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.
BTTT
“Lines have been crossed.”
Now that is true.
China has a problem with Uighurs. Uighurs are met with real, hard military force. No press to speak of. End of story. The US sends Uighurs trained by OBL to the Bahamas or some such.
Jews, Christians and conservatives are in the crosshairs now. To think we wouldn’t be killed if we held up peace signs or made nice or wore some symbol is pure delusion.
You don’t win by dying for your country. You win by making the other guy die for his country (Patton).
WELL DONE.
I didn’t realize we should pay you hazardous duty pay.
Sheesh.
There are several things which make me think so.
The repeated use of the terms ghetto and street trash by different posters. Sounds like the repetitions of Democrat daily talking points by the media where we here the same phrases echoed by disparate sources. Makes me think the same people who do that also did this.
The many times the person said the posters were regular posters on FR. Jim can check that out.
Could have been, and we should be on guard for more.
The objective of the Obamites is not to defeat us in open debate, or even the skewed nonsense they feel is "fair", but to silence us.
Recall Obama won his first nomination by eliminating any dissenting voices. To debate us lets our opinion, no matter how often and vociferously reviled by the Obamites, get into the public eye, and thus, become food for thought for the masses.
They want to avoid it at all costs.
If we are to keep a place at the table, that might mean keeping our remarks well worded enough to express many of the same opinions without providing the enemy a sound byte to sieze upon.
For all practical purposes, the tasteless mode of dress of the Presidential entourage can be pointed out without making any comment the enemy can call "racist", heck, it is self-evident.
So we can attack the substance of their acts without presenting an opening for riposte for saying anything we might not say about anyone who behaved similarly, without the unnecessary references which weaken (in the eyes of the multitude) our point.
Yeah, I have a very good idea. You might be surprised how good. Knowing it for what it is does not mandate writing snarky remarks about their kids, as if that helps achieve anything. It only detracts from our ability to get the word out as the target of the remarks plays the 'victim' card and the 'racist' card to trump the valid point someone might have been trying to make.
Some of the oldest liberal gambits are to attack the message if they can, attack the wording if they cannot, and attack the messenger if all else fails. Don't play into it, it is as stupid as diddy-bopping into a kill box.
If we are as intelligent as we claim, we can make our points without giving the enemy the opportunity to malign us and silence us over some quibbling words--and still make those points effectively.
As for bayonetting my kids, they have to go through me, my wife, and the kids themselves to get that close in. They better bring lots of friends and pack more than lunch.
You can’t win with leftists. They believe what they believe, and will lie, cheat, steal, obfuscate or whatever to bring their insane views to fruition.
This is not only to silence us, but to put us on the defensive, and make it where we censor ourselves, join in the “two minutes hate,” beat our breasts about not being racists and ask them to please, please, please like us and understand that we really are good people.
I’m not giving up my soul to these ghouls. This is our home.
Several years ago I was working in my office, and this busybody liberal noticed I had a University of Alabama football pennant hanging over my desk. She proceded to give me her highly educated opinions about how Alabamans were all bigots chasing black citizens down the highways at night with sheets and torches, and that she knew this because she had just been there and witnessed this personally.
Flabbergasted, I pulled pictures of my black nieces and nephews out of a desk drawer and asked her how many blacks she had in her own family. She terminated her sermon and moved on. You can’t win with these people. They will find proof of what they seek if they have to make it up or invent it.
We can't. They will play the 'victim' card, and the 'race' card and use that to silence us (recall Ann Coulter's discussion of "victims" and how they use their "victimhood" as a weapon to silence dissent).
We can make the same points about almost anything they do, but we can't be as ugly and hateful about it as they are--and we cannot do it in such a way that they can use our delivery of concept as a weapon against us to silence us.
That is their objective, not debate, not just harrassment, but looking for an excuse to muzzle us, completely and permanently--to eliminate opposition.
We can politely say we dislike the way the members of the 'first' family represented America, how they appeared declasse, how it is a pity some of the money spent on $5K purses wasn't spent on the daughter's wardrobe, maybe someone could reccommend a better thrift store, etc., but the second someone makes a remark which can be construed as "racist", we lose.
Enough of those remarks and we won't be making them on the web, because that will become the ammo used by the Obamites when they purge "hate" sites from the web.
You already know how the "hate" thing works--look at the rules for a crime being a "hate crime". There isn't a level spot on the playing field.
This is a war of wits, and we'd better use the tools appropriate to the venue.
If it ever gets more bare knuckle than that, we can take the gloves off and use whatever is necessary, but we are not there yet.
Nah. What defensive? Decent people do censor themselves--just because something is true, we do not have to blare it in an offensive way. We can get our point across anyway, and more effectively if we can reach more people.
They (the Liberals, especially the Obamites) are out to declare any forum where members express well-reasoned dissent a "hate" site if they can and shut them down.
Why give them the ammo they need to do that?
They are not interested in debate, or else liberals--arguing as liberals do--would not change the subject (or cease to comment at all) when we bring up a substantiative point.
Nope, they want an end to opposition, pure and simple.
I really don't give a rabid rat rectum if they like us or not. They probably (with what passes for thinking with liberals) never will, and I really don't care.
All I care about is whether I like myself, whether my God has severe issues with my behaviour--oh and let's not forget the Owner of the site, who asked up front that we not be (among other things) racist in our remarks.
