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.
My, you certainly are a big talker. I don't remember crossing paths with you.
No; it is cyclical. It is an emotional reaction to emotional reactions, The Terri situation has rocked Freepers deep down.
As it should. We are talking bedrock here. And, if Pooh can't stand the heat - getting out of the kitchen is a good move.
J/K
Find a thread that you've posted on. Go to one of your posts. Click on your name. Up top you will see a menu, one of the elements will be "In Forum." Click on that and then look in the address bar (the part of your browser where you type in http://... to get where you want to go on the internet). Your number follows the word "profile."
I think someone's already sent you yours on another post, but I wanted you to see how it was done...
Where is and was the indignation over the other thousands of people who've had their tubes pulled?
The courts...nineteen of them....reviewed it over and over. Always came down with Mr. Schiavo.
The guy was 19-0. For Congress to demand another review of the case was over-the-top. Grandstanding.
They wove it into Mitch Hedberg's death thread.
I agree with you; lots of freepers agree with you. But you'll get arguments from a few and have already, I see. LOL
I also think we cannot discount the ever-present just-signed-on-this-week/month Freeper who is actually a lib/dem (DUer?) plant come to stir up the pot. I'm not much on conspiracy/paranoia stuff, but I think it happens more than we might realize.
FR was better before the moderators arrived.
and it turns out that no one's ball is the end all and be all to FR. people leave and people come and FR is still the best place to get news on the web.
1) It wasn't unprovoked. Opus is beyond provocation. It's like a siren in a library.
2) I already addressed why this is happening, thank you. See the post below yours. Maybe you should do more reading instead of getting snippy.
And I will continue to agree with you. . ..when you are right.
;-)
Thanks for the pings, Howlin and Onyx.
This is another sad day. I tried to convince him not to go via FReepmail yesterday afternoon, and he had made up his mind for sure.
Where do I go to read his opus?
Point proven. You can not rationally debate when murderer, nazi, etc are being tossed around. I'm sticking around, and telling you to piss off you sanctimonuous schmuck. Oh, then have a nice day.
Yes I checked and figured it out. Thanks
What if I told you that your replies on these opera's threads have been a little less than stellar?
Yes my point that you guys a) haven't a leg to stand on in a policy debate, and b) have zero sense of humor, has been proven, thank you!
No, no! I love Campbell's Cream of Botulism...
ping
You know, I always believed in good manners. Even people with whom we don't agree deserve to be treated in a civil fashion.
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