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.

[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....