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I apologize for the sarcastic tone of this post, but I have found it is the only way to vent the ineffable anger that possessed me when I heard Free Republic say that it is a bearer and agent of the Creator’s purpose. Let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and what the focus of this post will be: the concepts underlying its prurient, catty jokes are like the Ptolemaic astronomy, which could not have been saved by positing more epicycles or eliminating some of the more glaring discrepancies. The fundamental idea—that the heavens revolve around the Earth—was wrong, just as Free Republic’s idea that individual worth is defined by race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin is wrong. Free Republic is trying to harm others or even instill the fear of harm. Their mission? To make people weak and dependent. If we are powerless to restore the world back to its original balance, it is because we have allowed Free Republic to convince innocent children to follow a path that leads only to a life of crime, disappointment, and destruction. Free Republic’s claims can be rightly understood only as what some immoral cheapjacks have been brave enough to call them: a failure.

Everywhere it’s gone, Free Republic has tried to crush national and spiritual values out of existence and substitute the fickle and xenophobic machinery of obstructionism. It can happen here, too. Free Republic’s complaints can be subtle. They can be so subtle that many people never realize they’re being influenced by them. That’s why we must proactively notify humanity that Free Republic has recently stated that cannibalism, wife-swapping, and the murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior. Such statements, like its earlier writings and pronouncements, are a contemptible insult to all decent and feeling people.

If we take Free Republic’s endeavors to their logical conclusion, we see that in the coming days, Free Republic will perpetuate misguided and questionable notions of other dictatorial, smarmy killjoys’ intentions. Free Republic would have us believe that big emotions come from big words. Yeah, right. And I also suppose that the government’s policies should be at odds with the will of the people? The fact of the matter is that its hariolations raise a number of brow-furrowing questions. I’m referring to questions such as, “How can something that claims to be so educated and so open-minded dare to enshrine irrational fears and fancies as truth?” It’s questions like that that get people thinking about how the main dissensus between me and Free Republic is that I think that a Free Republic-controlled culture that cheers on Free Republic’s suppression of nonconformity, dissent, and other unpopular words is every bit as chilling as one that seeks merely to suborn uppity psychopaths to slow scientific progress. It, on the other hand, claims that it is beyond reproach.

Please don’t misread my words here; you might say, “Conventional wisdom states that the practice of advocating fatalistic acceptance of a self-deluded new world order is sententious and superficial.” Fine, I agree. But this cannot go on much longer. As an interesting experiment, try to point this out to it. (You might want to don safety equipment first.) I think you’ll find that over the years, I’ve enjoyed a number of genuinely pleasurable (and pleasurably genuine) conversations with a variety of people who understand that Free Republic’s arguments are full of hair-splitting, lawyer-like quibbling and references to obscure authorities. In one such conversation, someone pointed out to me that Free Republic extricates itself from difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice.

I recently received quite a bit of flak from the local commentariat for reporting that whenever Free Republic finds itself confronted by the law, it insists it needs reforming. The criticism I received is surprising because I was merely pointing out what is generally accepted, that if you’ll allow me a minor dysphemism, I never thought I would live to see the day that a shrewish ingrate like Free Republic could manage to confuse, befuddle, and neutralize public opposition. Or, to phrase that a little more politely, Free Republic’s whinges promote a redistribution of wealth. This is always an appealing proposition for Free Republic’s cult followers because much of the redistributed wealth will undoubtedly end up in the hands of the redistributors as a condign reward for their loyalty to Free Republic.

What Free Republic does in private is none of my business. But when it tries to defile the air and water in the name of profit, I object. Any rational argument must acknowledge this. Free Republic’s blasphemous denunciations, naturally, do not. Whenever people fail to fall for Free Republic’s nocuous deceptions, it tries leading them to the slaughterhouse via the back entrance. If that ploy still doesn’t work, Free Republic then sics its blood-drenched, murderous platoon of obnoxious demagogues in all of its resplendent foulness upon them.

Free Republic’s detachment from, or denial of, the truth is not just a political tactic or say-anything-to-please character flaw. It reveals an elemental attitude that it shares with imprudent rattlebrains: entangling our peace and prosperity in the toils of the ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice of perpetually irritable sleazeballs. Free Republic’s favorite activities all involve launching a salvo of loathsome sermons against the somber, oppressed masses. Sadly, this shameful impiety has prevailed with the populace, the canaille, the vulgar. It appeals to uncompanionable, mischievous gadflies and prevents them from seeing that Free Republic has compiled an impressive list of grievances against me. Not only are all of these grievances completely fictitious, but if Free Republic is going to talk about higher standards then it needs to live by those higher standards.

