I am sure you understand is highly offensive to some people.
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:
"We’re 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 isn’t 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.
You and me both.
Great post.
The parents, as many do, use their kids.
As for how the kids dress, I don’t have any problem with it really. I’d make my kids dress differently of course, but it’s not that big a deal really.
I am sure you understand is highly offensive to some people.
Did you see the story today that in Germany, they had named one of their new monkeys “obama” in honor of the President, but then they were told it was racist so they changed the name?
Why not? Should “they” be held to a different standard? It’s ok to call a bunch of white kids monkeys, which I do often, but not ok to call a kid who is black a monkey because there are issues there? Hmmm. Maybe those who are offended need to get over it?
Well said.
From what I’ve seen firsthand, black people do often overestimate racism and can see racism where it isn’t but the flip side is that white people often underestimate racism and don’t always see racism where it really exists. I’m not trying to play on guilt but it asking people to be nice really that much of a burden on everyone?
No, it’s not how I live my life and I don’t intend to ever let some person behind a keyboard tell me how to live my life so don’t try. I refuse to slink like some snake because some people want to take a knife to this gunfight we are in now. I see how far playing nice got us. We lost it all! Now we have a Marxist in the WH that is hell bent on destroying our country and the futures of generations if not forever.
YOU are exactly what they hope for. They complain, cry racist when in fact they are the biggest racists of all. They scream racist, you tuck your tail between your legs and run for cover as you yell “I promise to be good and always play nice”. It’s their MO. They hope it works and then they win. I refuse to let them win. Damn right, they want to play hardball, count me in.
Well said! So much better than I could.
From what Ive seen 90% of white people bend over backward.... often making complete fools of themselves not to appear racist. The total inverse is true of black folk. Gets rather old.
Moi? Personally busted? I don’t spend all that much time on FR and the time I do spend here, I devote to looking at things that interest me, not troll-hunting. If I encounter someone trollish, though, I check his posting history and report him to the mods if I think he’s a troll.
I have exposed a couple of “aww, I don’t hate Jews, I just hate Israel” liars for the anti-Semites they were. Those were years ago, I don’t remember their names. I also warned people about a suspicious poster who later exposed himself as a Holocaust denier and got banned. I remember that one’s name.
I’ve seen the mods ban several neo-Nazi trolls over the years that were busted by others. And like I said in my original post, DUmmies and KosKids love to pretend to be Nazis and sign up on conservative sites to try to bait us. The black lefty sending racist messages to black FReepers is exactly the sort of thing I expect from DU/Kos.
I wish I had seen you post earlier.
Ghetto/Trailer Trash/Redneck...
Maybe you should just accept reality.
Calling someone black a monkey a chimp or a gorilla makes you sound racist while calling someone white a chimp or gorilla isn’t.
That is just how it is.
Why is that? Put a real fine point on it for me.
So I checked out my dictionary for the exact meaning of ghetto:
"A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination."
"An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages."
Exactly, ghetto was the word once associated with Jews, and now has a broader meaning, but it certainly doesn't mean 'black.' And the word "trash" doesn't have any particular racial connotation, either - it's meaning is obvious.
Now, if I remember correctly, the political left has constantly and consistently trashed Sarah Palin's children in a vicious and disgusting manner. Words like 'retard' come to mind, used in mocking baby Trig. A mainstream (liberal) late night personality joked about the statutory rape of a 14 years old. Horrible language said about Bristol included words like trash, whore, and numerous other epithets were common. But hey, we are conservatives, and nowadays that means, we're supposed to shut up and take it. We play nice, turn the other cheek, and when the Marxist parents who have publicly proclaimed their hate for America with observations like "for the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country," and dress their children with political symbols to convey a message to the world, we are simply supposed to say nice things about them and leave it at that.
The parents should know better not to use their children as props, but they hide behind them because they know no one will dare to criticize them. That is a cowardly attitude, but typical of liberals. So they deserve whatever they get.
“We cannot be effective in winning converts to our conservative positions if we do not ridicule the racist nonsense that sometimes appears on this site.”
Whatever so called “racist nonsense” appears on this site is so minor compared to in general across the board stuff....it also seems that those who post the most are those with the most ridulous opinions.
I really don’t get how this is a racist site or how concerned some are about this site being viewed as racist. If anything, it’s pretty PC when it comes to race.
>I’d make my kids dress differently of course, but it’s not that big a deal really.<
If this were simply “the Obama family and cousins” out for a vacation to Disney world, or even on a tourist trip to Europe, I would agree with you. However, this group of people represents the United States internationally. Those children (and the sloppy teen male cousin) should darn well dress in their Sunday best when out in public.
And, had America elected a person to the Presidency with any class whatsoever, REGARDLESS of race, we would not be discussing them on this forum.
Thanks for the ping, btw.
ZERO class.
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