Posted on 04/01/2005 4:26:00 PM PST by 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:
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.
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.
OK, looking, digging.
ARGGH
Todd is under attack?
I went to Utah after that Christmas and did post using a cell phone connection (2400 at top speed) and this was the days before 1000 minutes free.
I would have to pick the thread I wanted to read that day download it and read it off line, compose a reply and reconnect.
Remember when we use to mail each other using clay tablets?
Oh, okay. Well, I haven't seen idiots taking control of threads. Threads have been either in consensus, or they've been pretty balanced (half agrees, half disagrees).
And most of us, regardless of which side we're on, laugh at the real idiots.
It didn't dawn on me at the time but it makes sense now. Now I know what to post -- Buckhead Factor Alert!
I enjoy attacking liberatarianism as much as you and even more so objectivism, but I hope FR can be a place where a variety of conservatives stay. We need a variety of viewpoints for our minds to truly grow and learn.
Dangit, Mod yanked it.
I believe it's "opi" or "opii", as opposed to "opie" which was Ron Howard's character on the Andy Griffith show.
Yup. They're trying to run him off the BB.
Howlin are you leaving too?
Buh bye.
That's what was done to Terri.
No way.
OK...I misunderstood you.
Anyhow, I just think that while there may have been some nastiness by some on the pro-life side in the save Terri side, there was plenty on the other side as well, and some of the people complaining now have dished out more than their share in the past.
Yeah, it gets nasty here sometimes. But, that's nothing new. It does seem, though, that some different people are on the receiving end this time. It's not fun; I know, I've been there before. I never opused; I just took a break now and then. I don't reckon anyone much cares if I post or not.
You're right. Tree of Liberty and all. Caliber of citizenry ain't what it used to be though, and I'm including myself in that category. The Pioneers would exile us, so we wouldn't pollute the gene pool. We really are a lesser people.
Blanket statements such as the above provide a poor basis for setting a premise, much less for establishing a conclusion.
There have been plenty of events over the past few dacades that can rightly be compared to the historical events and policies that led up to, and facilitated the atrocities that occurred during WW-II.
I have seen that quasi-argument on the internet many times, and it is invariably intended to silence the opposition rather than present a coherent counter-argument.
It is a fact that acts of government killing civilians in NAZI Germany started with small numbers of special cases and incrementally grew to several millions. It is a fact that the militarization of their police passed several warning thresholds before Germany was a full-blown police state. It is a fact that the government and society of Germany was incrementally transformed into its notorious state of tyranny through several critical events and subsequent procedures.
It is extremely foolish (and contrary to the evidence of recent years) to imagine that such evil intent no longer exists among human individuals and groups.
Or smoke signals?
I'm satisfied in having post #2 on the famous CBS Memos thread. It's a piece of history now, with a little bit of thoughtomator brand brief-yet-insightful wit seared, seared into computer memory, somewhere.
Me too.
It's amazing how fast the nonsense whizzes by. Helps me get to the funny stuff faster!
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