How Free is Free Republic

kuro5hin.org ^ | Mon Dec 29th, 2003 at 09:53:55 PM EST | felixrayman

[visagoth]

I didn't find this posted here on FR - so here we go.....

	How Free is Free Republic? By felixrayman Mon Dec 29th, 2003 at 09:53:55 PM EST
	Free Republic is an online story and discussion site similar to Kuro5hin.org, but with an explicitly conservative bias. The site proclaims itself to be "an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web." Intrigued, I proceeded to offer some comments to stories there, addressing some factual errors and dissenting with some conservative views. The result was a quick lesson in the right-wing view of free expression. The experiment left an open question - where do you go on the web to engage conservatives in open debate? Where is the right-wing version of k5?

One article on the Free Republic site entitled "Dean Finally Shoots Self Somewhere Other Than Own Foot" attacks Howard Dean for his statement that "The capture of Saddam has not made America safer". The poster of the article goes on to claim, "If any of the Left is paying attention, Dean has just officially proven the he is DEFINITELY clueless when it comes to foreign policy. Another in a long line of RATS that just doesn't get it". My reply that "Actually it's pretty obvious that the capture of Saddam hasn't made the world safer - international airline flights had to be cancelled a few days ago due to threats of terrorism and in Iraq the last few days have been as bloody for coalition forces as the days before Saddam's capture" was removed by a moderator within a few minutes. A comment posted to another Free Republic story, "Howard Dean: The Mayor of Milwaukee", in an attempt to belittle Howard Dean's fiscal record claimed that the budget of one county in Illinois was larger than the budget of the state of Vermont. It claimed the budget of the County of DuPage, near Chicago, to be $1.6 billion, and that the budget for the entire state of Vermont was $73 million. After a quick google search, I found this assertion to be incorrect. The reply I posted 'The "$73 million" figure you quote is for the Vermont Municipal Employees' Retirement System, not the entire Vermont budget. Vermont's budget calls for 1.8 billion in state spending with another billion in federal spending', was removed within a few minutes. The Free Republic claims in its help section that, "While Free Republic is not edited or censored, it does reserve the right to remove any postings that are considered inappropriate. Examples of inappropriate posts are those that are off-subject or contain advertising, pornography, obscene material, racist material, Nazi (or other hate group) material, materials promoting violence, threats or illegal acts, etc". It would be interesting to know under which category my replies were considered to fall. For another example, a response to the story "You Might be a Leftist If . . ." read, in part "The only meaningful difference is between those who believe in the original intent interpretation of the Constitution and those who do not. Those who believe in the Constitution believe in individual liberty. Those who ignore or rewrite the Constitution do not believe in individual liberty. This is the only difference which matters. " I responded to this poster with the comment "Individual liberty? Didn't the constitution as written specifically allow for the continuation of slavery as an American institution"? Within minutes, the post was removed by a moderator. In addition, after this third reply, my ability to post comments on the site was revoked. So obviously, the Free Republic is not free, except in the sense that the German Democratic Republic was democratic, or the sense that supporting the PATRIOT Act is patriotic. Web site operators certainly have a right to set whatever rules they choose for their users. And a quick test showed that there are sites with a left-wing bias that are just as cowardly as Free Republic when it comes to allowing an actual debate. The question remains, are there any sites with a conservative bias that allow such debate?

Full discussion: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/12/27/173837/60

---

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. The Rest © 2000 - 2001 Kuro5hin.org Inc.

[Just Lori]

To the writer of the article: Start your own forum. Run it without any rules. Watch the nutballs show up. Give equal time to people that write "blah, blah, blah" or post gibberish until it becomes impossible to follow a thread because of the incoherence injected by people who want to destroy debate, not create it.

Can I get an "AMEN"? You go, Richard! Don't forget those who tell the same lie so many times that they come to believe it as the truth.

[Rebelbase]

"Saddam mathematically can no longer be expected to come back to power."

Im curious. Hypothetically speaking, what would be the Mathematical equasion that would allow Saddam to return to power?

