Posted on 03/29/2005 8:58:34 AM PST by Long Cut
We, the Witness Protection Program For Freepers, aka the Wild Turkeys, aka the Coalition of the Sane, have through mutual discussion and rigourous thought, determined that:
1. The discussion threads regarding Terri Schiavo (hereafter referred to as "TS") have become too full of innuendo, rumormongering, hyperbole, hysteria, namecalling, paranoia, and general poor behavior to warrant participation.
2. Said threads have degenerated into "echo chambers", wherein the same, common thoughts are continually posted again and again, and the same old disreputable, unconfirmed and/or false urban myths are propagated.
3. Anyone who joins in said theads with alternative viewpoints to the most extreme posts are routinely driven away with slander, accusations, and vile namecalling.
4. No data or evidence contrary to the "prevailing opinions" are accepted, considered, or discussed; and in fact are rejected outright in most instances.
5. That the continued calls for armed insurrection, military or paramilitary involvement, impeachements of politicians and judges, and death threats are embarassing, stupid, shortsighted, doomed to failure, and contrary to most if not all conservative thought prior to this case, as well as damaging in the extreme to FR and the conservative movement as a whole.
6. That such emotional, hyperbolic, and propaganda-driven hysteria is in fact contrary to all conservatives USED to stand for.
7. That the holding up of swastika and other Nazi imagery towards the police and the Bushes, the use of children as political props, and the disruption of the peace at the Woodside Hospice can only reflect badly on conservatives in general, and should be discouraged.
8. That the pursuit of this issue to the exclusion of all others by the GOP has damaged, perhaps beyond repair, the pursuit of other important issues as well as the reputation of the GOP, FR, and conservatism.
The WPPFF is NOT of one mind as to the case of TS or its correct outcome. In fact, wide disagreement exists within our little group. However, we are united in our wish that reason and sanity be respected in the discussion, as well as the rights of all parties involved or participating. We wish to discuss this as adults and intellectuals, as conservatives and as FRiends, not as children screaming past each other on some playground of hysteria. We wish for facts and evidence to be provided, discussed reasonably, and considered fairly.
We reject all accusations of Naziism, "death cultism", or other slander as methods of debate. We reject the practice of "spamming" multiple threads, of posting unending vanities, and the posting of propaganda and calls for violence. We reject, in fact, all unseemly and childish behavior which has come to characterize this case on FR.
We DO invite others to come and reasonably discuss the issue. We have no problem with FReepers who wish to debate in a rational and fair manner, and with due respect for their fellow FReepers. We have NO problem with those whose views are formed by religion; however we reject "preaching" or "being beaten with a Bible" as legitemite debate tactics. Not all of us are Believers, and such tactics only cheapen the source.
If a FReeper finds this an acceptable meansd to discuss this and other issues, they are welcome to join in and participate. Those who find pleasure in attacks, flame-baiting, slander, stalking, and personal atacks will be ignored, and their egos will go unfed.
We assume this thread to be a zone of sanity in an overheated atmosphere. Thus, a general amnesty is in effect. If posters conduct themselves within the guidlines above, we will be happy to discuss and debate with you. If a poster wishes to apologize for past slips of the tongue, or for possible "over-the-top" statements to another, it will be graciously accepted, and your company welcome.
Please bring a sense of humor; we feel that too many have been taking themselves too seriously lately.
Let the discussion begin!
Signed,
The WPPFF, aka The Wild Turkeys, aka the Coalition of the Sane.
I meant a few specific people. Did you see what they posted? Did you see it before it was pulled? It had to be one of the sickest slurs against other FReepers that I have ever seen.
If you werent' appalled by it, then I don't know what to say.
I wasn't lumping everyone in... just a select few - if you read that thread, well, you should be able to pick out the few I was talking about. If you felt included in that, well, you weren't, for what it's worth.. :)
Feeding tubes, etc., are being pulled every single day on thousands of patients.
Why aren't you opposing their impending deaths?
Why just Terri's?
No, I never saw the post. I was only pointing out that it is the casualness with which we speak sometimes, that makes things devolve like this has.
This sad event had enough opportunity for a lifetime of debate and examination, yet look what it has become.
I agree with you. I'm not going to cut my nose off just to spite my face so I'm willing to give FR time to cool off with all of the name calling and non-stop Terri threads.
I didn't want the feeding tube to be pulled from Terri. That doesn't mean I want to listen to people who call for the impeachment of both Bush's or who lap up every bit of gossip, buy it as truth and promote it on every thread in this forum.
The moderator removed it before I got to see it. I am guessing it was bad.
Yeah, those two words used to be Elian Gonzalez. Now they're Terri Schiavo.
Five years from now, someone else.
They don't call it the Stupid Party for no reason.
Posters that think like that don't deserve to be on FR.
I will not accord the rabid Terribots the title "Christian" until they learn to quit bearing false witness against those they disagree with.
Why not kill Mrs. Schiavo quickly and efficiently, by depriving her of air to breathe? In principle, that would have been no different from denying her the other basic necessities of life.
Why not give her a lethal injection? The law would not have allowed those methods; but the reason nobody advocated them was that they would have been too obviously murder. So the court-ordered killing was carried out slowly, incrementally, over days and weeks, with soft music, stuffed animals, and euphonious slogans about choice and dignity and radiance. By the time it ended, no one really remembered how many days and hours it had gone on. The nation accepted it, national polls supported it, and we all moved on to other things.
Next time it will be easier. It always is. The tolerance of early-term abortion made it possible to tolerate partial-birth abortion, and to give advanced thinkers a hearing when they advocate outright infanticide. Letting the courts decide such life-and-death issues made it possible for us to let them decide others, made it seem somehow wrong for anyone to stand in their way. Now they are helping to snuff out the minimally conscious.
Who's next?
Screeching does not make your argument any better.
Hammesfahr was asked, in the court, how many patients he had helped who'd had brain injury similar to Terri's, and what their names were.
He couldn't provide names.
"lost his brother to cancer.." I think it had to do with his wife having been in a coma also.
The M.E. to give a press conference at 3:30 per MSNBC.
I frequently disagree the GOP leadership myself but any person who thinks - and this includes most people - is not going to be in 100% agreement with another person or group.
Now, if you are considering leaving because of the one-issue types and the outright freaks, well I recommend that you continue to refute them and point out that they do not represent *you*. They do not represent either you or me.
If you are thinking about leaving because you think the GOP are hypocrites on States Rights and Federalism for intervening in this case you should consider that not all legal experts believe their action was improper. Some have found a Constitution right for the feds to intervene.
Uh-oh. That was quick. He must have gotten his marching orders from teh Death Cult...
(j/k)
The scene, of course, was not set for her. By Felos's account, she was just an insensate, post-human corpse, for whom such tender touches were irrelevant — the comforts that would have made a difference, food and water, having been mercilessly denied. This was theater for the American people.
You just posted abortion cr@p.
I am not an advocate for that.
This has nothing to do with abortion.
If Terri had been given a lethal injection, you would have whined about that, too.
What is the Undead Thread?
A lot of them are guilty of of that...some of them don't realize it's false witness...
Reminds me of the time during the time of the crusaders when one bunch, fresh off the boats, went into the town of Acre and started attacking all the local Christians cause they thought that because they were Arabs, they were Moslems.
No group is totally immune from feeding frenzy, especially when people keep putting oil on the fire....and some people here at FR seem to have been drenched in that oil.
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