Free Republic: glass ant farm for zealots

Globe and Mail ^ | 10/27/06 | IVOR TOSSELL

[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.

[gnarledmaw]

" is this really how we FReepers want to be perceived - as a crowd of "the most paranoid, xenophobic and reactionary characters the political landscape has to offer"

If this is the worst liberals have to say then we arent trying hard enough.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

[Tax-chick]

Your whimsicle moment in the spotlight, where a few remnant curios bite, will be displaced by a roar of indepentent human intellects stomping on your anthopoligical head.

It's a whimsicle, anthopoligical Typso ping!

(Too cold and windy for sicles today, where I live.)

[Sensei Ern]

Man! Based on the title, I was ready to zot. What a let down!

Is it Zot season yet?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

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.

Igor has apparently never visited DU or DailyKos.

If he attacked them, they'd be rooting for his death.

[Tax-chick]

We're also the "anthisis of the left." Do you have an aunt named Isis?

I'm thinking the poster is not a native user of English.

[azhenfud]

ME TOO!

< said in an angry, half-baked, condemning voice.. >

[M Kehoe]

Oh, and don't forget Mr. Tossell, we also helped impeach a president (lower case on purpose).

5.56mm

[Constitution Day]

I have no aunts named after Egyptian ANYTHING.

I'm thinking the poster is not a native user of English.

You think? Heh heh.

[ßuddaßudd]

A zealot is too fanatical for me, I'd rather be called a supporter thank you very much.

[epow]

Ivor doesn't like writing about himself in the third person, but would love to hear from you at ivor.tossell@utoronto.ca .

Trust me Ivor, you wouldn't love to hear from me. Especially if I delivered my message in person.

[MARKUSPRIME]

Long live FR. They just hate conservatives having a voice. Tough shyteski commies/marixists/chicoms/homosexuals/illegal aliens/dictators/environazi's/leftists/and general traitors to this great republic.

[MARKUSPRIME]

Oh I forgot to add koran humping islamofacists.

[longtermmemmory]

like some here with ann coulter commenting on PC reeducation camp...

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Right about the way the left views the World. They still subscribe to the Marxist class warfare theory that rich capitalists are soaking the poor. They have no concept of the economics of the free enterprise system. In their view only the Government can achieve economic justice.
The way I see it the only thing collectivism has ever created was starvation, mass murder and political oppression. Socialism is collectivism in smaller doses, and only serves to slow down the economic freedom of the free enterprise system.

[Old Professer]

Did they spell the name right?

[MARKUSPRIME]

I bet the guy got zotted before. :))

[tcrlaf]

"This is Free Republic, an exercise in political extremism"

ROTFLMAO!!
Extremism??? You've got to be kidding me...
This sight is tame...

I suggest a cruise through Huff Post, Daily Kos, TruthOut, Wayne Madsen, or the Yahoo Financial Boards if you REALLY want to see what hate-filled extremism looks like...

[Old Professer]

"By dint of railing at idiots, you run the risk of becoming idiotic yourself."

Gustave Flaubert

[MARKUSPRIME]

marixists=marxist

resident typo master