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When did Freepers turn so nasty? (vanity)
vanity | 2/12/2016 | Optimist

Posted on 02/12/2016 10:04:27 PM PST by Optimist

Over the past several months, Free Republic has begun to show an ugly side of its members. Although admittedly comprised of many strong-willed, opinion-charged individuals presenting thoughtful, conservative insights into the topics of the day, this forum has begun to show a seamier side as the Trump-Cruz-Rubio-Carson 2016 Primary heated up. You all know what I mean. Many of you have either been at the giving or receiving end of EMOTIONALLY-charged attacks against various candidates or even individuals as their supporters.

Herewith a few thoughts I would like to share:

  1. Passion for a candidate and buying into the campaign is exciting and important for exposing others to knowledge and understanding more about "your" candidate.
  2. Most of us WILL NOT be able to have a voting impact on which individual becomes the candidate, so why such vitriol? A little perspective is really needed. What are you going to do if by mid-March (when only 20% of the country has had any type of primary vote) and your candidate has fallen off the slate? Face it ANY of these candidates are better than any Democrat or potential Independent opposition, and will have a better chance of being elected than nay 3rd/4th/obscure party candidate.
  3. When did we turn into the Ron Paul group? Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but you know what I mean: personality driven, my guy can do/say no wrong, I'm going to get in your face if you don't see things my way, and .... well, you hopefully see the similarity.
  4. None of the candidates is 100% perfect, but they all have characteristics that are admirable:
  5. Yes there are negatives for all of them, but this is THE BEST crop of candidates we have ever had to choose from, unlike past elections when it seemed inevitable that the hand-picked, it's-his-turn, establishment candidate was chosen for us. And, besides, go back and re-read number 2.
  6. And (finally?) a word about pundits: (Glenn Beck, Rush, Fox News, et. al.):

Well, this is what happens when one (Ok, I) become frustrated with the ad-hominem attacks against so many good people both on this site, and otherwise supportive of conservatism and the rise of a conservative Republican Party. We are all decent, America-loving conservatives who are driven to strive for what is best for returning this country to its pride.

Please Freepers, make your best case, and trust that whoever eventually runs against the Demobeast will, with God's light, be the right person for the job.

Let the flame-war begin, I have donned my suit! And God bless.


TOPICS: FReeper Editorial; Free Republic; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: 2016; 2016gopprimary; cruz; cruzcontrol; cruzorlose; election; faq; trump; vanity
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To: JPX2011

I would LOVE to see a report on the average age of Freepers.

Surely we are not comprised of just grumpy old men.

;)


61 posted on 02/13/2016 12:49:48 AM PST by Reddy (B.O. stinks)
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To: SubMareener
There is at least one spin off site resulting from this primary.

I agree with you though, things aren't that wild here, now. Other primaries and even some other issues (Schiavo, Miers) created more animosity than this primary.

62 posted on 02/13/2016 12:50:50 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: BluesDuke
I can see legitimate attacks on a candidate's position. Especially when backed up with information. Real information, not carefully cherry picked quotes of hesaid/shesaid material from one of those liberal news sites we used to shred on a regular basis but is now being summarily accepted as gospel if it slams the candidates someone doesn't like.

Unfortunately, there is an incredible amount of the latter. Those sweeping generalizations, those howled innuendos and half truths are circling the globe and it is grossly irresponsible to post such without vetting it instead of blindly accepting it and repeating it as gospel because it slams 'the other guy'.

I have no qualms about calling someone on that crap, especially when a couple of links away (original article, their source link)there is all the information they needed to see the sweeping allegations were either unsubstantiated or out of context, or both.

While I admit I am more likely to call someone on that when it is aimed at my candidate of choice (so far), it just isn't right. It demeans this forum, and even worse, it hampers the process of figuring out who is most likely to stick to what they have said they will do when elected.

We have seen plenty of those who get elected and forget every Conservative notion they ever had as soon as the acceptance speech starts.

I seriously doubt this nation will be straightened out in my remaining lifetime, but would like to go to my Creator having done my minuscule bit to sort things out and head this country back in the right direction.

That is one heck of a lot harder to do when the signal to noise ratio around here is getting ridiculously low.

63 posted on 02/13/2016 12:51:32 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Optimist

Like your suit can i have one. great post. i would like to create an auto bot that would highlight every logical fallacy uttered on this site and every other site. the joy we have here is to take all of this and continually learn. how to listen, react and articulate our opinions. vitriol, nasty, invective are part of free speech. it’s also why we have the application of redemption, grace, truth, love, i think you can’t have one side of stuff (hate etc) without the other. we choose the other.


64 posted on 02/13/2016 12:52:15 AM PST by kvanbrunt2
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To: Washi

“But, yeah, it gets pretty disheartening to see the ad hominem attacks, piling on, bumper sticker slogans, vulgarity, vitriol, and immaturity when we should be arguing the facts and the policies.”

I think we have more active DU trolls than usual. You can tell by their posts they came here to trash the place. You could find almost the same posts over at DU.


65 posted on 02/13/2016 12:52:50 AM PST by 1035rep
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To: Smokin' Joe

>> [liberal] material ... is now being summarily accepted as gospel

Yeah, that’s annoying.


66 posted on 02/13/2016 12:54:07 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Optimist

Actually, there is one thing about this campaign that I am very concerned for . . .

Several of the candidates are getting WAY too close and touchy feely with the public, dangerously so.