[fourhorsemen]

This is a gathering place for conservatives only

Make that "pro-Bush" conservatives. I haven't been here long, but I've seen a lot of folks claiming to be conservatives who do nothing but denounce our President, thus in effect proclaiming their support for Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton. Those aren't the folks that I want to see in a Conservative news forum such as this.

[WOSG]

"Im curious. Hypothetically speaking, what would be the Mathematical equasion that would allow Saddam to return to power?"

Perhaps ... "Dean 54 - Bush 46" next November?

[SC Swamp Fox]

"Nobody said that Saddam's capture will stop ALL...."

Many of us agree, but the point here is that instead of making the arguement and refuting the post somebody hit the abuse button and convinced a MOD to pull the post.

The MODs are pretty quick on the trigger.

[Nachum]

It's being afraid to hear what you don't want to hear because YOU might end up being changed.

We here the "message" that this poster makes and others like him 24/7. Legitmate articles that demonstrate this message are posted here at FR all the time.

Furthermore, it is perfectly legitimate to ban trolls they use FR to promote their own site and to spam FR.

[zip]

kuro5hin.org

Why post left wing web sites? FR is a conservative site for conservative comments. period

[BobFromNJ]

Goog Point! You describe Liberals perfectly!

[glannon]

my point is that its a discussion site. there are going to be leftists there, but overall itdoesn't have a specific politics. just because one article is lefty, or talks about trolling freerepublic, doesn't mean that the whole site is left.

[zip]

Furthermore, it is perfectly legitimate to ban trolls they use FR to promote their own site and to spam FR

Great recap, it really says it all in one sentence.

[Valentine_W]

"I would have preferred to answer this fool and figuratively roasted him/her over a slow fire."

I agree. Even if the poster was sprewing trash and untruths, I think that many of the posters here have the capability to debate this person and prove their ideas wrong. It is better to confront evil, rather than flee it.

[Positive]

In the same post you wrote:
"We exercise" and
"We also exersize"

Does this mean that your admonishment to "check" before posting is no longer in force?

[hosepipe]

[ there are sites with a left-wing bias that are just as cowardly as Free Republic when it comes to allowing an actual debate ]

Just because a troll sounds intelligent don't mean he/she is intelligent...

I vote put this troll back under the bridge where it belongs.. because its the right thing to do..

[chicagolady]

THIS IS THE FREEP MAIL I RECEIVED FROM BEING ON THE IMMIGRATION PING LIST. I HAVE TRIED TO OBTAIN HELP, AND GET THIS GUY CHECKED OUT BECAUSE OF THE VULGARITY AND HAVE NEVER RECEIVED ANY RESPONSE.

CAN SOMEONE, LIKE THE LEAD MODERATOR HELP ME OUT??????



Re: Immigrants fear repeal of driver's license law
From _1_mexican_man_ | 12/12/2003 6:16:09 PM CST replied




thats fucked up you think that!
are you racist or something.hom would you like to run away from your home land, because times are hard, and then go the,"land of the free",and then find out that it was all faules advertisment. its not the land of the free it is the land of the stuck up white people who tax the hell out of all the poor people and get away with it because they have more money then they do! and now that they are considered out casts in america, cant get a license, and still pay taxes not to metion its hard to get a job for them. you fucking retard think about bothe sides of the story.

love-
wouldnt you like to know

[Jorge]

Don't forget we have objected to the Lefty's not allowing US to post or debate on DU or any on of the other sites they have.

Very good point. It would be nice to be able to say we are not afraid of taking on leftist propoganda in free and open debate, but I am afraid that is not the case, in this or any forum.
Those in control will always draw the line where they see fit, whether we agree with them or not. What else is new?

[Sidebar Moderator]

... I HAVE TRIED TO OBTAIN HELP, AND GET THIS GUY CHECKED OUT ...

Checked out, found wanting, kicked outta here.

[chicagolady]

Thank you!! Happy 2004.
Nice work.

[Vermonter]

ping for later

[Wil H]

"In addition to a right to free speech, there are other rights, such as the right of like minded people to associate. "

Sure, but the likemindedness that I originally subcribed to at this site included belief in the truth so why does a posting correcting a factual error get removed?

The truth doesn't hurt once you get used to it.

[Old Student]

more like burned to the ground, the site sowed with salt...