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.
Thanks for the ping. :]
You will love it!
LOL!
Thanks!
Poohbah, if you want to leave, leave. Spare us the drama. 
Daughter: Did you miss the George Felos' talking points for this week??
(HYPERBOLIC was last week's secret word.)
This week, Felos says you are supposed to get the word 'odious' into every other sentence.
You and have have had agreement and disagreement on many issues. Terri's plight was highly emotional on either side compared to most events we discuss.
I hate to see you leave but you must do what you must do. I took four days off due to Terri but I'm not ready to leave.
Good luck and hope you change your mind.
CG
I see your hatred is showing..I don't feel the love..I feel the hate.
Crap. I missed #1900 too. Woe is me.
Well said.
Maybe next time..
I am a Christian and pro life..I have just posted on the Wild Turkey thread as a respite..does that make me anti Christian?
"I am a Christian and pro life..I have just posted on the Wild Turkey thread as a respite..does that make me anti Christian?"
Not at all. It makes you a well rounded citizen with high moral values and capable of independent thinking :o) Qualities needed during any stampede. JMHO.
;)
Couldn't care less I'm afraid.
Whiney a$$ed opus too.
Shame on Poohbah for slamming you because you did not realize what Christian Identity was..Names can be very deceptive.
Remember the Olympic Bomber? I think that is when I learned about them.
http://washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050308-053343-3553r.htm
snip
Rudolph's mother, Patricia, began her adult life as a nun, later giving up the Roman Catholic faith and converting to the Baptist religion. Then she left the Baptist faith to join the extremist Christian Identity movement.
According to a report paraphrased in the book, "Christian Identity is described accurately as a belief system which maintains that white Europeans or Aryans represent the true chosen people of Yahweh, that they are the real Israelites. Jews are not considered the people of the Bible, but rather the spawn of Satan. CI minions, it says, believe the world is on the verge of a final, apocalyptic struggle between these good Aryans and Satan's evil minions, who include Jews, the federal government, mass media, U.S. banks, and homosexuals."
The authors describe Patricia Rudolph as "a woman who loathed the federal government with every fiber of her being and had weaned her children on this belief, years before her son ever got into trouble."
Although Eric Rudolph bombed a gay nightclub, his brother Jamie was described as a gay musician living in New York's Greenwich Village. His brother Daniel sawed off his hand in protest of Eric's arrest and videotaped the ordeal.
Snip
Are you interested in tasting a cask of Amontillado I recently acquired? It's way back in the back of my wine cellar, well catacombs really.
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