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.
You said..."Read an interesting line in Camus's "THE REBEL" the other night which applies in spades where eugencists are concerned: "They love a man who does not yet exist."
Probably the most deadly "human" compassion there is."
Great little gem of a post...
Someday...time permitting...I had intended to do some research and do a post on postmodernism...and its relationship to many of the cultural, political, and economic trends we see.
I think that perhaps you may be a good person to do that thread.... I might have called it 'Postmodern Cultural Nihilism'
Euthanasia?
Is that your defense for it? "Everyone is doing it"?
Let me get this straight, you're quoting (Marxist-derivitive) Existentialism on humanity? Existentialism is a gateway philosopy to Marxism-Leninism. It is foremost materialist. It subordinates humanity to material circumstance.
..."They love a man who does not yet exist."
Isn't character, society and even civilization, based upon the pursuit of ideals more than simply material necessity?
Don't let the "Sinkspurs" of this Forum succeed in censoring the traditional Christian view here from the News Forum, as they brag to have done with the Religion Forum already, Jim.
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They are persistent and clever, I have to give them that. Quite interesting to watch how they operate.
Anyone with a bit of sense knows what Jim meant when he said FACT but some needed to take it out of context. Here is Peach putting down Jim all day -
Right. Facts don't matter. We get it.
Interceded with the personal attacks? He's on the side of those making the attacks.
He said the other night to Trinity that "Facts" don't matter.
When the owner tells people that facts don't matter, you have to wonder why any of us have done a lick of research all these years.
Oh, and perhaps you didn't know but the owner of the site said it the other night. "Facts" don't matter.
And besides, we've been told by the owner of the site that "facts" don't matter.
And remember, "facts" don't matter, or so we've been told.
Well, they've been indoctrinated into the new way of doing things. We all know that "facts" don't matter. The owner of the web site says so. LOL
After all, we all know that "facts" don't matter.
The venom makes it impossible to have a conversation. And remember, the "facts" don't matter.
Name calling was not discouraged and we were told by the owner of the site that "facts" don't matter.
And remember...Facts do not matter. Not here. Not anymore. The owner of the site said so.
But just think, we don't need to do that anymore. Because "facts" don't matter.
Since the "facts" don't matter and all.
And never forget the new rules. Facts do not matter.
Who is trashing? I'm reporting the facts as reported on MSNBC.
Okay, so you support euthanasia. You are like Kevorkian.
Never thought I'd see anyone say such a thing on FR. But at least you are honest.
If the question was hypothetical, what was your point?
Say everyone knew for sure that she wanted to die. Do you think she should have been "helped" to die?
And BTW, no, I just don't have the time to follow you around on FR every day reading your posts.
I share the same view as you regarding the Schiavo situation. However, I mostly remember you from the illegal alien threads so all i can say is... good riddance, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
You think that's a lot of tinfoil?
What are the chances that most of Bush 42's key advisors would be walking the corridors of Nixon's White House at the SAME TIME that Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Fulbright and maybe even Mondale -- IOW, the next two Dem Presidents and a couple of Bob Dole-style ringers -- were hanging out at some poly-sci professor's house in some backwater Arkansas college town?
(HINT: 100%)
Did you miss the part above where I pointed out that the key architects of Germany's "applied biology" ended up the key architects of our "unified theory" and population control schtick and many of those (along with their American counterparts) studied in Russia as well as Germany?
It's a small world after all ... it's a small world after all ... it's a small, small world ...
Dudes, get your @sses back here after you've reflected on this a bit. Don't let anyone on this forum drive you away -- I think the interesting "original" characters that populate this place are what it's all about, regardless of what transpires between Freepers on any given issue.
Did you see #1275?
tired, time for bed, good night, will read and thing tomorrow.
I missed all the fun.....happily since I have plenty of foes here already courtesy of South bashing and La Migra threads but:
WHY ARE SO MANY "WHAT CULTURE WAR?" TYPES HERE FALLING ON THEIR SWORDS OR EATING THEIR OWN(?)
...not that I'm complaining
I suggest you read Camus sometime.
You might as well be chiding me for hailing the leftist Nat Henthoff's treatment of Terri Shiavo when his article puts 99.9% of the "right's" key infotainment artists to the shame they so richly deserve.
Camus, like Henthoff, does not quite fit the pigeon hole in which Namecallers would stuff him.
THE REBEL is work every man of conscience ought to read.
=== THE REBEL is work every man of conscience ought to read.
At least once.
Thomas Molnar's "Utopia, The Perennial Heresy" makes a nice companion piece.
I was just saying goodnight on another thread..Yes, our families saw our passions and found an outlet for us!
I had to be dragged into the computer age..and now I need to be dragged away from FR!
Oh. :-)
Are you joking? There's a good line on "ideology" I should pull for you as well.
Do you think we're pursuing ideology at present or material necessity?
And to what extent does one take "material necessity" before it becomes the sort of well-being which (Camus, quoting Nietzsche said): "What we desire is well-being ... as a result we march toward a spiritual slavery such as has never been seen."
When Tom Delay spoke to the Strategic Institute or whatever ... what was he talking about when he spoke of "the saving graces of western materialism"? What sort of ideals are grounded in "western" materialism?
Anyway ... I'm glad you brought this up, because I still have a shred of paper marking an essay portion I wish to post, reading it as I did, while Terri was dying. Here's a taste:
Nietzsche clamored for a Roman Caesar with the soul of Christ. To this mind, this was to say yes to both slave and master. But, in the last analysis, to say yes to both was to give one's blessing to the stronger of the two -- namely, the master. Caesar must inevitably renouce the domination of the mind and choose to rule in the realm of fact.
"How can one make the best of crime?" asks Nietzsche, as a good professor, faithful to his system. Caesar must answer: by multiplying it.
"When the ends are great," Nietzhsche wrote to his own detriment, "humanity employes other standard and no longer judges crime as such even if it resorts to the most frightful means."
He died in 1900, at the beginning of a century in which that pretension was to become fatal. It was in vain that he exclaimed in his hour of lucidity, "It is easy to talk about all sorts of immoral acts; but would one have the courage to carry them through? For example, I could not bear to break my word or to kill; I should languish, and eventually I should die as a result -- that would be my fate."
From the moment that assent was given to the totality of human experience, the way was open to others who, far from languishing, would gather strength from lies and murder. Nietzsche's responsibility lies in having legitimized, for reason of method -- and if only for an instant -- the opportunity for dishonesty of which Dostoievsky had already said that if one offered it to people, one could always be sure of seeing them rush to seize it.
But his responsibility goes still farther ....
[to be continued]
Siobhan ... I thought of Pontius and Caesar of course, reading that last week.
responsibility lies in having legitimized, for reason of method -- and if only for an instant -- the opportunity for dishonesty
"only those killed by August 9, 2001"
I have to say I went searching when someone mentioned names departed that I did not know..Some I knew about through lurking.
Thanks for the explination! :-)
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