I didn't say FR is a hate site. I was exploring DLR's metaphor. "Loose lips sink ships" is a WWII counterintelligence phrase that encourages military and civilian alike to keep secrets lest they be overheard and exploited by Axis agents. Its use in this context implies that there are secrets to be kept. It is a tacit admission that, however unfortunate, Fox 5's characterization was correct. DLR's admonition was probably not chosen with this conclusion in mind, but I think it is the most evident conclusion to one who is willing to follow the metaphor to its logical end.
Now, I should like to add that, even if I did think that FR was a hate site, I could post here while remaining faithful to my moral beliefs. I am not morally obligated to avoid distasteful websites. If FR was a hate site, I'd probably post here more, since I love riling up bigots and extremists who pervert the ideas of the great conservative thinkers into something unrecognizable and dangerous.
Finally, let's not forget this. Real hate sites have attempted to infiltrate FR in the past. Stormfront conducted their 2004 attempt openly, which is why it failed. Who knows what they've accomplished in secret? Perhaps this explains the level of vitriol that all too often appears on this site. Yesterday, a member called another member and all libertarians "faggots, junkies, and pervert freaks." There are occasional calls for religious proscriptions, nuclear attacks against shrines, and genocide in the Middle East. It shouldn't take an ACLU lawyer to see how such statements could be construed negatively by the media.
Well, I think it would take more than an occasional nasty post to make a forum a hate site. Ever peeked at DU or Stormfront?
The media has one very interesting hobby. They will see an obvious problem and try to make seem less obvious. It’s almost like a game. They have done this will illegal immigration. The media, which LOVES statistics, is unwilling to go that route with ilegals and crime. The numbers are staggering. Their strategy is to make everyone who oppose illegal immigration become a Latino-hater. Drooling, toothless yahoos wandering the woods hunting Mexicans with their “shootin arns”. The media is aware that the American people would recoil at the statistics so they keep them well under wraps.
The problem? The Internet. Too many people are going outside the box. The media’s only hope is to slander the internet as Klan central. By next week, Jim Robinson will be some scraggly bearded stumpkicker smoking a corn cob pipe next to his still. A dangerous felon with a truck full of dynamite he wants to use to blow a Hispanic day care.
Before Clinton became President, the media’s favorite story was the sex life of a politician. Clinton robbed them of that joy. They have been soulless pimps ever since. Truth is irrelevant because they are in the Kingmaker and Kingbreaker business by any means necessary. This is made worse by Hillary running for office because the sexy headline elephant in the living room is off the table. Her husband was impeached for lying about a sexual affair with a young intern during a sexual harassment trial where he was the perp. Dear Lord, the media would massacre a room full of kittens to get a story like that on a Republican.
I think they are just bitter now.
Good grief! This is the first time I had ever seen that particular thread concerning the Stormfront wacko-Nazis trying to infiltrate FR. Cudos for Jim and the moderators for combating these freaks and keeping them off our board!
I honestly think the “Loose Lips Sink Ships” phrase is merely to remind everyone (especially as there are a lot on this site who are military, or military family members) NOT to share everything we know — especially about troop movements, etc... I don’t think it has anything to do with keeping silent “true intentions”...
RE: Stormfront — it came to my attention several years ago that an essay of mine (not related to racism whatsoever — the topic was the Constitution) had been posted on their site. It literally HORRIFIED me that my REAL name appeared anywhere on that site! I wanted to scream to everyone in the world that “I am not a racist! I do NOT support that site!!!”. I came to realize though that if people ON that site read what I had written, and read anything ELSE I had written over the course of my short political career that they couldn’t possibly believe that I condoned things ON that site! And, just perhaps, my words could turn someone away from any of their truly hateful thinking...
Anyway, I agree that some people here go over the line. However, the media fails to see where FReepers repeatedly call people on their ignorance, and basically string them up for accusations such as this. AND, the moderators are VERY good at responding to abuse reports, and very quickly. It’s a shame that some people in our world cannot be more mature in their debate tactics, but last I checked we still have the First Amendment. And, as such, we should be fervently defending these people’s RIGHT to say whatever they think — even if we don’t like it. As long, of course, as it stays within the rules that Jim Robinson has set up for this site. Just because the ACLU, or the ADL, or NAACP, or any other organization says that they “see” hatred doesn’t make it so. Indeed, some of these institutions have used this purely political tactic for a LONG time before FR even existed... Indeed, their tactics have been SO successful due to people NOT standing up for the 1st Amendment that we find ourselves in this situation right now...