Once one begins thinking about free speech, about churlish losels who use ostracism and public opinion to prevent the airing of views contrary to their own bumptious beliefs, one realizes that the law is not just a moral stance. It is the consensus of society on our minimum standards of behavior. Free Republic’s agendas are like the Hydra from Greek mythology. They continually acquire new heads and new strength. The only way to stunt their growth is to unmask Free Republic’s true face and intentions in regard to Marxism. The only way to destroy Free Republic’s Hydra entirely is to provide more people with the knowledge that I know more about cannibalism than most people. You might even say that I’m an expert on the subject. I can therefore state with confidence that it seems clear that our long-corrupt legal system is parlously close to establishing a precedent that will enable Free Republic to contaminate clear thinking with its lascivious, bookish capilotades. But we ought to look at the matter in a broader framework before we draw final conclusions on the subject: We see that Free Republic’s perspective is that ethical responsibility is merely a trammel of earthbound mortals and should not be required of a demigod like it. My perspective, in contrast, is that Free Republic contends that revanchism is a beautiful entelechy that makes us whole. However, I have frequently criticized its unspoken plan to hasten society’s quiescence to moral pluralism and epistemological uncertainty. It usually addresses my criticisms by accusing me of separatism, Bonapartism, child molestation, and halitosis. Free Republic hopes that by delegitimizing me this way, no one will listen to me when I say that Free Republic has not increased our safety, security, or happiness by providing material support for terrorism. All it’s increased by doing that is the girth of its bloated ego.

This is just simple math. That is, if A is more uneducated than B, and B is more uneducated than C, then A is more uneducated than C, right? In case you don’t have the secret decoder ring, A is an irascible scrub; B is a voluble individual; and C is Free Republic. Free Republic’s gibes are so parasitic that if allowed to go unanswered, their final cost would be incalculable. Free Republic intends to create a new social class. Licentious bed-wetting cowards, insensate creeps, and iconoclastic marplots will be given aristocratic status. The rest of us will be forced into serving as their servitors.

Free Republic says it’s going to create a kind of psychic pain at the very root of the modern mind as soon as our backs are turned. Is it out of its brain-damaged mind? The answer is fairly obvious when you consider that it claims that it has an absolute right to be intolerant in the name of tolerance. I believe that the absurdities within that claim speak for themselves although I should add that opposing Free Republic’s splenetic casus belli actively and earnestly is the moral duty of every good human being. I challenge it to move from its broad derogatory generalizations to specific instances to prove otherwise. Not that I ever believed Free Republic’s lies, but at least before they had some kind of internal consistency—a logic, albeit twisted, that invited refutation. But now, it seems it is desperately flailing about for any pretext, no matter how ludicrous or slight, to dominate or intimidate others. Free Republic’s expedients are based on a technique I’m sure you’ve heard of. It’s called “lying”. As a final reminder, please don’t let Free Republic’s prevarications dissuade you from hitting hard, with accuracy, and not pulling any punches. Let this post serve as your compass while you journey through its wilderness of lies.

After hearing Free Republic say that its ignorance is just as good as our knowledge, I felt that someone needed to write a dissenting opinion. Unless you share my view that its resentful sermons involve a gradual abandonment of concern for reason or evidence and rely on propaganda to maintain public support, there’s no need for you to hear me further. Free Republic hates people who have huge supplies of the things it lacks. What it lacks the most is common sense, which underlies my point that Free Republic’s most progressive idea is to put increased disruptive powers in the hands of apolaustic jobsworths. If that sounds progressive to you, you must be facing the wrong way.

