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Yesterday I paid a quick visit to "Daily Kos" just to see how it stacks up to Free Republic from the perspective of it's emotive content. I expected to see a ton of vile language which I've come to associate with the ravings of the left - but didn't really see that (I probably didn't know where to look).

A big difference I did note, however, is that Daily Kos is really "in your face" trying to sell advertising - so one very significant difference is the commercial nature of Daily Kos.

O'Reilly was concerned that he found unflattering Photoshopped pics of GWB on Daily KOS, however I've been amused by similar pics here on Free Republic through the years as well (although the images I've seen on Free Republic, to our credit, didn't imply anything as vile as beastiality).

I came away thinking that we need a new word for what we used to call "hate". The jerks who insist on trying to control us seem to have co-opted the word "hate".

I also did a quick visit to the Daily Kos. It was my first visit. My curiosity was perked.

I do see this as part if an effort to control the Internet. Since there are no such controls—yet—there is the method of media propaganda to poison the public against those who they oppose. The intent of the lies against the Free Republic may be to paint the Free Republic in the same light as the Daily Kos and other similar leftist forums. When you see Daily Kos comments about the need to hang President Bush for treason, statements that our troops are murdering and raping innocent Iraqi civilians, and photo shopped scenes of President Bush being fornicated by Senator Joe Lieberman, we have a picture of a forum gone wild. If mainstream America were to get a taste of what is going on in these leftist forums, they would get a bad case of food poisoning. Not here at the Free Republic. We have rules of civility.

The big picture is we do not want censorship by the government. I think free speech, even if it is hateful, should be able to express itself in the open forum. Of course, the same open forum exists for criticism and condemnation. And forums, like ours, can control how things are said. Those who don’t like the rules are free to go elsewhere.

“The jerks who insist on trying to control us seem to have co-opted the word “hate”.”

Calling someone a hater is a simple means of discrediting them. The same thing was tried with Rush Limbaugh long ago.

I believe we should simply ignore O’Reilly’s comments. This forum is already self-consoring, and we have no where near the vile content of KOS or DU.