You are absolutely right. That is why some are choosing to move along.
Lando 
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.
So what? I was on plenty of Terri threads, and as emotional as many. But I drew the line at blaming Jeb, Dubya or others. And I caught some occasional flak for it. Didn't lose a wink of sleep, either.
The generalizations about this forum deteriorating and maybe it's time to leave are just plain silly in my book. But I still luv ya! ;-)
It was a Keyes bashing frenzy.
I pretty much abstained from posting on those threads, or at least tried.
Yeah, I just had one over my house a few evenings ago. Funny thing though, he's raring to go back. Strange folks, them American kids.
But that's my fault. At least with Rush I knew he hated the very idea of mercy killing since he took up the fight against Dr. Kevorkian over a decade ago. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Kevorkian but this idea that ending suffering is wrong--in all cases--doesn't square with me. And the idea of erring on life when the alternative is another 10, 20, 30 years of a continued vegetative state seems cruel and even sickening. Jesus told the thief that he would be in paradise that very day when the thief asked Jesus to remember him in his Kingdom. But for the pro-lifers paradise is only found by putting off death as long as humanly possible regardless of the hopelessness and the suffering that must be endured. It's like "pro-life" is a religion unto itself.
You may have found FR hard to stomach but I'm finding my own party hard to stomach--and trust.
I supported Terri in this fight and think Michael is a lying scoundrel and adulterer, but I have to say, if I see another picture of Judge Greer as a Nazi party member, I am going to lose it.
America is not becoming Nazi Germany.
Like it or not, many people die like Terri died. This is not unusual or rare. Many families battle over the wishes of the person, and ultimately, somebody wins.
It sucks, but it is hardly precedent-setting or something that signals America is lost or something.
We will be fine. This experience may be used to change guardianship laws though, definitely a good thing.
And Terri is with her Savior now. Praise be to God for that.
That's not accurate.
You are absolutely right. That is why some are choosing to move along.
Lando
LOL!
To top things off, we had people embracing as some sort of conservative icon, to the extent of posting a fundraising link. .."
Citizen's arrest attempt of Schiavo, judge (Green Beret Bo Gritz intervenes for Terri)
Checking back, I found the thread you are talking about. The abuse report page was absolutely clean, that is no one filed any complaint about the thread. If you believed they defend a racist ideology, why didn't you complain at the time instead of taking a cheap shot on your way out?
The Terri story is chock full of important issues, medical, legal, moral, and philosophical. It beats the heck out of 24/7 Kobe Bryant/Michael Jackson. Now that she's dead, and the fight to keep her alive is over, the story won't disappear but it will no longer dominate. It's time for bygones to be bygones, and for this WPPFF to disappear for everyone's sake.
As the old saying goes, if we don't hang together we will surely hang separately.
Touche'. Get off the soapbox.
Nam Vet
Hey, let's talk about SOMETHING instead of NOTHING.
:p
It's been ugly lately on many threads. But, we must stay and speak against the "fools" that have oozed out of their holes.
The future is too important for us to give up and turn over the keys to the kingdom to idiots.
Please stay with us. The fight is enormous, righteous, and worth it.
Now that sounds reasonable, and I agree with JimRob. Thanks, PM.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
They're over there really doing some incredible work, at incredible risk. And here we sit with wounded feelings ready to leave, but needing to talk about it first.
I don't know j, in my neighborhood the sure way of getting everyone to dislike you, was to throw youself a pity party. Ain't no opus allowed on the poorer side of town.
Stop the butt kissing. You'll survive.
Darnit coop, now you're making my cheeks hurt!!
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