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.
I never said anything about the FBI or arrests.
What I really dislike are the handful of meanies. Thankfully, there are only a few of those, so they are easy to ignore.
Fairwinds, Pooh. I wish it were different, but I understand your reasons well.
agreed, annie.
The religion forum is now about religion, not about some Catholics thinking they have the truth and other Catholics don't.
I have to commend the Religion Moderator for cleaning the barn.
Dear sinkspur,
"You're part of the problem, dirtbag.
"You and your knuckle-dragging cohorts are not going to dominate this forum.
"Nobody supported starving anybody; it's just that you, and others with shoe-sized IQs, have such a limited mental capacity to make distinctions and to support the rule of law, that you had to characterize those who didn't roll in the dirt as 'murderers.'"
Oh, yes, sinkspur. It is those who backed Terri's right to live even against the actions of the ball-less Bush boys who have done all the insulting and demonizing of other posters around here.
* chuckle *
sitetest
On the contrary, I love a good argument. I invite people to show some backbone and stick up for their principles, rather than run away whining about how people are being mean to them, blah blah blah.
I tried to see what # I am and can't find it.
I agreed with you on some thread the other day and it startled me. I have watched you post for a long time and have decided you almost always just want to make contrary posts to stir things up. Most of the time I just ignore you.
Sorry to disappoint you sink, but I'm still around. -)
Our nation has spent the last 3 1/2 years fighting Muslim religious extremism. Thousands of our citizens and troops have been killed. We've witnessed beheadings, car bombings, and other vicious acts in the name of Allah. In my opinion, what we have witnessed on FR recently is but precursor behavior -- a few small steps away from the behavior of radical Islamists.
I wish I were that articulate.
The other night I said religious people could be the most dangerous on the planet...somebody went and sigged JimRob on me.
Thankfully and hopefully... just wrote my name down in his black book.
Okay I had to check my pings one last time before going to bed. :)
"Actually, the plural of "opus" is an odd duck. It is "opera." No kidding."
Things that make you go 'hmmmmm' indeed. That is odd.
Thanks for your reply, Congressman. :)
Hey Hi Nutmeg! How are ya doing?
Catholics and Calvinists.
165291
Sure you do.
I've seen some bad posts, yes, and most didn't last long. What's your point? And your points regarding court documents, etc., were very weak. Shall we go through it all from the beginning again?
Dear Torie,
In that not one in a thousand folks who call themselves Catholics hold those views, I wonder whether the picture presented was pretty distorted from actual reality to those outside the Church.
sitetest
Man I have seen some really crappy ways to get out of donating a buck to the freepathon but this takes the cake....
Amen. When I've disagreed with those, over the years, and attempted to do so politely I learned that they weren't trying to make or prove a point so much as start a fight.
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