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.
1800?
Sigh. My timing is off by >< that much. Again.
Who are the insane cultists that have taken over the GOP? Names, please.Anyone who spouts out the words "culture of death" as an argument. Which, of course, includes Rush Limbaugh.
You can try for #1900. :-)
Rush is right!
Thanks xJones! Really enjoyed reading about him. What a colorful character he must have been.
It was hilarious... some Freepers missed the first thread, and when they saw the "Jim Robinson Go To Heaven" thread title they thought JR died! I'm pretty sure his ultimate offense was threatening to kill another Freeper in a drunken rage. He'll live to be 140 years old yet.
If she was PVS with no cognitive ability as claimed by MS, Felos, and your side, HOW ON EARTH COULD SHE BE SUFFERING BY LAYING THERE?
And if she could 'suffer', then she was murdered. One or the other, not both.
How about anyone who want to promote the culture of life?
Are they insane cultists,too?
Nam Vet
That's where we differ. As long as one is married to someone, he should be willing to put his life on hold for her as long as she is alive. If he's going to keep himself in the position of a husband carrying out his wife's wishes, then he needs to continue to be faithful to his vows. I don't care how the other relationship started, if he's having sex outside marriage, he's an adulterer. If he's having sex outside marriage, or even just pursuing a new relationship, he's no longer in the position of being Terri's husband. I don't blame him for moving on, but he should move on completely and relinquish control of Terri's remaining life. He's welcome to tell her new guardians that he thinks that Terri wanted not to be fed, but he shouldn't force that decision if he isn't living as her husband. As it was, his insistance on Terri's death was just ghoulish.
Bill
I am breaking my self imposed rule...I did repost all the fun threads links ..to show the great weighty discussion we indulged in last night.. ;)
It will be interesting to see if the donation drive begins to show any effects. While the user ID churn rate at FR is pretty high, it seems that the turnover has been limited to either one-liner poster or aggressive trolls.
Losing long-time posters like Poohbah, who typically participated with interesting, well thought out commentary and observations, is not a good sign. Others have noticed the anti-intellectual movement at FR; hopefully it will recover.
Weirdly enough, I've been checking out f**kedcompany again. It seems it's the one place where DUers and FReepers can attack each other without anybody getting to ruffled. I keep going back because the level of debate is actually pretty entertaining (granted, maybe 1 thread out 20).
Bump
If she was PVS with no cognitive ability as claimed by MS, Felos, and your side, HOW ON EARTH COULD SHE BE SUFFERING BY LAYING THERE?
So she must put off her passing on to paradise so the pro-life cult can feel good about their selves?
I used the word paradise because that's what Jesus called it to the thief who died on the cross next to him, promising him paradise that very day.
"I for one will not be giving up on Republican Party, Our President .. NOR will I give up on Free Republic
I am a fighter .. Not a quitter!"
BUMP
I did the same in 2000, but one day I had an revalation and remembered by 1998 password...woohoo, 1998 sign-up date saved! (After that incident, I considered getting a back-up name...but was too lazy)
Wow, sounds like a swell place.. < /sarc >
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