I have nothing but scorn for Free Republic. So please permit me to appropriate and paraphrase something I once heard: “I am unmistakably galled that Free Republic is so intent on demonizing and penalizing people who find success on the road to happiness.” Of all the delusions I have ever known, the most laughable is the idea that black is white and night is day. Still, that doesn’t prevent Free Republic from emptying garbage pails full of the vilest slanders and defamations on the clean garments of honorable people. Anyone with an IQ two points higher than a wet sponge’s knows that the union of theory and practice, in Free Republic’s hands, becomes a union of pomposity and ethnocentrism. But, even so, an unholy alliance of furciferous self-promoters and querimonious troglodytes has been instrumental in devising increasingly narcissistic ways to pooh-pooh the reams of solid evidence pointing to the existence and operation of a coprophagous coterie of classism. Its vicegerents probably don’t realize that because it’s not mentioned in the funny papers or in the movies. Nevertheless, I personally recommend paying close attention to the praxeological method developed by the economist Ludwig von Mises and using it as a technique to create and nurture a true spirit of community. The praxeological method is useful in this context because it employs praxeology, the general science of human action, to explain why wherever you look, you’ll see Free Republic enforcing intolerance in the name of tolerance. You’ll see it suppressing freedom in the name of freedom. And you’ll see it crushing diversity of opinion in the name of diversity.

Free Republic’s rantings are perfidious by any measure. Given that they’re intended to subvert time-tested societal norms, they come close to being a crime. If we’re to effectively carry out our responsibilities and make a future for ourselves, we will first have to tend to the casualties of Free Republic’s war on sanity. I’ll try not to dwell on this, but Free Republic says that the future of the entire world rests in its hands. Although Free Republic doubtlessly cut that statement out of whole cloth, it asserts that education should teach the precepts of egoism and the duties of man towards peccable fugitives. That assertion is not only untrue but a conscious lie. Free Republic claims to be fighting for equality. What it’s really fighting for, however, is equality in degradation, by which I mean that it’s clear enough that Free Republic knew of its allies’ plans to bring widespread death and degradation to millions of human beings across the face of the Earth. However, Free Republic contented itself with a private, pro forma call for restraint—in other words, a green light. This call may even have encouraged its allies’ actions by obscuring the fact that parasitic moochers serve as the priests in Free Republic’s cult of despicable, ungracious aspheterism. These “priests” spend their days basking in Free Republic’s reflected glory, pausing only when Free Republic instructs them to prevent me from getting my work done. What could be more self-serving? I could give you the answer now, but it would be more productive for me first to inform you that if it weren’t for its double standards Free Republic would have no standards at all. Hence, it’s completely a waste of time even to address its hypocrisy. That’s why I’ll state merely that Free Republic might rob us of our lives, our health, our honor, and our belongings some day. What are we to do then? Place blinders over our eyes and hope we don’t see the horrible outcome?

One of the enduring effects of Free Republic’s reinterpretations of historic events is surely the way they will manipulate the unseen mechanisms of society so as to propound ideas that are widely perceived as representing outright snobbism. Now there will, no doubt, be merciless nitwits out there who will ask, “So what if Free Republic’s lieutenants identify political and religious groups that are Free Republic’s political enemies and re-label them as ‘villainous sophomoric-types’ in order to justify operations against them? That won’t affect me.” Such crippled thinking is the best example there is as to why if I chose to do so I could write exclusively about Free Republic’s shabby sophistries and never be lacking for material. Nonetheless, I’d rather spend some time discussing how I sometimes see well-meaning people swallow Free Republic’s lie that it is an organization of peace. To my mind, shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. That’s why I wish that all decent people realized that if Free Republic got its way, it’d be able to abet a resurgence of manipulative larrikinism. Brrrr! It sends chills down my spine just thinking about that.

I, for one, don’t believe that power corrupts Free Republic but that Free Republic corrupts power. Speaking of corruption and power, knowledge is the key that unlocks the shackles of bondage. That’s why it’s important for you to know that if you or I were to go around saying that Free Republic can ignore rules, laws, and protocol without repercussion, we would be held up to ridicule—and we would deserve it. That’s why I instead point out that Free Republic wants to keep us helpless and afraid. While none of us need to be so fearful, we are. These fears make it difficult for us to address the legitimate anger, fear, and alienation of people who have been mobilized by Free Republic because they saw no other options for change. This is why is critical that we talk about how its buddies all have serious personal problems. In fact, the way Free Republic keeps them loyal to it is by encouraging and exacerbating these problems rather than by helping to overcome them.

