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.
wow. You really exposed the petulance in that post, maid. good job, I don't have the patience to look through all that venom....
NAILED it!!!
It's a 'FORUM'...a message board...where ideas and thoughts are thrown on the wall....and the good ones stick...the bad ones...fall off.
...and it's fun.
redrock
Opuses always crack me up. (or is it "opi"?)
They kind of remind me of Barney Fife getting all sensitive and stomping away when someone makes fun of him.
Yes, you're right about ignoring some FReepers. I said in a earlier post that I ignore threads that concern certain subjects, or I glance at them at most. But then I tend to read a lot of different threads and not get into long discussions anyway.
You did an interesting thing there. I agree that if people actually met, there would be less animosity....most of the time.
Certain people, and certain subjects, will always cause fervent disagreement.
At least online you can avoid those pretty easily. There's plenty of other stuff to read and discuss.
Not a good sign.
"Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
-Thomas Jefferson
Couldn't let you leave without showing you this. Probably hear about the fringe on Greer's courtroom flag next.
You have to reconsider.
You had the best opus, ever.
He picked it up and ran with it to an extent that no one has before or since. Thus when we deal with eugenics, that experience is legitimately a top example of what could happen. The progenitors of eugenics in the USA certainly did have plenty of colleagues in pre-war Germany.
Some prayers are never answered.
" I agree that if people actually met, there would be less animosity....most of the time."
That's an interesting thought, and I think you are exactly right. It brings up an interesting question as well...
Is the free exhange of ideas made more free when we can do it anonymously, without fear of being branded in our "real lives"?
I think it is very healthy. I wonder how many of us in "real life" avoid speaking on the subjects we speak freely about here?
Worth remembering
Indeed.
I hope that, in time, you have a change of heart.
Stay safe and God bless you, Poobah!
Thanks, one piece of irony coming right up.
#1531.....at least she could not sneer at you for being a 'newbie'.
LOL!!
Same here! But I could have worse habits, so the kids don't mind. ;^)
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