So in that aspect, with these tensions guing on, I feel like it is 1968 again. There are nuts out there of different shades of the moon minds, look at some of those end of the world Glenn Becker bots for example. Or some Sirhan Sirhan Palestinian, or an Islamic nut job, or a Feel the Burn commie, or some fan of Kim Jong Un who thinks the Great Leader was insulted, or some religious fanatic saying Jesus told me to, some Black Lies Matter POS loser on drugs and Dem debate talking points, Nation of Islam or someone from that Church Obama use to go to thinking it is time for the chickens to come home to roost, God forbid, pop pop pop pop bang.


67 posted on 02/13/2016 12:55:52 AM PST by ShivaFan
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To: Rome2000

It was a Jeb supporter who called me a four letter word name.
All I ever remember saying about Jeb is something like,’Jealous much, Jebby?’. I can’t stand the man and never discuss him. He hasn’t a chance, anyway.

I don’t know how long that filthy name he called me was up on the forum for all to see.
To my dismay, the moderators didn’t even bother to delete it.
I had to report it as ‘abuse’.
Maybe it’s as the original poster said, ‘some moderators just give some the thumbs down’.


68 posted on 02/13/2016 12:56:02 AM PST by patriot08 (5th generation Texan ...(girl type))
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To: Gene Eric
-- We're now seeing charges of intellectual inferiority, out-of-control emotions, blind ignorance to a liar, etc. --

Sometimes those charges are true. FR represents a diverse range of ability and fundamental honesty. It would be a mistake to insist on PC vs. each other on this forum.

I do agree that one can respectfully point out difference of opinion, but at some point, when sides become entrenched, discussion itself becomes pointless. Opposing sides have not exhausted their energy, so out comes crap.

69 posted on 02/13/2016 12:59:50 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: Optimist

Excellent post


70 posted on 02/13/2016 1:00:29 AM PST by 1035rep
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To: Optimist

These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one.


71 posted on 02/13/2016 1:06:18 AM PST by Ken H
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To: ETL

That’s a big part of why I’m more annoyed than usual. After all the moaning over the years that we could win if we’d just nominate someone committed to conservatism instead of nominating a McCain or a Romney, what is happening? We’re on the road to nominating someone who will probably turn out to be worse than either of them.


72 posted on 02/13/2016 1:08:54 AM PST by FreedomForce ( Cruz 2016 --------- I've come to my senses. Trump is no longer even my second choice.)
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To: RasterMaster

I was a Duncan Hunter supporter in 2008. He had already dropped out by February 2008. At least my candidate is making a better run at it this time. I’m on a knife’s edge on whether I’ll be able to bring myself to vote for Trump in the general election. If I do it will be the hardest vote I’ve ever cast.


73 posted on 02/13/2016 1:16:34 AM PST by FreedomForce ( Cruz 2016 --------- I've come to my senses. Trump is no longer even my second choice.)
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To: Optimist

People are idiots.


74 posted on 02/13/2016 1:17:32 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (People are idiots.)
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To: Optimist

Normally disagreements on FR about candidate choice are merely tactical, but not this time.

I think the main cause of nastiness on FR this campaign season is that the selection of GOP candidates, rather than presenting the usual contrast between RINO (to be universally vilified by FReepers at least until the “lesser of two evils” stage at the general rolls around) and one or more conservative/American-nationalist candidates, has introduced a polarity between American-nationalist sentiment (leaning to Trump) and conservative sentiment (leaning to Cruz) (conservative in the American sense that in Australia is still called “liberal” because it values free markets and limited government, and even on FR is sometimes called “classical liberalism” when the poster wants to remind other that the American usage of “liberal” is based on a leftist propaganda coup, rather than reality).

Full disclosure: I’m a Cruz supporter, though only half-heartedly for a number of reasons that don’t bear on the topic of this thread.


75 posted on 02/13/2016 1:54:03 AM PST by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know...)
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To: JPX2011
I too like JR . . . absolutely represent that remark! Hicupp.

Darling, have you seen my meds?

76 posted on 02/13/2016 2:06:32 AM PST by saywhatagain
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To: Optimist
The Republican Party is having a Civil War.

In my opinion, that War began right here at Free Republic in 2005-2006, when we almost single handedly destroyed the Bush-McCain Amnesty and stopped the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination.

77 posted on 02/13/2016 2:48:28 AM PST by zeestephen
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To: Optimist

There are a handful of FReepers calling Trump a “pedophile”, “adulterer,” “pathological liar” and constantly setting up threads to fight battles we’ve fought over and over and over again on FR, and who, of course, also post the constant bile from places like Red State.

If the Mods shut down such threads and warned individuals, things would calm down. The problem really could be resolved by simply targeting a few of the most problematic posters, which the Mods could simply pick out by going to that anti-FR website where most of them are wailing at this moment!


78 posted on 02/13/2016 2:57:47 AM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

I think if we Trump supporters would judiciously use the report abuse when the anti-Trump people descend into slander instead of challenging Trump on policy, it might improve. I think the mods have a, “stand back and let the debate flow” attitude, and in many cases won’t act unless someone complains.


79 posted on 02/13/2016 3:14:04 AM PST by BigEdLB (Take it Easy, Chuck. I'm Not Taking it Back -- Donald Trump)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Great post!


80 posted on 02/13/2016 3:18:08 AM PST by stylecouncilor ("The future ain't what it used to be." Yogi Berra)
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