How Free is Free Republic

kuro5hin.org ^ | Mon Dec 29th, 2003 at 09:53:55 PM EST | felixrayman

[visagoth]

I didn't find this posted here on FR - so here we go.....

	How Free is Free Republic? By felixrayman Mon Dec 29th, 2003 at 09:53:55 PM EST
	Free Republic is an online story and discussion site similar to Kuro5hin.org, but with an explicitly conservative bias. The site proclaims itself to be "an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web." Intrigued, I proceeded to offer some comments to stories there, addressing some factual errors and dissenting with some conservative views. The result was a quick lesson in the right-wing view of free expression. The experiment left an open question - where do you go on the web to engage conservatives in open debate? Where is the right-wing version of k5?

One article on the Free Republic site entitled "Dean Finally Shoots Self Somewhere Other Than Own Foot" attacks Howard Dean for his statement that "The capture of Saddam has not made America safer". The poster of the article goes on to claim, "If any of the Left is paying attention, Dean has just officially proven the he is DEFINITELY clueless when it comes to foreign policy. Another in a long line of RATS that just doesn't get it". My reply that "Actually it's pretty obvious that the capture of Saddam hasn't made the world safer - international airline flights had to be cancelled a few days ago due to threats of terrorism and in Iraq the last few days have been as bloody for coalition forces as the days before Saddam's capture" was removed by a moderator within a few minutes. A comment posted to another Free Republic story, "Howard Dean: The Mayor of Milwaukee", in an attempt to belittle Howard Dean's fiscal record claimed that the budget of one county in Illinois was larger than the budget of the state of Vermont. It claimed the budget of the County of DuPage, near Chicago, to be $1.6 billion, and that the budget for the entire state of Vermont was $73 million. After a quick google search, I found this assertion to be incorrect. The reply I posted 'The "$73 million" figure you quote is for the Vermont Municipal Employees' Retirement System, not the entire Vermont budget. Vermont's budget calls for 1.8 billion in state spending with another billion in federal spending', was removed within a few minutes. The Free Republic claims in its help section that, "While Free Republic is not edited or censored, it does reserve the right to remove any postings that are considered inappropriate. Examples of inappropriate posts are those that are off-subject or contain advertising, pornography, obscene material, racist material, Nazi (or other hate group) material, materials promoting violence, threats or illegal acts, etc". It would be interesting to know under which category my replies were considered to fall. For another example, a response to the story "You Might be a Leftist If . . ." read, in part "The only meaningful difference is between those who believe in the original intent interpretation of the Constitution and those who do not. Those who believe in the Constitution believe in individual liberty. Those who ignore or rewrite the Constitution do not believe in individual liberty. This is the only difference which matters. " I responded to this poster with the comment "Individual liberty? Didn't the constitution as written specifically allow for the continuation of slavery as an American institution"? Within minutes, the post was removed by a moderator. In addition, after this third reply, my ability to post comments on the site was revoked. So obviously, the Free Republic is not free, except in the sense that the German Democratic Republic was democratic, or the sense that supporting the PATRIOT Act is patriotic. Web site operators certainly have a right to set whatever rules they choose for their users. And a quick test showed that there are sites with a left-wing bias that are just as cowardly as Free Republic when it comes to allowing an actual debate. The question remains, are there any sites with a conservative bias that allow such debate?

Full discussion: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/12/27/173837/60

---

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. The Rest © 2000 - 2001 Kuro5hin.org Inc.

[Quilla]

It was posted a few days ago and apparently pulled.

[visagoth]

OK - Thanks... I guess that's why I couldnt find it.

We'll see what happens to this one then.

[Nachum]

FreeRepublic must be extremely effective to elicit this response. One would expect the attacks to grow as we get nearer to election time.

[Rebelbase]

This thread has been pulled.

Pulled on 12/30/2003 12:42:41 PM EST by Admin Moderator, reason:

Promoting left wing site

Okay

[BunnySlippers]

:::yawn:::

[sauropod]

Some moderators are a little too quick on the trigger.

I would have preferred to answer this fool and figuratively roasted him/her over a slow fire.

[Jim Robinson]

Free Republic is privately owned and funded. We exercise our right to control the use and content of our website. We also exersize our right to freedom of association. Liberal trolls and their posts are usually removed. We do not want to waste our time or resources on their nonsense. Free Republic is not a liberal debating society.

[visagoth]

Jim:

Thanks for your reply. My intention in posting the thread was not to 'promote a left wing website', but to give others a heads up on the discussion regarding trying to 'troll' FR.

Thanks again for FR. I appreciate it.

[ChuckHam]

Thanks for keeping this site clean. If I want to wallow in the sewer I can go to DU.

[nwrep]

Thanks!

[airborne]

Thank you Mr. Robinson! And a happy, prosperous new year to all!

[winner3000]

Nobody said that Saddam's capture will stop ALL Al Qaeda attacks on the US. But no objective reasonable person can say that his arrest hasn't made Americans safer. Apart from logic, events that occurred afterwards prove my point: Many terrorists were arrested thanks to information found on Saddam, and a lot of Iraqis have come forward since his capture to help with the capture of other terrorists, specifically because they were now less afraid to do so. They at least knew that it's now official: Saddam mathematically can no longer be expected to come back to power.

[SunStar]

This is a gathering place for conservatives only. We do not want to debate liberals on this forum. We can find liberal viewpoints throughout the media and on sites such as BartCop and DU. Let us have our liberal-free zone. OK, buddy?

[BobFromNJ]

Jim--Way to go!! Why do these left-leaning self-appointed intellectuals try so hard to be heard in the wrong places??
Anyway, great response!

[Britton J Wingfield]

Not sure if I'd call that a left wing site or not. I've been checking it out for a couple of days.

There is at least one other freeper there, and some pretty good left/right discussions going on.

Apparently they had a mass exodus of lefties to some other site, equaling things out a bit.

Just my observations.

[Britton J Wingfield]

Looks like people on his own site are calling him on his BS.

[bolobaby]

OK, I've been around FR for a few years and I'm pretty darn conservative. I agree with yanking speculative and/or inciteful remarks by lefties who are just trying to cause trouble.

BUT...

It seems to me that his second remark was a factual correction of some sort. As a true conservative, I want the facts. I'd look at a correction like that and think "ok, someone here is wrong." Then I'd do some quick research and figure out what the truth really was.

I haven't looked at this matter, so I don't know where the truth lies, but it does disturb me that the reply was yanked. Any attempt to set facts straight should be given consideration unless it is a blatant misinformation. I look at that post and it doesn't seem like blatant misinformation.

Am I wrong to feel this way?

[ChuckHam]

This is a gathering place for conservatives only. We do not want to debate liberals on this forum. We can find liberal viewpoints throughout the media and on sites such as BartCop and DU. Let us have our liberal-free zone. OK, buddy?

Actually I like to debate liberals if they can back up their argument with intelligent debate. Unfortunately, most of them are caught up in emotion and media lies.

[isthisnickcool]

FreeRepublic free? No way! I've heard it on pretty good authority that this place rakes in the money? Here is a spyshot of Jim Robinson and a special van he bought with all the money he has made here! And just look at the house Robinson bought!

Oh, this thread has nothing to do with this? Nevermind:)