Posted on 09/14/2005 3:32:33 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
I agree... we are the best forum on the net, and for many varied reasons. Most of all, the thing that makes it work is that it is well moderated. Policing a forum like this, or for that matter anything... is an art form, not a science.
We do need to work on the fast-breaking live thread though. Sometimes we not only lose our civility but get downright savage. That's the whole point of your MLK quote above. You're right, it's a great quote, and a good lesson. :-)
Great post. It all comes out in the wash. The Bible expresses an ideal way of man v. man, and your post "gets it."
Damn. I did not know about rdb3 and mhking leaving.
That *blows*. I truly hope it is something that can blow over and they will come back.
Guys: don't let the bastards get you down. :-)
Not a good option.... We're just in a "quagmire" is all. Don't give up the goal, we need all the good people we can get.
Thank you :~D
That post ROCKED, Lady. Thank you for writing it. I have been loathe to come to FR as well because of all the vile attitudes being promulgated by some. Part of me wants to say its only a few, another part of me says its the interlopers/moles who liek to muddy up the site with really outrageous statements that play into the stereotype that people have of conservatives. I have a hard time believing that a conservative can have some of the views as they are put forth here, especially as uncharitable as those that want to hammer the poor themselves for what has happened to them. I am angry FOR them because of what the state has fostered, but not them. Even if they were guilty of being the worst sort of welfare queen, I would not wish what happened in NOLA during katrina, nor being stranded without care at teh Superdome for anything. How people can sit there and blame them for that is beyond me.
Thank you Hair!
Thanks Alkhin... :~D
It was this thread. Those 2 will be missed.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1481211/posts
Nice post!
The bigots are a dying breed... literally. Another generation, there won't be too many left.
The vast majority of Freepers are not bigots. Some of crafting the offending posts are doing it to one-up another in the ever-present joke game on Internet forums. Disgusting and immature as it is, it makes them feel superior not to the blacks, but to other Freepers.
Those that are truly vile racists are beneath our contempt and unworthy of a response. They will be facing St. Peter just as they judge others will be facing him and found wanting.
Thank you :~D
I disagree... I think they should be loudly denounced, lest anyone think we tolerate or condone it. Isn't this what we ask of the moderate muslim?
I am deeply saddened to hear mhking and rdb3 left the forum. I hope they understood that Katrina created an emotional rollercoaster ride that did not bring out the best in many, myself included. I had to take a few breaks from the forum to keep from going ballistic over a few issues.
The race-baiting brought out the worst in people. I hope mhking and rdb3 realize the baiting was a slap in the face to some here that were signing up to sponsor evacuees, volunteer at shelters, and giving their last dime to Red Cross. We should have risen above the baiting, but many took it personally and were not able to do so.
I hope the break that mhking and rdb3 are taking is just that... a break. After the emotions have died down most people will start thinking with their heads again to get to work to solve the problems that Katrina brought blazing to our television screens that many of us were blissfully unaware. I hope it's not too late for two members whose opinions have been much appreciated and will be missed.
The nasty attitudes and criminal behavior of *some* of the people we've seen in this thing are going to make it easier to cut - or at least limit the growth - of some mooch and sponge programs. That's a good thing. If you want to give them some of your $$$, fine with me...
As far as I know, the disaster of broken levys has been foreseen for 50 years at least. We personally knew of it some years ago when our son went to college in NO. I guess that one reason the local pols didn't act was because they couldn't believe it was really going to happen after all these years of luck, and because if you make a committment to inconvenience thousands of your constituents, and it turns out to be for nothing, you're in trouble politically. Still, there is a time when one must stand firm and damn the consequences. Anything eles is betrayal on more than one level. Which is what happened, IMO, betrayal.
I happen to like NO alot and look forward to its revival. It always seemed to me like half the city was kind of a ghetto, though. Not just one section either, it's more like there are some nice sections of town scattered through mostly poor areas. OTOH, my son, and many other college kids lived right in the bad sections of town, in shotgun shacks divided into apartments. They always got along fine with the black neighbors, even having them over for their frat parties (weirdly). Even the inhabitants at the bottom rung of the ladder can have humanity, although in many of them it's hard to find.
Not too many of us here on this forum really know what went on in NO after the storm passed through, but I don't think it was pretty. But I believe when government assumes responsibility for very much of the citizens' everday lives (which I don't think it should do, especially on a national level, because then the citizens themselves lose the habit of being responsible), then government has a responsibility to also be there for them when things go south. For whatever reason, when Katrina struck, government, unbelievably, left the folks least able to cope pretty much on their own.
I still have a Green Wave decal on my truck window, I can't figure out whether to leave it on to show support for the people of NO, or to take it off because some of the things that happened there the last 2 weeks that have been just awful.
I'm Leaving it on for now.
Thanks for this post. It's been distressing to see how this storm has really brought out the worst of us, as a nation and especially here on FR.
I ~thought~ 9/11 showed us how vulnerable we really are here on our home shores. Except for the shrill harpies on the left who will never be content, it brought out the best in us. It brought our our patriotism, we stood together.
But there we could be angry with a common enemy, the terrorists who had done this. It's hard to get (or at least stay) angry with a hurricane that no longer exists.
So in our frustration we have to seek someone to be responsible. And, unforunately whoever we hate or mistrust the most, is likely to fill that void.
No one is responsible ~for~ the hurricane. But we are all responsible for how we respond. There's plenty of blame to go around, with a healthy share of it belonging to the Mayor and the Governor.
I wish that more of our leaders would have the cojones to stand up and say "things went wrong, but we're gonna fix them" like the President did. It was a bold move. It was the right move.
As for FReepers, most here are good, solid people who will read and contemplate what you said. Then there are some bozos who will never get it. Unfortunately, they are often the loudest. And they drive some of our best and brightest away.
It's way too easy to get sucked into a flame war. And it's too easy to say stuff we'd never say in "public" because of the appearance of anonymity here. Well, ask NCPAC and Jeff Gannon about their anonymity.
I am sorry to see rdb3 and mhking go, as well as many others who have left or were banned (granted, some needed to go). But it's our loss, not theirs. We are less complete because they are gone.
I am not in favor of quietly tolerating any racists in our midst out of any fear of upsetting the tranquility of the forum. Don't treat them as valued members of any party I'm in. Clearly our president and the party he leads, agrees with me on this.
Thanks for your input guys :~D
I feel better for having posted it, and better about the kind of people who responded to it.
Very upsetting to see those guys leaving...it doesn't speak too well for this site. I understand well enough, though.
Their presence added alot.
Anyhow, I hope they will return
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