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.
So let me get this straight -- you basically don't like pro-lifers for being narrow-minded, yet you refer to them as being "insane" and accuse them of being a cult?
I dont like the pro-life cult because it always put life over suffering. Compromise is to succumb to the culture of death. Others must suffer for their orthodoxy.
If you want to be treated with respect, perhaps you should treat others the same way in return.
I take it that you're a member of the pro-life cult.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1376254/posts
(Speaking of DU)
Left-wing website administrator admonishes tinfoil-hatters not to express glee over Pope's death
4/2/05
Just in from DU regarding Pope John Paul II's death:
After posting here since 1998, I was banned, with no warning or notice, for critisizing Keyes during his failed campaign. Since then, I managed to stay away from most of the Terri threads...but that is the problem...that people with differing conservative opinions were unwelcome.
Thank you for proving my point. I wouldn't even call myself a social conservative; I just don't like so-called open-minded people who throw around epithets like "cult" and "insane" to tar millions of fellow Republican voters with, then whine that there's no place for their open-mindedness in the GOP. Bellieve it or not, you don't have to be part of the "pro-life cult" to see the hypocrisy in that.
This reminds me of the stuff we get from the Arab street. "We are angry as hell! A seething volcano of rage will be unleashed! Scorched earth for all!" And then a big nothing! ALL TALK AND BLUSTER!!!
Damn! What am I supposed to do with all this popcorn?
I am not either a Catholic and stayed up all night the first night and found myself with tears running down my cheeks after I slept a few hours...I have shared this watch with many Catholic friends...I just posted this link as an example of DU's tendency toward hate and bile, thus the admonition by theiir mod..
Who has had to suffer for their orthodoxy?
I was surprised at how emotional I felt. I watched the prayer vigil in Poland the other night and it was beautiful. I really feel badly for the people who are impacted by this. Even tho- it was not unexpected-it still hurts some greatly.
Truth is I am always moved by raw sadness. Even that photo of the Woman crying holding a John Kerry sign. That photo almost makes me weep.
Fair enough. But I'm talking about the way that some people on this board lumped anybody who supported the fight to keep Terri Schiavo alive as being a "Schindlerista," being members of a cult, being insane, etc. And at the same time, some of these very same people are the very first to complain about being called names. While they do have a valid point, I think, about some of the pro-Terri people engaging in name-calling, they shouldn't do the same thing in return. That's all I'm saying.
I know you know me well enough..I took no offense.
LOL. He'd appreciate it.
I just don't like so-called open-minded people who throw around epithets like "cult" and "insane" to tar millions of fellow Republican voters with, then whine that there's no place for their open-mindedness in the GOP. Bellieve it or not, you don't have to be part of the "pro-life cult" to see the hypocrisy in that.I haven't whined about not having a place in the GOP. I whined about not wanting to be associated with the insane cultist who seem to have control of the GOP...and conservatism. It's not even a difference of opinion, the cultists creep me out. Thank God the Pope was able to pass on "to a better place of spiritual evolution and enlightenment." The pro-life cult wanted none of that for Terri. She was to pick up her cross and suffer aother 10, 20, 30 more years for the sanctity of life.
"Then, shortly before that, he put up 2 vanities in a row... "JIM ROBINSON GO TO HELL" followed by "JIM ROBINSON GO TO HEAVEN"."
Whew! That would have done it----"off with his head", I bet!
"I used to try and talk to him but rarely got responses"
Sounds like a strange character!
Who are the insane cultists that have taken over the GOP?
Names, please.
Here's for post 1800 -- never got a nice even number in the war threads .... c'mon 1800 ...
hehe
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