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.
there really should be a seminar offered on opus writing, kind of like the html sandbox and explanation of FR terms. standards must be maintained.
LOL...hey, this is supposed to be a thread about name calling and insults, and you're making me blush! LOL!
Thanks though, and the same to you. :)
No, it has evolved into a tradition.
He soaked up abuse and alcohol like a sponge.
That's just complete nonsense. You and I had a few discussions about Terri Schiavo, and I always treated you respectfully. But I found your points rather weak.
Hello?
Please don't leave. We're only going through a phase. You won't find normal people out there. Think about it.
Well that sucks. You set me straight early on about something I was whining about, and I was mad because you were right. And I respected you for that. Thanks.
Darn.
It's a place where great things have been accomplished.
Amazing freeps have been organized and even gotten a certain Congressman named Condit unelected.
It's a place that had credibility and some extremely intelligent people with expertise that could hardly be found anywhere else.
That some people turned it into a garbage dump is pathetic, but it happened!
I responded on the other 'opus' thread..so I wont repeat that post here, but the same thing applies to you.
I dont agree with your positions in different issues...but I invite you to stick around and debate them honestly...like we all should do.
The fact is that there are disrputors who have infiltrated this site...some have been here for a while..others late arrivals.
Their objective is to take this site down...or diminish its reputation.
This site is desperatly needed in the coming days as issues of great importance...such as Terri...come up and NEED to be discussed and debated vigorously.
BTW...what is the WPPFF?
We'll see about that. Since you admit to trying to suppress opposing viewpoints, I hope you and your choir are very happy here.
LOL. So true.
Isn't daylight savings tomorry night?
Yes, it's about time we organized. Let's call it OQPPFF, or Opus Quality Preservation Program For Freepers. It just wouldn't be right to sit and do nothing while the quality of opii takes the nose dive it's taken in this past year or so.
Agreed.
(whoops sorry for the misspelling.... also) ; )
Along with all that gin.
He made me so angry one night, I stopped lurking and started posting.
God-speed Poohbah in whatever you do, it was nice knowing you. Take care man. Thanks for the ping Howlin and onyx
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