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.
#1. I don't recall talking to you but certainly you don't think that all these posters are upset for no good reason do you?
#2. Have you seen the posts about Nazis and murderers? Those posts would not have stood on FR a month ago.
#3. My points were all from court documents so if you have a problem with their weakness, take it up with the judge, not me.
ROTFLMAO!
I seem to recall that more left after the Elian thing....or maybe over the purging of the anti-freepers....wonder what will be next.....
Who are you again?
I know I am not a racist and the people who really know me know I am not a racist. That is all that really matters to me.
If he was interested he could have just asked me.
I am sure that all sorts of people will post all sorts of my posts now in an attempt to get me to run away and hide.
But I won't. I have been thru this before.
I learned the last time not to take it seriously.
I am kidding around here most of the time. I do forget that there is more than one person reading what I am posting, and that sometimes intent can get lost on a message board.
Sometimes I even say things I don't mean because I am mad. We all do that.
Most of the time when I am posting I feel as tho I am talking on the phone. I forget that it is in writing and someone-someday can get a hair across their butt and put it up for the world to critique.
So I should thank Poohbah for I learned a lesson today. And I will be better for it.
It's not a problem.
Ohhhh. . .(still hurts though. . . .JUST kidding, welcome back)
Ok....just for you, I'll triple it. In memory of Terri.
That's it in a nutshell. The trick is to make FR work for you, rather than against you. Mine the good, and eschew the bad.
Batman
If you think there is a better forum. then go post there.
Wrong Brooklin. Maine here.
Goodbye, Poohbah. You will be missed.
LOLOL......so I just found out. And it's fair enough, mostly people thought I was a he.......
That's cause it takes some brass ones to be here...not everyone is cut out for it.
That's not til Sunday...
I know most of the FReeper Lexicon, but that one escapes me.
Okay, well, I am sorry to see you go. As a relative newbie, I suppose I have no standing to make such a post.
Look, I'm sorry, I'm tired, I have a massive sinus infection and have already tried posting positive "please stay" posts on hchutch's thread.
But then, I haven't been here as long as you and I suppose it must bother you to see the forum change.
If it were me, however, I would just leave, as I have, for months at a time, when I found other things to do.
I wish you both would stay. But I think I have now had my fill of opuses. (opusi?) ;)
Take care...
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