Posted on 07/10/2009 9:53:00 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Yesterday, theHalfrican posted a link to the Free Republic Website where several of its regular members were bashing Malia Obama for wearing a peace symbol t-shirt. The thread had several derogotary, racist, and sexual remarks about Malia. It also included a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that was accompanied with a racist caption.
I wrote the media contact at Free Republic yesterday, kristinn@bellatlantic.net, questioning the nature of the posters and the site:
Hello. I am an independent writer developing a book about the grassroots conservative movement online, of which your site, Free Republic, is included as a primary online gathering place for conservatives.
Could you please tell me how the owner of the site feels about posts like this one:
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
...in which conservatives who post regularly at the site make several racist statements about the 11-year-old daughter of President Obama for wearing a t-shirt adorned with a peace symbol? Remarks included the following:
"Were being represented by a family of ghetto trash." "Looks like a bunch of ghetto thugs. A stain on America."
"Looks like a typical street whore."
"What we now are sending the ghetto over to represent us. and if so who the hell is that flea bag who looks to be dragged from the trash dumpster."
"you could go down any ghetto right now and see exactly the same."
"could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there"
"the world must be laughing like mad right now at that we have this kind of street trash in our white house."
"Wonder when she will have her first abortion."
"sad isnt it that we now have ghetto street trash over there representing us in Europe."
"This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution.
"They make me sick.... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin, and especially lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin my peeps."
In addition, the thread includes a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to her daughter with the caption, "To Entertain Her Daughter, Michelle Obama Likes to Make Monkey Sounds."
Before you dismiss this as only a minority of posters at the site, out of 100 posts on that thread I found only 1 that criticized such remarks. This is not the first time I have seen such an exhibition of blatant racism at Free Republic by members who regularly post there.
Here are my questions:
Does Free Republic condone this type of exercise in free speech?
Are these the type of participants Free Republic is happy to have posting at its site?
What is Free Republic's policy about posting racially offensive comments?
What is Free Republic's policy about making sexual insinuations about minors (particularly relevant in light of the David Letterman/Sarah Palin brouhaha)?
Does Free Republic believe its membership accurately represents the conservative movement?
Does the owner of Free Republic believe this kind of discourse is helpful to rebuilding the Republican Party and furthering its goals?
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your responses.
went back to the site today and saw that the offending thread has been pulled "pending review."
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
I do note that Free Republic has a disclaimer on the first page that claims it does not condone this type of post; however, I am not sure when the disclaimer was added. Does anyone know?
From the disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Free Republic or its operators.
Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting personal attacks, profanity, vulgarity, threats, racial or religious bigotry, or any other materials offensive or otherwise inappropriate for a conservative family audience.
Free Republic is a site dedicated to the concerns of traditional grassroots conservative activists. We're here to discuss and advance our conservative causes in a more or less liberal-free environment. We're not here to debate liberals. We do not want our pages filled with their arrogant, obnoxious, repugnant bile. Liberals, usurpers, and other assorted malcontents are considered unwelcome trolls on FR and their accounts and or posts will be summarily dismissed at the convenience of the site administrators.
Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government.
So, the site will readily delete posts from liberals just because they are liberals and therefore everything they say is automatically considered "arrogant, obnoxious, repugant bile."
But comments calling an 11-year-old black girl "ghetto trash" and a "whore" are pulled "pending review." What is to review? Your site either supports that kind of rhetoric or it does not. Which is it?
If the Free Republic's "conservative family audience" consists of people who say such things as they often do (like yesterday), how conservative are they? And how family-oriented are they? Where were all the posts from other Free Republic regulars or from the owner of the site decrying this kind of racism directed at a child for no apparent reason than the fact that a peace symbol t-shirt inflamed their hatred to disgusting depths, like a red handkerchief in front of a mad bull?
Conservatives continually reinforce the fact that the only families they care about are conservative ones; the only troops they support are ones that do not vote democratic; the only children whose lives they value are the children of conservatives or unborn. How many of those aborted fetuses they claim to hold so dear would they trash had they been born and grown into a pre-teen who wore a t-shirt with a peace symbol or supported a liberal president? Or was gay?
The truth is that conservatives do not know the meaning of Jesus' words despite how much they love to use them when it suits their inner hatred of all those who are different. Worse, they lack basic human decency, as they demonstrate time and again.
But the writer has a point. We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig.
And I'm sure the left really means no harm to Sarah Palin's children. Thank God for the love and basic human decency displayed by TRUE Democrats.
Yep, we can get dirty but going after the children is beyond dirty.
Yeah I’m sure the Daily Kooks removed every nasty thing said about Willow, Piper, Bristol, Track, and Trig Palin right
I half-read the article on Malia, so I obviously don’t remember all of the details. What happened? Did Letterman make a joke about her getting raped at a Yankee game? /s
That just proves this site doesn’t put up with crap comments like that if the post was pulled, while KOS not only keeps crap like that up, they encourage it.
It isn’t what was said, it is how the sites deal with it that shows the difference.
Agreed. They’re children for heck’s sake. We should know better.
Indeed.. I’ve never seen such love and devotion as was lavished on Trig and his dear Mom.
What a fine example of humanity they are.
I didn’t see the original thread but I have been frequenting this site for years and have never seen that type of stuff posted. Is this for real?
I agree Jim. The kids didn’t pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight.
But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife.
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
TELL BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA THAT HE IS FULL OF IT!
We can’t damn the dems for their treatment of Bristol and Willow and then turn around and do the same to Zero’s kids.
Kids are off limits. Zero and the missus are fair game though. And really they provide plenty of fuel.
Yeah, we should be better than them. I did criticize her shorts as being too short, but I would say that for my own daughter, too. The racism should stop. It dilutes the many many valid arguments against B.O’s agenda.
Jim, you know you kill dozens of threads each day. We know the Huffington Post doesn't pull newly published articles by paid staff.
Agreed. But from what it looks like to me the "ghetto/stree trash" comments were all directed at Michelle, not Malia.
Let’s just see how the KOS kids treat Bristol Palin why don’t we...
Agreed...children are off limits...let’s leave that sort of trash to the lefties who excel in it.
The kids may grow up and be very different from Mommy and Daddy...They may actually love America.
I wonder if some of this was the work of Obama trolls intending to make FR look bad?
“We should know better.”
Most of us do. We’re better than that.
This letter is from the Daily Kos? You mean that trash publication with a minimum paragraph requirement of at least one “F-bomb”? That Daily Kos? Talk about a sanctimonious whore. Can I say F-bomb and whore?
Yeah.Right...
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