At the risk of being banned for not showing sufficient obsequious deference, that looks to the rest of the world like arbitrary censorship and intellectual cowardice. If you can think of a more accurate term, I'd appreciate hearing it.
A forum supposedly representing the pure strength of freedom of thought and the value of exposing falsehood really shouldn't have anything to fear from the occasional screw-ball post. It and its poster will be derided to death anyway. And frankly, it makes a humorous contrasting background to the overwhelmingly excellent quality of the other posts on FR.
Allowing flaky free speech in a forum called "Free Republic" hardly means "we" (in fact, Jim Robinson, because "we" have no say in what is or is not allowed here) endorses it or its source. It just shows certainty in the unalienable value of free speech and confidence in truth being triumphant. Frankly, I think a dismissive response (or flurry of them) is far more damning than a story spike or black out.
After all, a screw-ball conspiracy theory about Clinton having an on-going sexual tryst with an intern turned out to be true. Nobody is sufficiently pre-cognitive to determine beforehand what "crackpot" theories will turn out to be true, and thereby proactively filter so that only valuable content gets through.
I don't expect this to change your mind, but in the interest of intellectual honesty, I feel compelled to supply a counterpoint, because nobody else would dare.
If I disappear, it's because I've been banned for expressing this view.
Welcome to FR
FR is privately owned.
You and I are here as guests.
There is no ‘right’ to be here, hence banning or blocking sites is not censorship.
It would be similar to telling punks to get off your lawn while they blare their crap music.
The punks wouldn’t be getting censored as they have no ‘right’ to be there.
It is for the exact same reason why we don’t allow anything from racist sites like Stormfront, conspiratorial propaganda like Alex Jones, radical liberal sites like Huffington Post (where Lew Rockwell writes), pornography, violence, etc. This is a private site, by and for Conservatives. This is about a FREE REPUBLIC. In a Free Republic, private property rights are honored, including the desire of this site to remain a Conservative forum versus a soapbox for every crank in the world.
The First Amendment says the government cannot restrict free speech, it does not give anyone the right to come on your or my private property and yell whatever they want to. It is a restriction on government, not a restriction on the standards you set for your property.
If you look at the posts here, it is pretty clear what the community thinks of Lew Rockwell.
By the way, people aren’t banned for just expressing their view, it is how they express that generally gets people banned or if their view is, for example, racist propaganda.
The more accurate term that leaps to my mind is none of your damned business newbie troll.
You have an inalienable right to free speech, but a completely alienable right to free speech here.