Posted on 02/11/2005 10:55:36 AM PST by Jim Robinson
The shot heard around the Internet has been fired on FreeRepublic.com The owner Jim Robinson and his moderators have launched a sniper style purge against members that disagree with the President’s ‘guest worker’ amnesty or support more control of illegal immigration. Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country.
The problem for the administration of the site is that their creation is allowing the participants to learn that the Bush immigration record and plans are shockingly out of line with the views of most conservatives. The management’s answer to this conflict between the majority of conservatives and the influence of the White House on their Web site has become electronic executions and censorship.
Members and readers of Free Republic would be surprised to know that many members of their community have fallen silent on the discussions about illegal immigration lately because free speech is an illusion on FR.com. They are silent because they have been banned from the Web site without warning, cause, or explanation in most cases. For weeks the moderators have been suspending and banning new members that chimed in quickly on the immigration debates.
Now this trend has broadened as the first groups of long-term users were suspended or banned this past week. Although Robinson and his staff removed many members of the Free Republic community in the first few days of the purge, those that religiously support President Bush’s immigration plan, open borders and approve of public benefits for illegal aliens remain on the forum. Those that were banned were the members that wanted more done to control illegal immigration and a strict observance to the President’s Oath of Office.
I'm guessing they're not banned, but are having a "timeout." They're fixtures around here, so I'd be surprised if they're gone permanently.
Gee, I don't even warrent an insult. Color me unhappy.
"There are perfectly respectable ways of expressing strong opinions on subjects without descending into the gutter." Good point.
The thing that concerned me the most was the occasional Ad Hominem and other vicious attacks that some would launch against each other. One would think that people would learn how to engage on the issues and on the merits (or demerits) of ideas, rather than resort to childish personal types of attacks. I haven't seen much of that childish gibberish lateley, thankfully.
Gee, does that include Looey's lunatic rant about how "Charles Lindberg was a Nazi" that he gets from some tinfoil leftwing gay-activist conspiracy theory site that also asserts that the Lindberg Kidnapping was a hoax???
Well, I'm for closing the border, but I'm afraid I have to recognize the futility of trying to deport some of those already here.
If that makes me an "open border" person, I'm sorry as heck. I'm not. I just am looking at practicalities. I think we should have been enforcing our immigration laws all along. But we didn't, and we're faced with a fait accompli with the current illegal population.
I don't think we have enough law enforcement folks to even make a dent in the one's already here.
But I sure think we should lock the borders down for awhile and keep more from getting in.
I wonder if some of those who are expressing their opposition to illegal immigration and open borders(which opposition I share), in a too, shall we say,"vehement" manner,are deliberately trying to make FR look like a neo-nazi site(as in,make the racist/violent/threatening posts,then carry them back to DUmmyland as "proof" of what "Freepers" say)? Because they have a thread over there,(which I found out about from PJ Comix's wonderful DUmmie FUnnies) full of outrage about being listed on another website somewhere(don't remember the site,it will be in the DUmmie FUnnies archives)as an extremist website-with posts from DUmmyland as proof-posts along the lines of hoping that America loses the War on Terror,that American soldiers get killed,that some catastrophe befalls the US,all to make President Bush "look bad"(Because our all-powerful President,or his "evil genius" Karl Rove,depending on which DUmmy is posting,control EVERYthing,and like the evil group in the James Bond movies,even have hidden secret machines that can control the weather,LOL. What WAS the name of that group in the James Bond movies anyway?)
They are outraged at being listed on this website,and not FR,because WE'RE the REAL extremists,ya know,not wanting it to be legal to kill your babies and elderly parents and disabled children and all. So maybe a couple of them decided to "spice it up" a little and then carry back their posts to DUmmyland so they can say,"See,look at the racists,how DARE they not want people to actually have to eneter this country LEGALLY and in turn! If we actually CONTROL our OWN borders,how can the Islamic terrorists(oops,"freedom fighters" in DUmmy-speak) come in and blow up another landmark building full of innocent civilians"oops,"little Eichmans")?
I wonder if just a little of that may be going on?
I wish we'd build a fence from California to the other side of Texas to keep the illegals out. Put up a mine field and a few warning signs. HOw's that?
What is ICE? Link please...
I'm confused???I got a Freep mail from someone. I'm told that refers to
the home of where banned/disgruntled Freepers hang out.(Liberty Post)
My post was not intended to affect the beauty or lack thereof of any trend on any topic. My post was directed to an individual poster who has what I percieve to be an irrational amount of ill will towards the owner of the website, and merely reflected an approach to understanding that I thought might benefit him should he consider adopting it. Considering the poster's adversarial tone, I cannot imagine a more congenial approach, but am always open to suggestion.
Did you have one?
Thanks, Meek. I'm a little slow sometimes.
So, obviously, those who have been shown the door have been expunged for something other than simply their opposition to Bush's immigration policies. Maybe I wasn't clear in my earlier, but what I was trying to say was that people who have banned, for the most part, were not banned because of their views on immigration. That's not my observation.
Did you mean this post for me, or for someone else?
Well, since everybody else is posting to this thread. Yeah, I got the e-mail from these bozos. As if I need to join a group to protest FR. If ever I didn't like the board, I would just quit. Why is that so hard for some people to understand?
Oh goody, what do I win?
Agreed, especially long-time posters like them. I hope it's temporary. Sabertooth too? I've chatted with him numerous times and can't see why he'd get the boot.
I gotta tell you Howlin, if it wasn't for your plain talk and "I don't take no bs" attitude, this website wouldn't be so much fun--
I have been known to put my 2 cents worth in if I feel like one poster is being unnecessarily hateful to another, but I don't see anything wrong with being able to tell another poster "how the cow ate the corn", so to speak--
Just because we don't want outrageous cussing, racism, and nastiness, doesn't mean we can't engage in some debating, and if your skin is reaaally thin, you might not want to join in on certain threads---just hide a watch the pros, like you Howlin---keep up the good work
Well done. I want to associate myself absolutely with your comments.
I oppose illegal immigration. I also think it IS possible to expell ALL the illegals over a period of time. But you have to close the border first.
Immigration is how this country is replacing the young workers who were never born due to abortion. It is therefore clearly an attempt to turn two wrongs into a 'right' to a piece of America while everybody looks the other way. The nation needs to face up to and pay the piper for both.
These principles do not require turning to conspiracy kooks like Rense for validation.
Vigilantism is the deplorable result of government failure to do its job of enforcement. It is a warning sign that government must get its act together and stop saying one thing (the Law) and doing another (lack of enforcement.) Vigilantism is a breakdown of sovereignty where every man is a law unto himself. Vigilantism is a GOOD thing as a POTENTIAL threat to a government that does not protect its people or control its borders just as revolution is a GOOD thing as a threat to tyranny. But revolution and vigilantism in practice are BAD things which cause a lot of damage and are to be resorted to ONLY when they are CLEARLY the lesser of two evils.
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