Posted on 06/25/2002 3:42:21 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
The following email is being circulated to our members by various disgruntled former FReepers:
Subject: The Future of Our Free RepublicDear Fellow Free Republic Member,
Many of us at Free Republic are distressed by the extraordinary level of censorship that has been so obviously going on. It is very obvious that individual posts, entire threads, and the entire work of members who have been highly regarded are disappearing into a Memory Hole.
Scores of us have organized an e-mail network that is independent of the communication controls presently, and sadly, being used at our Free Republic. We have carefully documented the unmistakeable evidence that most of the posts, threads, and posters that are vaporized completely are overwhelmingly targeted for their political stance on the Right. These are not Leftwingers. These are not even Middle-of-the-Roaders. These are not disruptors. These are not foul-mouthed delinquents. These are fellow patriots on the Right who disagree with the controllers of FR on specific issues that are now hotly debated by the Right. We have documented that FR will parade before you, as if to hide all of the great posters whose work has been destroyed, a straw-man delinquent that has been banned. This is deceptive.
Treating these fellow patriots on the Right so shabbily is not right. As shabbily as those banned into the Memory Hole are being treated, the most shabbily treated of all are all of the good folks on Free Republic themselves. We came here for honest debate. Free Republic advertised itself as a Forum for honest debate. Without that honest debate...everything at Free Republic becomes shabby.
We can do much better. As a measure of how intense the simmering feelings have gotten among members on this unjustifiable use of deleting, censoring, and banning please link to the following thread. You will notice that one simple and sincere plea from one of our finest members has spontaneously touched off a prairie fire of approximately 500 posts in a mere 18 hours. If it isn't Memory Holed this thread may shoot into the thousands.
If you would like to receive anonymous updates of information concerning the hundreds of Freepers who have networked via e-mail to restore the wonderful honest debate to Free Republic, just drop an e-mail of just one or two words if you like for extreme brevity to:
StopCensoringUs@hotmail.com
And, here's that link back to the snowballing thread at FR:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/704701/posts
Thank you so much for giving your thought to this vital matter for our Internet home.
Sincerely, StopCensoringUs@hotmail.com
So I, along with any other latecomers to the thread, am left to wonder what it was that GWV said that got pulled. Was it a racist comment? Not a chance. GWV woould never post anything like that. Well then, was it a personal attack? Again, no way. GWV uses his wit and humor, not anger and threats. Okay, then he must have used profanity. Nope, it couldn't be. He has better manners than that.
So what on earth could GWV have done to incur the dreaded delete from the PTB?? Inquiring minds are wondering. Maybe I can figure it out by reading any replies he may have gotten before his reply was killed.
Maybe he said that Alan Keyes, Larry Klayman, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and Bob Barr were his heroes...
Naahhh... that would just get him beat up on by the Party animals. Had to be something much more controversial...
Still trying to figure this one out....
Sounds like a good philosophy to me. And it appears you've been here & made it through the major feuds to date. Would you agree that there are people on both sides that do the things you despise, or do you think that the "dividers" are either all "Bushbots" or all "Bush-bashers"?
If you say you sent $100.00, I'll trust that you did. Did you include a note requesting that Demi be deleted? Let me know before I match your contribution, so I can be sure to include my own note, if necessary.
I don't 'love' demidog, whatever that means. He is not a brother in arms, whatever THAT means. Politically we could not disagree more. Philosophically, we disagree on most subjects and issues. He knows I am a huge Bush fan. I know he isn't.
Jim isn't running an operation here like the Mafia or the Clinton types would, no matter what you think. You can't buy people off the forum. But if you want to make the offer, then it is reasonable for someone else (me in this case) to make a counter offer. So we both did. Neither will be given any consideration, but FR will benefit. Not a bad thing.
Let me know about that note before I send the $! Thanks in advance.
Donor says this is to ban DemiDog!
Keep it up DemiDog, you're doing great for our fund-raiser!
Thank You FReeper!
Dang tempted to go through with it too
Having said that, I'm sending you $100.00 to persuade you NOT to ban him, because I really hate to see bannings going to the highest bidder.
But....it would be interesting to see what people would be willing to pay to silence each other, or to bail each other out of purgatory. Obviously I'd be exempt, because I thought of the idea, and besides--who'd want to see ME banned? No one, of course!
So, $100.00 is on it's way. Let Lowell know when you get it, thanks so much.
Donor says this was to match the other ban DemiDog donor, and, as a bonus, suggests the FReepers take up a ban Tpaine challenge. What say ye, any bidders? Going once... going twice... LOL
Thank You FReeper!
(Say, this could get interesting)
Read ya loud and clear, Unsycophant! You did fully honor your word and for that I say thank you...See ya next quarter as agreed.
Low OiL
C'mon, now ... admit it ... it was fun having Michael Rivero around because it was so enjoyable being able to post all of those tin-foil hat pics and go on and on and on about the Masons, the Knights Templar, the Bilderburgers, the Trilateral Commission, the Skull and Bones, and all of those other secret organizations who, according to ol' Michael were running the world from the shadows.
At least I know that dighton and I enjoyed ourselves.
Kind of like we do with Justin Raimondo and all of the scheisse from LewRockwell.com. 8')
Yes, and isn't anything worth doing worth doing well?
Just think, if it weren't for Justin, and Michael, and Lew, you wouldn't have learned how to do that.
So, don't we all owe them a vote of thanks for them just being who they are:
... such fun to rip on?!
To my knowledge, it does.
I wholeheartedly agree as long as LF keeps itself from becoming a springboard for AF-type activity. And the same for FR. But threads like this one and This one and this onedon't bode well for it. As a matter of fact, a search on "freerepublic" turns up pages and pages of activity. And I noticed that your "liberty" site only allows certain people on the board which is a type of censorship. Hello.
I have an idea. How about a truce? We stop talking about LF and LF stops talking about us. Deal?
In order to do that, we'd have to attempt to control the thoughts and expressions of LF posters.
That may be OK for FR... but it is contrary to the purpose and philosophy of LF.
LF has not been, and won't be used to organize Eschoir style harrassment of FR. But neither will criticism (of either FR, or LF, or anything else for that matter) be censored there.
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