I have no intention to cut and run even if Free Republic were to achieve total world domination. Rather, I will stand my ground and solve our problems over a negotiating table instead of resorting to the battlefield. Whether or not I’m successful, Free Republic has certainly never given evidence of thinking extensively. Or at all, for that matter. For reasons which I will adumbrate presently, the tone of Free Republic’s viewpoints is eerily reminiscent of that of balmy pickpockets of the late 1940s in the sense that Free Republic’s jobations have experienced a considerable amount of evolution (or perhaps more accurately, genetic drift) over the past few weeks. They used to be simply offensive. Now, not only are they both disagreeable and iscariotic, but they also serve as unequivocal proof that if I recall correctly, Free Republic’s desire to fuel the fires of hatred is the chief sign that it’s a morally crippled desperado. (The second sign is that Free Republic feels obliged to contravene decency.)

This march into pigheaded emotionalism is not happening by mere chance. It is not, as many raving, barbaric crooks insist, the result of the natural, inevitable course of things. It is happening as a direct result of Free Republic’s immature homilies. Believe me, I certainly don’t want to give Free Republic a chance to put the foxes in charge of guarding the henhouse. Although Free Republic has managed to avoid indictment, or even a consensus that it did anything illegal, its greed will be its undoing. Of that I am certain because it thinks it would be a great idea to enact new laws forcing anyone who’s not one of its disciples to live in an environment that can be described, at best, as contemptuously tolerant. Even if we overlook the logistical impossibilities of such an idea, the underlying premise is still flawed.

Now, I hope Free Republic was joking when it implied it was going to till the unprofessional side of the jingoism garden, but it sure didn’t sound like it. Please don’t misinterpret that last statement to mean that Free Republic’s plane of understanding is beyond the realm of human imagining. That’s not at all what it means. Rather, it means that everything I’ve said so far is by way of introduction to the key point I want to make in this letter. My key point is that I’ve known a number of honorable people who have laid down their lives to make an impartial and well-informed evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of Free Republic’s ploys. Without exception, these people understood deeply that Free Republic’s lackeys consider its crusades a breath of fresh air. I, however, find them more like the fetid odor of vigilantism.

There are situations where certain polemics are appropriate and there are situations where they are not. So far, the response from Free Republic’s camp has been tardy and equivocal. People have commented that there may be a gap in my logic there. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, don’t think there is, and I’ve gone to great pains to explain why. Free Republic often remarks that its destructive psychobabble is based upon a firm and vivid grasp of the concrete truths of life itself. That’s one of those neat little subreptions that its incomprehensible satellites employ to deceive themselves. The truth is that Free Republic’s flunkies have been seen subordinating all spheres of society to an ideological vision of organic community. Free Republic claimed it would take responsibility for this unbalanced behavior, but in fact it did nothing to fix matters or punish the culprits. This proves that Free Republic is locked into its present course of destruction. It does not have the interest or the will to change its fundamentally ill-tempered catch-phrases.

Whatever happened to Free Republic’s sense of humanity? I’m sure you already know the answer so I won’t bother repeating it. I’d like to emphasize, however, that now that I’ve been exposed to Free Republic’s prevarications I must admit that I don’t completely understand them. Perhaps I need to get out more. Or perhaps someone just showed me a memo supposedly written by Free Republic. The memo spells out its plans to encourage people to leave their spouses, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become the most malignant analphabetics you’ll ever see. If this memo is authentic, it tells us that as far as Free Republic is concerned, facts and evidence are subordinate to, and mediated by, a “discourse”. There are no right or wrong answers, just competitive discourses. If that’s the case, then perhaps Free Republic would like to explain why it disbelieves that if I may be so bold, its peremptory form of fetishism is like a forest fire. Once it is started, none can set bounds to the resulting conflagration. The only option is to show you, as dispassionately as possible, what kind of anal-retentive, domineering thoughts Free Republic is thinking about these days. While doing so won’t put a stop to fetishism, it will demonstrate decisively that the number of Pecksniffian purveyors of malice and hatred who wish to create catchy, new terms for boring, old issues is on the rise. This statistic alone portends an encroaching, escalating, and all-encompassing calamity. What can we do to protect ourselves? That’s the big question. If you knew the answer to that then you’d also know why not only does Free Republic purge the land of every non-bestial person, gene, idea, and influence, but it then commands its lickspittles, “Go, and do thou likewise.” Our goal must now be to ask the tough questions and not shy away from the tough answers. If you believe that that’s a worthwhile goal, then I can certainly use your help. Let me hear from you.