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.
Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity to have a discussion about this. Might be tough, though as I read the various remarks.
I suppose it is the thought that counts.
Thanks! Just wanted people to know how I felt.
No, I did not. Sorry. Can you walk - collect cans for recycle?
Poor you..opus coming?
No one is immune. I've done it. What was the line in that Dilbert cartoon? Something like "You're pretty brave in cyberspace, flame boy."
96,965
Click on your name.
Then click on "in forum".
Look in the address bar (where it says http://www.freerepublic.com/...), at the end of the address is your sign up number.
The noive, the gall! I can't take it! Wah!
agreed. and the only place I come to for my news. but when I don't like the way a thread is going, I leave it, for pete's sake! I don't write a self important opus!!
Couldn't you just leave quietly ?
I'm in the minority on policy discussions often enough to know what it's like. Heck, I was a Tom McClintock supporter. But I didn't respond to the regular pounding I took by creating or joining my own little clique here. Every single group of FReepers that has done that in the past is gone, every last one of them.
Remember "The Coven"? The libertarian absolutists? The anti-FReepers? All these folks segregated themselves in the same way that "WPPFF" is doing now, and none of them are here any more.
I respectfully suggest that your annoyance at the persistence of the Schiavo case will be lessened greatly by understanding the other point of view undistorted, even if you don't agree with it. If you still feel compelled to lessen the Terri-saturation level, then go out and find other interesting articles to post that people can discuss instead, that's something that's worked for me in the past when I was similarly situated.
Aw come on. Don't worry. YOU'LL come back.
They havent even banned your account. I'll bet you are still reading these.
Take a good Truman Walk, take a breather, come back in a month or two, and we'll talk about it.
There's a great deal of "dish it out but can't take it" with many of these people.
I am sorry to see you go. FR seems to be going to nutty extremism and I am seriously considering following you.
LOL.
Me neither. He's quite forgetable and it seems to hurt his feelings.
Bye, Pooh. You know how sad I am to see you go, already. Take care, and come back when you feel better about this, please.
Bumpus ad sumum! Nobody expects the inquisition, especially a grand poobah!
Then I guess it's fair to apply your own criteria to you. Why are you viciously and savagely attacking me?
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