Free Republic: glass ant farm for zealots

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

[Little Ray]

New tagline!

[Little Ray]

That's mean.

[little jeremiah]

Bless my stars, you're right! Let's all be nancyboys and dance the minuet!

Can't have any rough language now, the liberals might not like us anymore. Horrors! The very thought that leftists might think conservatives aren't nice! Gives me the vapors.

[ApplegateRanch]

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.

Don't have a cow, man; just eat my shorts on your way over to DU, and finding out what real demented hateful wasteland is.

I'll even lend you a jar of Grey Poop On d'John ("Butt, of course!") to help them go down better.

[Paperdoll]

Amusing article, but talk about your zealots! They've infiltrated our education system, the MSM, trashy television, marriage abolitionists, raunchy and narsistic Hollywood, occasionally the judicial system, and even the Demonrat and Rino parties! Thank the Mssrs. Robinson for
Free Republic, one of the last, best forums for conservative expression. Long may it thrive!

[Paperdoll]

Darn! I forgot to include the heterophobes!

[dighton]

... but I prefer popsicles as a refreshing treat on a hot summer day.

your rong to fidle with greke filosifers wile roam burns,, greke filosifers are shepe bugering hippocrits.

[Disambiguator]

"Hmmm, who is this Ivor guy? I'd like to tossell with him, you know what I mean?"

[TexasRepublic]

IVOR TOSSELL

Ahem! What kind of faggot name is that?

[ApplegateRanch]

ivor.tossell@utoronto.ca

Is it merely coincidence that the abbreviation for California; the .ca tag; and the medical abbreviation for cancer are all CA?

I thought not, since they have so many other things in common, not the least being their attempts to metastasize at every opportunity.

[Fudd Fan]

FR must be having an effect. Great!

[hellinahandcart]

We're glad you ate our son!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

The moderators of FR also pull threads for no good reason, only censorship:

Gerry Adams wins Northern Ireland vote

Sinn Fein shills win yet again!!!

Ireland Ping!:(

[Darksheare]

He must've read mine too.

[Bob J]

"But before this thread descends into Dixie Chick and Canada bashing, 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" who "attempt to outdo each other in posting the most pungent, juvenile reactions to stories"?

Unfortunately, this is how many conservatives in DC, politicians and others, also view FR. I have been told on more than one occasion that I needed to leave FR in my dust if I ever wanted to be taken seriously. Some people will nod to FR and make nice because they don't want to be eviscerated, but deep down this is what they think and what they say to others in private company.

So, there are three questions here, one why does FR get this reputation, two, is there anything that can be done about it, and three, should that attempt be made.

IMHO FR has the reputation it does because extremists and loons are allowed free reign here. 90% of what gets posted is pretty good, some of it excellent, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The MSM is only going to center on the whackos.

As far as the second question, sure, Jim and the mods can studiously work to weed out the crazies. But I think all that will do is make FR the same as a hundred other websites and end up eliminating any effectiveness it may have in the future.

So we come to the third question. We all have to come to conclusion at some time that FR is what it is. It has it's whackies, it's racists and it's extremists, but it also has been effective at times when no other website could be so. It's place is to be the unpredictable ingredient that libs can't predict or control...in other words the one that they fear the most.

So let FR flow where it will. It has been successful at times up to this point and there is no reason to fix it if it ain't broken. But be prepared to be called extremist, whacko and racist...it comes with the territory and being effective.

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

[Tax-chick]

We all have to come to conclusion at some time that FR is what it is. It has it's whackies, it's racists and it's extremists and its grammar police!

BUSTED! for Apostrophe Abuse and Comma Splices!

We sentence you to read three Maureen Dowd threads full of pictures of Catherine Zeta-Jones.

[pending]

Video of Maines' comment on Hardball crediting Free Republic, as a powerful organization influencing the station's refusal to play the records.
"You are being Freeped"letter circulated by Twit management
Post Grammys,Snubbed by the CMA:The Dixie Chicks still aren't getting any country radio airplay for music from their latest CD
The group has hardly been heard on mainstream country radio stations ever since.
Dixie Chicks still feel heat
'We don't play their music, and it's strictly based on our research with our listeners, not on our feelings,' Shombly said. 'After it all happened, we gave them a 'time out' and didn't play their music for about 30 days. Then we went back to playing them for about 30 days, and it was just a firestorm. We had so many complaints from our listeners that we had to pull them off the air...'There are probably people outside of country music who find it appealing. There are probably people outside of country who think, 'It's about time somebody says what they think and doesn't back down.' But I don't think country music is going to give them a chance again.'
Ready to Make Nice? What our Latest Data on the Dixie Chicks REALLY Means for Country Radio
Research Presentation Graphs(pdf) "One of the interesting things we have tracked all three years is Americans attitude about the Dixie Chicks. This year, we registered no significant change in the political leanings of Country listeners...only slight change from last year was a 2% shift from moderate to very conservative..."
Political leanings of Country listeners:

[Onelifetogive]

So it is that, day in and day out, Freepers attempt to outdo each other in posting the most pungent, juvenile reactions to stories.

This guy is such a poo-poo head!

[Onelifetogive]

Freepers, as the sites denizens are known, are the good guys.

Apparently, he doesn't visit the site very often....