Posted on 07/23/2008 11:45:00 PM PDT by B-Chan
Freeping: My First Ten Years Of Free Republic by B-chan
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"I have been sitting here for the last 45 mins looking straight at the sun. there is a host over the sun so i can look at it..its a sign a miracle.. can anyone else look at the sun and see anything?"
- classygreeneyedblonde, 2002
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Ten years ago this week, on 18 July 1998, I joined a then-fledgling news discussion site on the then-fledgling World Wide Web. The name of the site was freerepublic.com.
I had logged on before, of course. I remember spending many an hour at my desk in my Sherman Oaks townhouse in the spring of 1997, working on comics and listening to Mr. KABC. Between SigAlerts and cans of Guinness Draft, I'd log on (via molasses-slow dialup) and check the "Whitewater Archives" at the "FreeRepublicNetwork" for the latest dirt on the arch-foe of the Gingrich Era, dastardly U.S. president Bill Clinton.
At the time I was a newly-reborn conservative — not yet a Catholic, nor even a practicing Christian. I was also suffering from an undiagnosed and untreated case of Major Depressive Disorder. This combination of political naivete and scrambled brain chemistry had turned me into an eye-rolling, hyper-suspicious paranoiac (did I mention that I also listened to Dave Emory on KPFK a lot?) The early Free Republic was a thick gumbo of unsubstantiated rumor, suspicious "eyewitness reporting", and juicy conspiracy theory, with occasional juicy chunks of actual news — in other words, it was perfect for my taste at the time. It was like the Aliens, Conspiracies, and the Unexplained section of the bookstore — only ten times bigger, and constantly updated. I became an avid reader as the site moved through its early incarnations.
Then came 1998 — arguably, Free Republic's annus mirabilis, the era when the site was at its classical peak, the time when its traditions, personalities, and political activity finally gelled into the FR we know today. The excitement kicked off early, with Drudge's breaking of the Lewisnsky story on 17 January. Excitement rose to a fever pitch on FR as the sordid details of the affair became apparent. By the 26th, when Clinton gave his infamous finger-wagging "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" speech, the Forum was like a wild party, a twenty-four-hour orgy of speculation, news updates, and (for the first time) serious political talk. The next day, Hillary christened us in the online world of conservative politics "the vast, right-wing conspiracy" — and we had a name. FR was maturing.
Winter turned to spring, and, as the Clinton coverup continued, my life went on as well. I had found myself called home to Christianity in the autumn of 1997; by spring of 1998, I was a practicing Lutheran and ardent (if guilt-ridden) pro-lifer. FR served as a valuable source of enlightenment and encouragement during my early Christian period. As we moved back to Texas in May of 1998, I kept up with the impeachment effort on FR; as the long summer of that year ground on, I decided to join the site officially in July.
Unfortunately, my emotional and mental stability was also being ground increasingly fine by my still-untreated deep depression. I cringe to think of some of the posts I put up during my pre-diagnosis says: I ranted on everything from the perfidy of Abraham Lincoln (???) to the likely state of emergency that the Clintons would declare post-impeachment to the orthodoxy of Marian devotion. I can only pray that these early posts have somehow become lost amid the many server crashes and equipment upgrades that accompanied FR's explosive growth in membership.
Autumn came, and Impeachment Fever was hitting its peak. The great era of Free Republic climaxed with the March for Justice of Halloween 1998 , featuring Alan Keyes, Bob Barr, Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson of B.O.N.D. and Larry Klayman. Ann Coulter, Lucianne Goldberg and Matt Drudge. This televised event is considered by many to be the apex of FR's first Golden Age. We were everywhere — on TV, on the Web, on the streets. Membership burgeoned and the boards buzzed with excitement. On 19 December, 1998, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (228-206) and obstruction of justice (221-212 vote). As the impeachment moved into its trial phase before the Senate, it was indeed a merry Christmas for Freepers everywhere. Yuletide bells rang, champagne flowed, and we actually believed that our little website and those allied with us would at last succeed in ridding the Oval Office of the mendacious and philandering Scumbaggio.
But we were wrong. The new year came, and so did the Senate trial. On 12 February 1999, the perjury charge was defeated (45-55), and the obstruction of justice charge was defeated 50-50. Let Freepers always remember with shame the names of the senators from "our side" who voted to acquit: Chafee (R-RI), Collins (R-ME), Gorton (R-WA), Jeffords (R [I] -VT), Shelby (R-AL), Snowe (R-ME), Specter (R-PA), Stevens (R-AK), Warner (R-VA), and — saddest of all — Fred Thompson (R-TN). The war was over, and Clinton had won.
