Lando 
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.
Oh, geez, and here we were having a nice time and her you and your gay/anti-women men-hating rants come.
There IS some difference and not just the style.
Lando
You're exactly right.
The blowback is going to be huge; I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't cost us a bunch of judges.
I signed up for one of those introductory offers. It was the hardest thing I ever had to cancel.
I am not good at thinking up names at all!
ROTFLOL
That term is as appropriate as any for the blind unreasoning fanaticism they have propagated. Their jihad may lead to the destruction of the commies and islamonazis greatest enemy, the FR. Their pretenses have been adopted by far too many here for it to survive as an effective voice for conservativism. Their lies are poisonous to any major attempts at reform.
This campaign had nothing to do with stopping death Terri died fifteen years ago and the attempted resusitation never succeeded beyond a minimal vegatative existence. To call those recognizing that "pro-death" means the labeller cannot be taken seriously in an intellectual discussion.
Clarification:
I had bought a $200. used computer from my wifes boss...because she insisted and all my friends had been after me for 2 years to get out of the stone age. I finally figured out how to make it work, got on line and found Whitewater stuff..... that computer broke again (I had a $800.in it by then)I wanted to read all the stuff about WW so I was forced to buy a new computer..Its been downhill since
I don't know,but a few HAVE shown up. Since most here are ignoring them,they slither away. :-)
I think I had that same text you're talking about -- the one to end BIG FONT, etc.?
No kidding.
I actually had to go to a reference for the spelling and even then I wasn't sure I typed it right. I say, if they're so crazed and intent on using it that they'll type all of that, then let them.
I also propose that phrases such as death cultist, pro death and other similar insults be typed out in Latin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays and Fridays they must be written in esperanto.
Well, the Liberals seem to be picking a little from Menu A and a little from Menu B. Their rhetoric may be Communist, but the culture of death is definitely from Nazi roots, you can trace a direct path from eugenics to abortion, and euthanasia follows naturally. Also the original gun laws in the USA were modeled almost exactly from the Nazi Gun Law of 1938.
A typically stupid remark from one of the deluded who knows nothing about what I have seen or experienced.
2 sane minds leaving FR in one day.
The writing is on the wall.
PAX
I think that's the problem already, if you get my drift.
Yep. It must have been thirty or forty separate "off" tags. I never got to use it.
That list of nicks, was that anyone we might know, or just some random (persistent) troll?
That's too bad there. I wish her peace, and I'm glad she's still happy.
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