Those are the rules here in, and I agreed to abide by those or get the zot long ago.
I am a man of my word, after all.
I’m not giving up my soul to these ghouls.
Nor am I.
Nor will I give them the satisfaction of crawling through the slime to their level of discourse. We're good enough to beat them, even if the rules are unfair. They have the MSM, and we are stuck with their referees for now.
That does not mean we can't criticize the behaviour of the Obama family while they are representing the United States, nor does it mean we cannot criticize their actions, their philosophies, their dress, their demeanor, just that we have to do so without using cultural references which can be misconstrued to be an attack on anything but the acts of the individual(s) we are focused on.
So focus on the acts (which are bad enough without the obvious cultural references) and we can continue to point out the nonsense people bought into in November in an effective way.
There is more than enough theft, fraud, improper attire, demeanor, and conduct to do so without one reference which can be construed as "racist".
If we let them have the material they need, (and I wouldn't put it past trolls to post it if none of us will), they will marginalize or eliminate the substantiative material disclosed and analyzed here by branding us "racist", and eventually use that to eliminate this venue altogether.
We have, barring incident or accident, another three years plus of this bunch of pikers, we'd best mind our Ps and Qs or we'll be shut out before the real ruckus begins.
“I pulled pictures of my black nieces and nephews out of a desk drawer and asked her how many blacks she had in her own family. She terminated her sermon and moved on.”
Ha! Love it. When I lived in Alaska, my supervisor had a grievance filed against him, alleging that he discriminated against Alaskan Indians. It was dropped when he pulled out a photo of his family; all of his adopted children were Alaskan Indians.
I would go so far as to believe that there are a number of “sleepers” who infiltrated long ago, posted their personal information, and appear to be legitimate. Those need to be identified and rooted out.
I like the way you put things, and agree with you. We at FR have a collection of individuals who (for the most part in my view) have done the right things in life, made their way, served proudly (which is a major, major reason why we can defeat the left), and are what one could describe (again, for the most part) as “salt of the earth”. God, country, and family are a common belief thread here, which is what separates us from the cesspool of the left, and will lead to the triumph of goodness and right over what the Obama clan has in mind.
I think back to the fall of 2004 when CBS tried to defeat GWB for the odious fraud John Kerry. Sitting at my PC in real time when patriots like “buckhead” led the way to expose the criminal conspiracy between Dan Rather and the Kerry campaign. That was a triumph the left could never pull off, largely because of its methods and viewpoint. We have far more intelligent and commonsense folks than the left, even though they try to tar “flyover country” and the South as a bunch of uneducated hicks and gun-clingers. Well, for my money, even though I reside in the People’s Republic of Illinois, I am a Southerner at heart and a son of the Heartland.
I depend on FR to educate me on the dangers from the left, and will always defend the upright folks here who try to do the right thing. But, let’s not give the leftists any ammunition and ordnance to use against us, for they will try.
Mark my words, my tagline speaks the truth.
Thanks for the recommendation.
I see nothing wrong in denying support to something I disagree with.
Have you refused to buy products from certain companines, or watch the shows of certain 'sponsors' ?
Have you chosen not to click on a link, or link others to a website which you don't like?
The children are off limits as far as I am concerned.
I should know better, but I always look for a mention of the freepers who do not tolerate this type of crap. We are pretty good at policing ourselves.
I missed the thread because I have been following a different story for the past week. Wondering if the posters were from trolls or what I call the usual suspects.
LOL! I had a peace sign or 2 in my wardrobe back in the days. I was not a protestor or part of the counter-culture. It was just what we wore. I did draw the line at beads, tie dye or anything with tassels. And although my mama might have thought I looked like a street walker in my halter top, levis (it took forever to break in a good pair of levis back then) and sandals, it was all about comfort.
The poster said he would have the info this morning.
Has anyone seen it?
The poster seemed to have a solid 'reputation' here on FR.
I am assuming she is not going to the summit meeting or an official gathering, but out for some fun.
Now, the guy with her, I have issues with. Serious issues. There is a line. I blame the adults in charge for that one. I would tell my kids these are your options: change your clothes or stay in the hotel room. It is not open for negotiation. I'd say it if they were 5, 15 or 25.
I’ve seen lots of guys dressed like that, they were all just having fun.
Can’t pick on him and make him look different from all the rest. It’s not like he was going to a G8 conference.
Both Malia and Sasha have worn those shirts before. It is not the first time by any stretch of the imagination. I know conservtive blacks who wear their hair like that. In professional settings, no less
When I think of a "Black Panthers look" I think of this:
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Peacnik:
Not even close
If we really believe that the left can “muzzle us, completely and permanently—to eliminate opposition”, then I would suppose that those holding that opinion have already lost.
If we follow your “we cannot do it in such a way that they can use our delivery of concept as a weapon against us to silence us”, then why bother to hold a strong conservative opinion on anything? You will never gain an upper hand with that attitude. We can be nice till the dawn breaks, but all that ever does is to make us look cowed when the first clueless leftists shouts the newest PC mantra. IMO, we are dammed by the left if we do, and dammed by the left if we don't.
Times have changed, and I for one see what is going to happen with a weak position and a defeatist attitude.
I agree. Unfortunately, talking about that stuff labels us “racist.”
Seems we can’t talk about anything “negative” when it comes to certain topics. Not just here but in general.
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