But Free Republic survived and grew, and I with it. With the coming of the fateful year 1999 came also the Y2K scare, during whichmy paranoia and depressive episodes shifted past the point of eccentricity and into the realm where they began to disrupt my life. Convinced by a constant diet of media doomsaying (much of it from the Internet, and some from FR itself) that the collapse of civilization was upon us, I began stockpiling food and supplies, obsessively noting Y2K preparations in my community, and in general losing my marbles. My posts to FR reflected this, I am ashamed to say. Finally, upon the advice of my wife and friends, I sought medical help for my condition. With the help of my doctor and Our Lord, I slowly began to reintegrate my personality. By the uneventful coming of the new year in 2000, the true mania of my Y2K obsession — and my paranoid attitude in general — became obvious.
So much has happened since then that I cannot list everything here. I survived the chaos that gripped FR during the early days of the 2000 national election cycle, including the first Great Purge of 2000 and the subsequent mini-purges that turned FR from a fringy discussion board to a source of more-or-less serious political thought. I chose not to participate in the "Bill Clinton Love Child" freakout (dodged a bullet there; the truth is that I simply didn't care if that poor little boy was WJC's offspring). I survived the shaky and often-unfair days of the early Admin Moderators, who were at the time vehemently disliked by Freepers at large but who are today considered vital to the operation of the Forum. I was led to my current state of contented (if poorly observed) Catholicism through the efforts of the many charitable and erudite members of the FR Catholic Caucus (you know who you are). I hung on through the Religion Wars (hello Sinkspur!), the LAT/WP copyright battle, the Elian Gonzalez Affair, and the heartbreaking Terry Schiavo tragedy. I was there for the Lucianne Goldberg schism and the birth of the Iowahawk phenomenon. I saw the rise and fall of Ash, A+Bert, DITHF, Eschoir, and many of the others who fell beneath the b&hammers of the Viking Kitties. I survived unclosed tags, RaTHergate, Sore Loserman, legions of stuned beebers (and beeber-like objects), the Swiftboating of John Kerry, Bellygirl, innumerable Helen Thomas shock images, the coming of Lootie, and opus after opus.
And of course I was there on that sad September morning when the current "war" began — thanks to Jim Robinson and freerepublic.com.
And, in the end, Jim Robinson is freerepublic.com. Without him and his magnificent web community of misfits, military men and women, ranters, paranoids, policy wonks, party men, gun nuts, Baptists, Calvinists, Catholics, chemtrail devotees, libertarians, librarians, Libras, and ordinary folks, the past ten years would have been infinitely less interesting, less exciting, and less entertaining.
Here's to you, Mr. Robinson, and to the ever-lovin', blue-eyed, All-American FreeRepublic.com — the 4,376th most popular site on the Web as of today.
And goodnight, Quidam, whoever you are.
Ten years, and not ONE opus? Get with it, man! :-)
Happy 10...
One of my long time FR rules is don’t mess with the Class of ‘98... they’re hardcore.
Happy anniversary, B-Chan! And many more.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I lurked on FR in Sept. 1998, and came to the March for Justice in October. I finally signed up on Dec. 31, 1998.
We made history, and will again.
Now, how many Freepers does it take to change a light bulb? ;)
LOL yeah... the first FR trannie...
happy FRanniversary! i am right behind you, with 10 years this Sept. I loved quidam. truly.
Why do I suddenly have ‘We didn’t start the fire’ stuck in my head?
Super great fantastic site !!! Thank you Jim R. !!!
To all the Freepers who put together the impeachment package -— WAY TO GO !!!
and thanks for being there on 9/11.
My liberal friends at work came to me that day asking for information. Their normal web sites were down and they wanted info. Free republic was the only reliable info source that horrible morning.
God bless President Bush for his strong firm response. May he get Bin L. before he leaves office.
Great slice of FR history! Thanks for posting.
Happy 10th B-Chan.... gee, in less than a month, I too will celebrate 10 years of FR. Thanks for bringing this up, and reflecting on some of the great moments shared on this forum. One I didn’t see mentioned was the morning of Feb. 1, 2003 and the initial reporting of the breakup of space Shuttle Columbia. I recall that FR had the earliest and as usual best information on the developments of that awful day.
And from the looks of the world today, there is an even greater need for FR in the near future. I hope to be right here for the next 10 at least!
Our FR class of '98 will always be remarked for its toughness and energy and its preference to fight in the trenches rather than in the armchairs.
Since I can't present you with a tangible anniversary gift, I hereby give you part of a quote from Sir Winston Churchill with my compliments and best wishes for ten more years gracing this board.
"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER!"
Happy Anniversary!
Leni/MinuteGal
Been here, done this, where is our T-Shirts?
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