Hey Meek! Is that Chicken Little pic I saw on
another thread part of an animated GIF?This pic?
I found that on a Google Search a long time ago.
It was just a JPG.
Posted on 04/01/2005 4:26:00 PM PST by Poohbah
First, this is NOT an April Fool's joke.
I am leaving Free Republic.
Over the past two years, civility and thoughtful discourse has vanished from this site, replaced with demands for ideological conformity that are straight out of Stalinist Russia or China's Great Cultural Revolution, and unrelenting uncivility if said conformance is not forthcoming. This trend began with the California recall election, where certain posters were allowed to flame the living beejezus out of those who didn't wholeheartedly support Tom McClintock, or thought that he wasn't running a campaign capable of winning. It extended into the Keyes campaign last year, where any critique of Keyes' campaign strategy was shrilly flamed, despite the obviously flawed execution of his campaign.
(Aside: one person who flamed me during the Keyes mess later said that he hadn't intended to start a fight with his remarks that accused me of homosexuality, pedophilia, and other evils; I was instantly reminded of the time I had to bail one of my Marines out of the local lockup. "Honest, Sarge," this Marine told me, "I didn't mean to start a fight when I called that Army Ranger a faggot." My response was not [and still isn't] suitable for public consumption.)
Since then, the Terri Schiavo case has pushed FR over the edge. We had posts calling for people to ensure that "accidents" to befall Schiavo and Judge Greer. We had posts praying that Iran would soon develop nuclear weapons, so that they could destroy the United States. And until the FBI started making arrests, those posts were allowed to stay up, completely abnegating Free Republic's standards.
We had people on both sides of the issue point out that the Schindlers were associating with some people of extremely low character, and that our uncritical embrace of these parties would not rebound to our favor. Rather reasonable attitudes to take, actually; but the loudest of the loud were in no mood to think.
My personal favorite was the following exchange:
The issue is not legality, but public opinion. Which will not be helped in this case if the pro-Terry side becomes associated in the media with Christian Identity, white supremicists, neo-nazis, racists and/or anti-semites.
Diva Betsy Ross made a valiant attempt to...ahem...whitewash Christian Identity, but it didn't work.
To top things off, we had people embracing as some sort of conservative icon, to the extent of posting a fundraising link.
I always thought that conservatism valued thinking over feeling, careful contemplation of facts over wild-eyed repetition of every damn rumor to come down the pipe, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. For a while, Free Republic met those criteria in spades.
Those days are long gone, and I have serious doubt as to whether or not they're coming back.
I know that many of the usual suspects will cheer this on, as their longtime nemesis is leaving them the field.
Be careful what you wish for; you are in the process of getting it. You may succeed in driving the folks who disagree with you from the site; but you will end up being just another collection of shrill voices in Bedlam. When everything is an over-the-top scream, no one will be heard.
Farewell.
Ever been on one of the drug war threads? Novus Ordo vs. Latin Mass threads? Calvinism vs. free will? Immigration threads (that which spawned a thousand polls, I never participated in any of those threads because I wasn't interested, and the anti-Terris could have done the same)? Any thread having to do with anything having to do with the Confederacy? Bush-supporters no matter what vs. Keyes/Buchanan/McCain supporters, etc.? Or, heaven forbid..a creation/evolution behemoth thread?
People disagree, and sometimes uncivilly, and sometimes they're not open to what others have to say. That doesn't make them evil because they happen to be on the other side of a particular matter.
Actually, I have, since DAY ONE.
Dear 68 grunt,
"I disagree! Sinkspur has been around a long time and he and I are often on opposite sides in opinion. His debate is civil and attempts to employ calm rationale."
Well, sinkspur is actually my friend, and we're often on the SAME sides of issues. Not always, but often. Likely well more than half of the time.
And as much as we disagree on somethings, I will always count him my friend.
However, you praise him in absence of the thing for which you claim him worthy.
Here is a bit of sinkspur on this thread:
***
You're part of the problem, dirtbag.
You and your knuckle-dragging cohorts are not going to dominate this forum.
Nobody supported starving anybody; it's just that you, and others with shoe-sized IQs, have such a limited mental capacity to make distinctions and to support the rule of law, that you had to characterize those who didn't roll in the dirt as "murderers."
Relish your sanctimony. It's all you've got.
388 posted on 04/01/2005 8:34:23 PM EST by sinkspur (I'm in the WPPFF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 363 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
***
That seems a bit past "civil," and employs absolutely no "calm rationale."
It's certainly not the worst post on the thread, but it's pretty far from "civil," "calm," or engendering any sort of intelligent discussion. It's just the hurling of insults.
In fact, you call your poster shrill, yet many of sinkspur's posts ON THIS VERY THREAD, including the one cited above, are quite shrill.
sitetest
BTW- you are right about taking this place and the internet, and what people post too seriously. Of course anyone who really gets off on attacking anonymous people over the internet has some serious issues. I learned that from a bud once.
Damn I missed that... distorting Jim's words to attack even him. I'm used to my own words being distorted like that, but this is beyond the pale.
Jeesh
baseball...
hmmmm- what's babeball
Boy, is my face every red.
1. Some of us that have been here for a while are getting scarcer and lonely
2. FR needs to keep debates healthy ( although, there is the old saying about arguing on the Internet is like running in the Special Olympics...)
3. The paranoid part of me suspects this is what the powers that be ( Democrat or Republican, MSM ) would like to see happen--the death of a very vibrant political forum.
DITTO!!
If this was anything other than an April Fools joke, I would be both surprised...and cheering.
It would be One Less abusive, wacko, do-nothing "extremist posting" who postures as an expert in defense, economics and foreign policy, when in fact he is horribly ignorant, and a lot of people who swallowed the bilge he dished out are going to have to think for themselves now...and maybe learn something, rather than rely on such a thin reed waving in the wind.
A game Mr. Gun likes to play with me from time-to-time.....
I rest my case. Enjoy your pedestal. To me, and the folks who have filled my mailbox with concurring FReepmails, it's you who have outed yourself as having a highly divergent agenda.
Cool, you've got your own clique, how sweet.
That was my observation as well.
Hey Meek! Is that Chicken Little pic I saw on
another thread part of an animated GIF?This pic?
I found that on a Google Search a long time ago.
It was just a JPG.
Nope, never encountered most of them, and haven't put together any sort of organization or label, and don't intend to. But feel free to continue to rack up the personal attacks, so when I am ready to present my case that you are the real disruptor here, I've got as big a pile of documentation as possible (not that it's not already more than sufficient).
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