I don't care.
Posted on 03/08/2007 11:40:55 PM PST by conservative in nyc
The Dixie Chicks have a movie, Shut Up & Sing, coming out today, and, to keep things lively, they're staging a grudge match with the worst site on the Internet, political-rhetoric division.
"The fat chick will only drive traffic to this site," writes one poster to the site.
"The Frenchy Chix can't get a gig in a gay bar in Ithaca," writes another.
Others chime in with more corruptions: Chubby Chicks, Ditsy Twits, Vichy Chicks.
"Yep typical liberals," says someone else. "No character."
This is Free Republic, an exercise in political extremism that, despite being and something of an anthropological train wreck, keeps popping up square in the mainstream.
Most recently, it has resurfaced as a villain in the Dixie Chicks movie, which traces the fallout from lead singer Natalie Maines's infamous 2003 London declaration that she was embarrassed that George W. Bush was, like her, from Texas.
It was a bad time to be anti-war, and Americans are touchy about being criticized on foreign soil at the best of times. The "grassroots" backlash that followed -- orchestrated, in part, by the people at Free Republic, who mobilized their large and largely disgruntled membership -- saw the band savaged in the press and at the box office.
The site is a venerable and storied Web forum for American arch-conservatives. Funded by member donations, it was founded in 1996 as an anti-Clinton grandstand, and soon became a place where members could post news stories and discuss them -- though "discussion" might be the wrong word. More often, it's a kind of pantomime, where the name of the game is to cheer the good guy and boo the bad guy every time he creeps on stage.
Freepers, as the sites denizens are known, are the good guys. The bad guys, according to site founder Jim Robinson, are practitioners of "liberalism, socialism, fascism, pacifism, totalitarianism, anarchism, government enforced atheism, abortionism, feminism, homosexualism, racism," and "wacko environmentalism."
So it is that, day in and day out, Freepers attempt to outdo each other in posting the most pungent, juvenile reactions to stories. Articles containing an opposing viewpoint have the words "BARF ALERT" appended to their titles. Slurs are encouraged. When the first same-sex Canadian soldiers were married last year, the story garnered 73 angry responses, ranging from "Disgusting and despicable" to "I'd resign my commission before performing a ceremony to marry a couple of bone-smugglers" to "Let's see what happens when the Canadian military has an AIDS epidemic on its hands."
It's a hateful place that, if the world was working as it should, would be relegated to the Internet's endless fringes, where conspiracy theorists and pyramid-power believers roam the wasteland. But what's interesting about Free Republic is that, despite having attracted a crowd of the most paranoid, xenophobic and reactionary characters the political landscape has to offer, it continues to find itself in the news.
For instance, during the 2004 U.S. presidential election, it was central to the network of websites that uncovered the forged memos about Bush's Vietnam service that appeared on CBS News and ultimately cost Dan Rather his job. (Paranoia, in this instance, paid off.) Later, and less admirably, Jerome Corsi, the co-author of Unfit for Command -- the hatchet job about John Kerry's military service that crippled his campaign -- was found to be posting racist, sexist diatribes on the site.
And then there was the flap about the Dixie Chicks, spurred on by zealous Freepers. Thanks to their movie, Free Republic is getting another moment in the sun. Not helping things was the band's manager publicly calling Robinson "a coward" for refusing to be interviewed for the film. ("I am jealous of you Mr. Robinson," declared one Freeper in response. "You have been singled out and attacked by America's premier Entertraitors.") These, ladies and gentlemen, are grassroots at work. There are a lot of organizations out there that are in the business of whipping their members into a lather and unleashing them on corporations and politicians alike.
But if Free Republic has a virtue, it's that, unlike other pressure groups, it's transparent: You can see the cogs turning, the anger mounting, the members joining the half-baked me-too condemnations that will surface on tomorrow's news agenda. It's like a glass ant farm for zealots. It's a little stomach-turning, but man, they're diligent little things. It's hard not to stare sometimes.
I would love to see an article by this same guy on DU and its DUmmies. If he writes the same type of article, if he says basically the same things, he might be called fair and balanced, but somehow, I think not.........
So the Globe and Mail is just as lazy, biased and agenda-driven as almost every other mainstream media outlet. Surprise, surprise.
BTW, I wonder just what the circulation of G&M really is...LOL!
I don't care.
G'Morning!........
Never happen, Skinner would "tombstone" him! ;0)
This is all Ann Colter's fault.
On one of the crybaby threads, someone posted that Ann is the reason the Left hates the Right.
But someone needs to tell this sob if he does not like what is posted and discussed on Free Republic, don't go there.
I don't go to DU because I do not like Democrats and the type people that are there.
Excellent neologism.
The article is so Edwards!
The guy admits he's hooked on FR. Why? Because it is interesting, it is a force to be reckoned with and it can be outrageously funny.
For all the handwringing about the 'quality' of postings on FR (which, BTW, has been an ongoing complaint by original Freepers since the first newbie joined and 'dragged down' the level of debate), Free Republic is still the most popular political discussion forum in America.
And that is with no advertising, no fawning press coverage, and an ever expanding number of competing forums--and despite all the knuckledraggers posting here :-)
Thanks for posting this article. It was a great way to start the day!
"IVOR TOSSELL - I wonder what his screen name is..."
I believe it's "Ima Tosser"
His "hit piece" will draw more (of both sides) to FR than he might realize...........
Ah, so what you really want is political correctness? Perhaps that should be reserved for the DUmmies who seem not to be mentioned in this article who spew hate and profanity at every other sentence. Some of the discussions here at FR are lively, to say the least, but the mods do a great job of following rules which keep it pretty civil.
I would have missed it as I never read that liberal rag.
Canada ping.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
"If the world was working as it should" interesting comment by this guy.
One thing I like about FR is that its basically the spectrum of the Republican Party, from Rockefellers to Reagans to Bushes. Pro aborts to Pro life. Open immigration to shut down the borders. Isolationists to free traders. If anyone spent enough time here they would be shocked at the diverse views on this conservative website.
As for the Dixie Chicks (I have to say that if they were right wingers the leftys would crucify them for that name of theirs) I know people who never go to FR and care only slightly about politics who threw their Dixie Chicks cds away. Those girls screwed up.
As for this writer, he needs to understand free speech. The Chicks can say what they want and the rest of the country can voice its displeasure. The government just can't stop them from speaking their mind.
Of course now that the media is a political wing of government run by the Democrats its easy to stop certain speech from being used. We are, of course, trying to make the world "run as it should".
To Natalie: WHO'S YOUR DADDY ?!
Those are pajama-wearing ants in that glass farm.
In NYC, eh?
We NYC FReepers ought to get together for dinner at Mama Mexico on the Upper West sometime soon.
There is still a "silent majority" in this country, FR is it's voice. Some will agree, and some will disagree, but heck that is what makes the world go round.
his screen name is probably "LiteInTheLoafers" or "PrettyInPink"
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