Too many people fall into the Liberal trap of PC thinking.
According to liberals a “hate site” is (supposedly) one that promotes and encourages racist, violent, anti-(insert your favorite ethnic or liberal-activist group here) actions. FreeRepublic most definitely does not fit this moniker. (In truth according to most liberals a “hate-site” is one that opposes their views, political and social.)
Too many people fail to see the difference between individual posters writing “hateful”(Racist, aggressive, violent) things (who are dealt with accordingly), and a site that routinely endorses and promotes these types of thing — which FR does NOT.
The reason this is such a problem is because the MSM and those who disagree with our POLITICAL views do NOT take the time to hit the “view replies” button on these posts, and assume that such talk is applauded, encouraged, and endorsed. And, even if they did see that these posts are almost ALWAYS refuted and the poster is either banned, or run out of town, so to speak, they wouldn’t call attention to that because it wouldn’t suit their POLITICAL purpose — which is to label FR a “hate-site” so that people won’t bother coming here themselves, will avoid listening to our opinions, and then they will have effectively marginalized the power a large group like FR has. This is also not just an attack on FR, but indeed is an attack on the First Amendment itself (just like the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” which I, btw, expect liberals to try and apply to the internet in the near-future), and we should respond accordingly to this attack, even if we don’t like what some of the posters say here...
According to the Constitution and the 1st Amendment people have the right to SAY anything they want. People don’t have the right NOT to be offended by these things, but in turn have a right to respond and SAY whatever they want. (Keeping in line the laws against slander/libel, inciting riots, and basic responsibility (yelling FIRE when there is none, etc...), and the specific rules set up on this particular site, of course). It is our responsibility as CITIZENS of our country to stand up against this type of thing whether the site be conservative, OR liberal (i.e. DU, DailyKos, etc...).
This whole “PC” attitude is ruining our country and is absolutely aimed at weakening the 1st Amendment, and we all know via History what happens when a populace is not allowed to speak, think or write freely!
ANYONE who values this site at all, should be vocally opposed to labeling this site as a “hate-site” regardless of the problems we face with certain posters or certain posts. In standing up against this bull, perhaps we could START to turn the tables on the PC/anti-1st Amendment crowd in our society.
I will remind you, though, of the John Adams quote above.
You have the RIGHT of free speech. You have the RESPONSIBILITY not to abuse it.
It's generally true that others do NOT have the right to not be offended by what you say.
But there's a corollary to that: if you're irresponsible in your exercise of free speech, you MUST accept the consequences of people forming opinions about you, based what you say.
Many on this thread correctly note that FR is truly "in the game" as an influential part of American politics. It's disingenuous to claim that we can be influential, and at the same time attempt to deny others the right of judging us by what gets said here.
We should not be surprised when most of that judging is directed to where the shouting is loudest. The lesson we should take away from these recent "hate site" incidents, is that if you're going to yell, you had better be yelling something that you want the folks on the next block will find sensible. What you don't want, is for them to think you've been drinking again.