would have done, and all that many of these posts have done, is make us moral conservatives look like the bad guys.

Say a prayer. Have an iced tea. Go tear down a barn (always worked for me). We lost one, a painful one. Don't start thinking it is time to burn the place down.

[sitetest]

Dear St. Johann Tetzel,

Actually, I can think of several who have been banned who were suspended repeatedly, and I can think of several who have been suspended more than once who are still among the "FR living."

So, it doesn't appear that your assertions are actually supported by the evidence.

I won't say that I agree with every decision of the Religion Moderator, but I don't believe that he has any bias in favor of sinkspur, other than that sinkspur is usually a reasonable poster.

That doesn't mean that I agree with everything sinkspur says. If you read these Terri-dominated threads, you'll see we didn't agree on a whole lot.

That doesn't mean that I agree with how sinkspur expresses himself in every case. You'll see that I've tweaked him about that on this very thread.

Nonetheless, he's usually a reasonable poster. I can't say that for all.


sitetest

[k2blader]

At one time or another, everyone gets slammed on this site. Big deal!

Yep. I mean, this is the internet!

I think folks who are solidly comfortable with their own beliefs do just fine.

[Happygal]

CP? Sorry, I don't know what that is.

[rwfromkansas]

There is nothing extremist about believing what happened to Terri was murder. I agree.

The extremists, at least in my mind, were the ones saying Bush was Hitler etc. or that America was becoming Nazi Germany.

[Howlin]

Well, in his defense, he is "fighting off" an apparent coup. :-)

[Howlin]

There, but under attack.

[nopardons]

BARBRA STRIESAND!

[Wolfstar]

Don't compound your extreme views with the monumental stupidity of comparing the Schiavo case to WWII. There are many issues raised by the Schiavo case, and appropriate means within our system of laws and government to address them. Violence is not an appropriate means.

But you go right ahead and do it, chum. Go on. Put your action where your mouth is and go resist by force. You'll wind up dead or in jail -- and incapable of resisting anything any more.