That is a matter of opinion, Chad. Even if they are childish memes, it is still quite strange for one person to make over two dozen own-posts on her thread. Allowed, yes, but definitely strange.
Even if the six that were not hers may/may not be childish memes, hers do come across as gross propaganda.
FR is about truth.
Or, at least it used to be. There was a time when FR had solid thinkers posting material that made sense and made people think. That was a long time ago though.
Nowadays, it is either:
1. FReepers supporting Russia, which is very strange considering the GOP was always the party that stood strongest against the Reds. Putin is not a good guy, and Russia has committed war crimes. It is one thing for someone to say they’re not interested in the Ukraine war, it is another thing to support Russia!
2. People posting his Ukraine can do no wrong, how it is shooting down ‘95% of missiles’, videos from Denys that always show how Ukraine is ‘always’ winning, how ‘RuZZian orcs’ or whatever childish name they’re calling them are ‘always’ losing, etc etc. The MSM and propaganda channels like Denys’ (which is what it is - a propaganda channel) even show a Ukrainian retreat as ‘strategic’ and a Russian advance as a ‘small and non-important.’
Ironically, it is such talk that has partially cost Ukraine a lot! How? Because for months people were hearing how Ukraine was ‘always winning,’ and thus they expected a miracle from the so-called Summer Offensive; and when it did not exactly work out as planned, hearts and minds began to shift. A more realistic approach - such as, Ukraine is fighting against barbaric invaders who are occupying sovereign Ukrainian land and benefit from 10x the population and economy, and thus the West needs to support Ukraine in its David vs Goliath struggle - may have worked better than the MSM cheerleading squad we saw for two years. Which is a problem because Russia has a vote in the war, they are almost as committed as the Ukrainians, and in a war of time and/or escalation, for Ukraine to win it needs Western support. And for two years the MSM has been telling people how Ukraine is valiantly winning, and ignoring the fact that in every single war that Russia won, the first two or so years Russia suffered terrible losses before they turned the tide!
Example: the Winter War between Finland and the USSR, where the Soviets lost a lot before they won.
Ukraine needs all the help it can get, and propaganda channels do not help. It’s not about making people feel warm fuzzy feelings, but helping a country gain victory.
From what I’ve experienced so far, she and Speedy generally start a thread and then post various bits of different information about how the war is going from the Ukrainian point of view.
I personally like this format very much. It allows me to learn as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. It’s a one stop shop and I got what I need, and for that I am grateful to those who post this information and to Free Republic for this forum where this information is freely given.
It is for this reason that I donate as I do, in spite of some of the most horrid posters I’ve ever encountered anywhere in life doing their best here to deny this information be made available.
And they are a curious group to me.
Given that Ukraine is our friend and is being attacked by our official and traditional enemy since the end of WWII, I am astonished that “conservatives” at FR would side with Russia against Ukraine for whatever their reasons.
But this, too, is all part of the greater learning experience and so it, too, has value.
History repeats itself and we are relearning some of history’s lessons first hand, with these posters supplying first hand dialogue, the same as must have been true “back in the day”, whenever that day was. Curious how the same templates get reused again and again throughout human history and how the same roles get recast and the same lines get re-said now the same as it was then. Deja vu all over again. Same as it ever was.
Personally, especially in these times now, I pity those on these threads who take such pride in calumny, those whose “mouths” are condemning them daily, again and again, especially so the Christians who should know the 7 things God hates and abhors, as told in Proverbs 6:16-19. But they do it anyway and with such vengeance and pride, too. Good luck with that.
In my ever so humble opinion, these are very valuable threads full of all sorts of good information about bad people doing bad things and about those who counter them.
Thank you for that thoughtful post, spetznaz.
It certainly appears that FR is suffering a plague of pro-Moscow trolls on the Ukraine issue. About six seem to me to be fulltime professionals. Maybe even bots? On the other side I can only think of one, and that's UMCmom. So maybe she felt that she needed to pile it on. I just scroll past all UToob links anyway, so it didn't affect me one way or the other.
But I would LOVE to see this posting of pictures disabled, though. Seems about 98% are just posted to show how cute the poster can be, with no intellectual content whatsoever. Wasting my time and bandwidth. If there's a chart or map to be presented, a link would do fine.
Cheers