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.
They usually do. Cheers.
No way! This is April Fools , right?
sinkspur: Radical Catholics who trash other Catholics.
False. Absolutely false. As someone who has himself been suspended a time or two, you should know, sinkspur, it's all about those who can't follow the rules of the Religion Forum. I don't give a fig what faith is professed by anyone as long as they follow the rules.
Nor do I care for my actions being misrepresented.
I'm not going to get into a long discussion about this, but it is exactly about his ego. Everything posted here by everyone, including you and me is about ego. If it wasn't, we wouldn't post it. Please don't trouble yourself to plead altruism. We all post here because we think our opinions are valuable. That's ego.
If he doesn't want to be associated with this forum, then it is a simple matter of stepping away. The association is voluntary. No one is holding a gun to his head, no one forced him to post anything, ever. This post accomplishes nothing more than anything else he may have posted, probably much less.
For shame that the howling demons of keyboard occult savagery have ripped and torn at such a gentle sensitive lad. I am deeply saddened and sorely disappointed in my fellow man.
Farewell, Marine.
May they be gentle with you at the home (cough) I mean 'at home.'
Second that. . .and well stated.
Tripe. A woman is starved to death, and this is your description. What has happened to this place?!?! This would never have stood in the old days! This forum is a garbage dump!!! Woe is me!
Shame on you, Poohbah. I've never 'known' you to back down from a fight (NO MATTER WHAT)
I call bullshit on your no policy debate thing. The sign of losing an argument is the Nazi crap. If you all had a leg to stand on, you would be able to construct arguments without cheap tawdry sensationalism.
Duh...I guess I'm here!
That's what happens when one just clicks robotically not knowing where exactly one is goinggggg....
Thanks. Folks calling my a Nazi would not bother me in the least. They would just embarrass (and impeach) themselves. I would not respond, and do not respond, typically, to that sort of thing, except sometimes with something intended to confuse them. Cheers.
However, look at the threads about Pope John Paul's condition and you'll see what most of the people here are really like.
Maybe it was just the topic that caused people to act & react radically?
"Can't stand the heat."
Like you could bring any heat. It has nothing to do with heat. It's about hate, extremism and vulgar crap slinging knukle draggers.
I don't even value FR enough any more to write an opus. Not worth it. I visit for the freek show only.
What was once the nexus of a political movement is now a parody of "The Living Dead VII"
Good...
See -- I'm not the only one who has been put off by the tone of the board lately.
Chad said nothing to you, and nothing that should have offended you personally. I call that unprovoked.
Don't waste your time by arguing with people who have no intention of debating honestly.
To FMC: I think you should take his advice.
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