Poohbah's Opus

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, sayeth Qohotoleth... | 01 April 2005 | Poohbah

[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:

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To: Old Professer

Is being a christian identity sympathizer, a white supremicist, a neo-nazi, a racist or an anti-semite illegal activities in themselves?

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.

212 posted on 03/17/2005 11:05:13 AM PST by malakhi

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 211 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

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To: malakhi

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Terri's fight being associated with Christianity. That is unless someone is a radical leftist.

229 posted on 03/17/2005 12:02:29 PM PST by Diva Betsy Ross

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 212 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

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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.

[malakhi]

Is being a christian identity sympathizer, a white supremicist, a neo-nazi, a racist or an anti-semite illegal activities in themselves?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Terri's fight being associated with Christianity. That is unless someone is a radical leftist.

[DoctorMichael]

Stay and fight the good fight.

[zeugma]

You're absolutely right about the calming effect of the Pope threads today. One 2-line post actually brought me to tears (and smiling) thinking about John Paul and what a great man he's been. I suprised myself, 'cause I'm not even Catholic.

[lilmsdangrus]

please freepmail me why you think that.

[WFTR]

That being said, I haven't seen a lot of difference between the Schiavo furor and the Bush-bot Blitzkriegs last fall.

For the Bush bots, the difference may be that they were now on the receiving end. Either way, I think your post summed things up pretty well.

[Godebert]

Well said.

[Stentor]

Jesus, son, you've been here far too long to slink away. Such bulls**t

Anybody seen Don Morgan. This board seems to throw off those who "protect" it like dead skin. I am way to shallow to leave.

[Howlin]

Bump.

[Coop]

See -- I'm not the only one who has been put off by the tone of the board lately.

Psssstt! It ain't about "lately." Despite the wailing going on here, nothing has changed on this forum.

[Killborn]

No way JimRob said that! Can you please point me to the link?

[Petronski]

Yes, it's a threat.

There's no other way to interpret it.




Oh, and the Religion Moderator has already corrected him on that other bit about driving out fringers.

[aculeus]

Darn!

What's worked for me is what some might call a form of arrogance. I don't associate with fools, even those who vote the way I do, let alone argue with them.

This meant ignoring most of the Terri threads, especially those infested with nutters.

Maybe a purge of the membership is in order?

Anyway I hope you reconsider ... or return if things simmer down.

[DCPatriot]

Look here "newbie"....

The goal of stifling judicial activism aside....all you were doing last week was shopping for a judge yourselves.

[Coop]

There are MANY of us who agree 100% with today's 2 OPUS offerings.

And there are MANY of us who think they're just dumb.

[nickcarraway]

Obviously not, since poster who ridicule the "Pope and his goofy cardinals," are still there. Huh?

[hosepipe]

Poo... thin skins have always been a vector for negativity on FR..
Forgeting where you are and what is the purpose of FR is another one..
FR is really not the place for scholarly discourse as I have noticed..
Opinions like blackheads, everyone has one or more, even if their not very visible.. And others like me, are just covered with them.. Pop an opinion on FR, and you must expect the inevitable Ewwwwwe..

[St. Johann Tetzel]

Oh, and the Religion Moderator has already corrected him on that other bit about driving out fringers.

Good, that's important, because otherwise FReepers will assume the Religion Moderator and Sinkspur are in collusion, that they planned the driving out from the Religion Forum of those with whom they disagreed, and that Sinkspur is beyond touch.

It is important to correct that erroneous notion.

[jwalsh07]

Whatever happened to the strong, silent types that ride quietly off into the sunset? :-}

[Petronski]

Your post isn't bizarre. The post you quoted is bizarre. All that ranting about knuckledraggers....that's bizarre.

I'm glad you posted it.

[visualops]

Fortunately I'm not reduced to counting the threads I'm not interested in ;^)

[Siobhan]

Very well said. Bump.