A call for civility on Free Republic

I enjoy this forum, but lately I've noticed a troubling tendency for posters here to descend into horrible and immature name-calling. Such name-calling, and extremism without reason does nothing but harm our cause. It turns off casual lurkers and readers of this forum. It provides fodder for this forum to be demonized and non-respected elsewhere. Below I provide a few examples. I call on Freepers to stop using such terms voluntarily. If that doesn't work, I call on the moderators to warn, if not censor, posters who use such terms. I realize that Democratic Underground uses even more ridiculous terms sometimes. However, your opponents' choice to frolack in waste does not provide an excuse to do likewise. Rather, it provides an opportunity to rise above, and show one's intellectual and moral superiority. Without more, I present a few examples of the type of garbage I'm talking about. I call on fellow posters to add their own.

1) "Hitlery" -- I dislike Hillary Clinton's politics, and what I know of her personality. However, nothing she has said or done (including her love-fest with Suha Arafat) justifies comparing her to one of the worst monsters in all history. Doing so not only demeans the Holocaust, and all the war dead of WWII, it makes a mockery of this forum to allow it to be posted.

2) "Demorat" -- This is just stupid. Calling your opponent a rodent does nothing to promote conservatism or libertarianism. It does everything to make posters and this forum look like intellectual infants, prone to tantrums and incapable of rational debate. We disagree with Democrats. We should not dehumanize them, or think them so below us that we need not engage them in debate and triumph.

3) "McInsane" & etc. -- John McCain is a conservative, loyal Republican. Indeed, in some areas -- such as controlling spending -- he's far more conservative then Bush. However, he is also a mavarick who doesn't tow the party line -- and, in my opinion, sometimes perhaps puts his principles below his desire to win applauds from the media. That being said, his ACU rating is strong, and he has put legitimate personal disagreements with Bush behind him to support what's best for his party -- and, more importantly -- his country. Feel free to critique McCain. Feel free to disagree with him when he criticizes fellow Republicans or takes an odd liberal stand. However, do not resort to petty name-calling -- especially not name calling that implies he lacks mental faculties, and/or is evil. It's just not right.

So I have written. I hope that a silent majority of Freepers agree with me here.

I have no problem with people poking fun at Senators Kerry, Clinton, Michael Moore, the ANSWER brigade, Sex Workers For Kerry, et al. Those people and groups are part of the world of politics, and as such are fair game for ridicule on the basis of their words and deeds.

On the other hand, the act of making fun of individual people outside of the direct political line of fire (especially women) on the basis of their physical attributes or other factors over which they have no control is uncivil, rude, and not in keeping with the knightly spirit of conservatism. For example, Mrs. Edwards' weight has precisely nothing to do with the issues facing our country, and the Kerry daughters inherited those noses — they didn't choose them. I understand that it's a free country and feelings can run high, but I fail to see how coarse behavior on our part advances the cause. The DUmmies often ridicule the President's long upper lip, which sometimes makes him look like he's smirking — does their riducule make their ideas look more attractive, or are they actually driving people away with such adolescent antics? Are they the example we want to follow?

One of the many things that originally attracted me to FR was the atmosphere of civility that pervades this site. During the Clinton years, for example, those posters who occasionally made fun of Chelsea Clinton's appearance, dress, etc. were regularly admonished by other posters on the basis of honor. As long as she was a minor, or was simply supporting her folks out of family loyalty, she was off limits to the sort of roundhouse insults that her parents (rightfully) received. It wasn't until Chelsea Clinton was an adult and placed herself in the public eye that she became fair game. The restraint shown by Freepers regarding the then-President's daughter had nothing to do with political correctness or new-age "tolerance" or "diversity" or any of that crap; instead, it was motivated my the ancient and very conservative idea that Christian soldiers do not make war upon innocent noncombatants. This air of chivalry did much to convince me of the soundness and consistency of the worldview presented on this forum, and led in part to my decision to join it some six years ago.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy lambasting Mecca al-Moor and the rest of the scurvy crew as much as the next guy. I'm not saying we have to be prima donnas or oversensitive Casper Milquetoasts here. All I'm saying is let's keep our eye on the real battle, which is the battle of ideas. Legitimate criticism of our opponents' ideas, beliefs (or lack thereof) or policy proposals is one thing; schoolyard heckling of individuals or their family members solely upon the basis of their nose size or the width of their ass or whatever is stupid and counterproductive, not to mention uncouth. The more stupid, uncivil, and uncouth we are, the more like the DUmmies, MoveOnners, and the naked idiots running riot in the streets of New York right now we become. I personally don't see how that's going to help us get rid of abortion or close the borders.

Sermon over. My two cents, and worth what it cost you to read it.

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