Free Republic losing its impact

Alamance Independent ^ | Unknown | Matt Maggio

[BraveMan]

What a long way Free Republic has come! From its birth in 1996 as what began as just a place where hardcore conservatives to post the latest news and analyze it, Free Republic two years later had a significant role in the neutralization of the Clintons - as it became the organizing point for enormous protests ridiculing Bill Clinton over Monicagate everywhere he went in the U.S. early in Monicagate throughout 1998. Some top liberals even blame Freepers for Al Gore's defeat.

Very early in Monicagate, Freepers brought Free Republic out of just being a sort of giant cybercafe for dissidents to talk things over - and made it into a very-effective organizing point for giant protests against liberals and liberalism, like the one in Houston at a Clinton fundraiser that not only like most greeted Clinton with hundreds of dissidents ridiculing him for his adultery and perjury, but even found a fire engine to hang a giant sign on that read "Bill Clinton Is A Four-Alarm Fraud." Freepers in Florida hung a giant sign on a cabin cruiser to float in a strategic position just offshore a fundraiser of his there. And here in North Carolina, about 30 Freepers picketed an Al Gore fundraiser in Raleigh's Volvo district in May 1999 - some dressed as Buddhist monks. The Clintons/Gore Regime just couldn't escape the conservatives from hell.

Other liberals were no luckier. The "Rosiecott" that ended Corporate America's willingness to indulge leftist politics was in large part organized on Free Republic. Freeper-organized boycotts were to Rosie O'Donnell's career what a later gay boycott was to advice-talk radio host Dr. Laura's.

But - just six years after its founding, just four years after the height of its power - Free Republic today is largely a total waste of time. As a reader commented, it isn't accomplishing anything anymore - with the giant protests against liberals formerly organized on it by Freepers over; as he agreed last week, the sole positive things it now does are to provide rapid dissemination of news, even from small-town dailies, to dissidents everywhere - and to guide dissidents to the various dissident newspapers that really are hardcore.

Some social issues are almost unmentionable on Free Republic today. More than one Freeper has griped that posted articles on immigration often just disappear. Other Freepers have been just blacklisted from Free Republic - for offending the sensibilities of founder Jim Robinson or the small clique under him that largely actually runs Free Republic now.

Today, Free Republic is every bit as handicapped as founder Jim Robinson - but by another problem. To all too many Freepers now, anyone calling themselves a Republican is God's brother - and cannot be criticized, no matter how Clintonesque their views on many social issues may be. And to all too many Freepers now, Pres. Bush really is God - uncriticizable, no matter what.

To make Free Republic great again, a number of things have to happen. First, all involved - from ordinary Freepers to "JimBob" himself - have to accept that having an (R) next to one's name doesn't make a politician beyond criticism. Second, all involved must also accept that Pres. Bush isn't God. And then, all Freepers must commit to doing again what made Free Republic great - hounding any politician at odds with Red Nation's masses on social issues; if that means picketing Pres. Bush everywhere he goes if he hints at amnesty for illegal aliens or tacit support of racial quotas, that's what it takes.

Free Republic didn't become great by being a Chinese-style "Democracy Wall" for dissidents to post articles from "mainstream" newspapers to and then discuss them. It can only became great again the same way it originally got great.

[BraveMan]

. . . *which* forum owner . . .

Re: Alamance Independent Article
From Jim Robinson | 12/01/2002 2:56 PM CST read

Go ahead and post it.
Thanks,
Jim

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

Thank you r-intense :) It's nice to see you too!

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

lol, I think you're the only one who got it. hehe.

[Sparta]

Bump!!!

[Howlin]

That just goes to show that Jim Robinson is a better person than the author of this crap.

[Sparta]

I propose you ban glc1173@aol.com(Matt Maggio) or at least demote him to court jester status along with Fusion the Fraud.

[Hoppean]

Interesting point raised about the mixed marriages issue at Alamance Independent. Both Bushes spoke at Bob Jones University while on the campaign trail. BJU prohibited interracial dating until they modifed that policy once the liberal media jumped on them. Pat Buchanan spoke there, too, for his presidential campaign--CNN has an article on that at http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/18/buchanan.ap/

So the issue is one that causes a lot of debate between the moderate camp and conservative camps of the GOP. Some want to uphold the cultural values of the days from the 1950s when Americans were Americans, and others are trying to adapt to today's America where Americans are "victims" of some "ism," like "racism," "sexism," etc.

[DoughtyOne]

Reasoned voices should alwasy be welcome here.

[Howlin]

Oh, no, Jim can't ban him; if he goes, according to him, then there won't be ANY brains left here at FR. / sarcasm off.

Don't you just *love* finding out what our fellow FakeFreepers think about the rest of us.

[mountaineer]

As a reader commented, it isn't accomplishing anything anymore

A reader? Wow, now there's an authoritative source. While I normally wouldn't waste the time responding to more of the usual crap from the leper colony, I will say this: if it weren't for FR, I wouldn't have gone out and done a solo protest against Al Gore, I wouldn't have freeped Gore again in the midst of several hundred bused-in union guys, I wouldn't have freeped Bill Clinton and been quoted in a major metropolitan newspaper, I wouldn't have bought a gun and obtained a carry permit, I wouldn't have gotten involved in politics and I wouldn't be the current party chairman in my county, contemplating a run for office. In other words, bouncing ideas off fellow FR posters, learning from their experiences, having access to news and opinion - all have contributed to my development as a political activist, and I'm glad to have found this place nearly five years ago.

The lepers lie about this, but the truth is that Jim doesn't ban people merely for disagreeing with him. The valley of the banned is full of people who thought the simple rules didn't apply to them. Anyone who thinks he has a right to trash another man's web site, to spew racist, abusive or other hateful crap, without being subject to being told to leave, is an idiot.

[CHICAGOFARMER]

Ditto

This place has just become a who can post the fastest, I beat you to the post.

Where is the thought, the thinking, and the gut stories of real journalism? I will tell you. They have left for fast posting and sys mods who tell you what to think.

chicagofarmer

[Howlin]

Some want to uphold the cultural values of the days from the 1950s when Americans were Americans

Why stop there? Let's just call them "darkies" and get it over with.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

Ah, the Land Rover. I'd like to take one of those for a spin some time. I just returned from a 350 mile trip driving a brand new volvo (rental). I'm not impressed. Then again, I don't have much room to speak since I recently totalled another car. I'm trying to let my new nicknames roll off my back. lol. I am considering giving up driving during Novembers though. 2 of the last 3 Novembers have not been good to me. They've been even worse for the cars I was driving. lololol.

[deport]

most of the best poster our gone like t-shirt,etc

ROFLMAO.

ol' FSZ must know that from lurking so much as he just signed up... but glad he got to experience the wisdom of shirty's cut and paste jobs....

[Howlin]

Where is the thought, the thinking, and the gut stories of real journalism? I will tell you. They have left for fast posting and sys mods who tell you what to think.

Any explanation, then, about why you're still here?

[Sparta]

Sure, there's a FR bashing thread at Nazi(Liberty) Forum. We are now the front for Mossad. If we could only be that lucky.

[hellinahandcart]

The article's still up, and the Admin Mod is posting on the thread, so it must be okay, mustn't it?

Don't take it personally. I just noticed you didn't say "owner of THIS forum" (read another way, it could just as easily have meant 'posted with permission of the owner of the Allamace Ind.' and not "JimBob")and when fifteendogs made a similar point just now, I noticed he hadn't been very specific either.

I just notice little things like that. It's a blessing and a curse...

[Hoppean]

Some want to uphold the cultural values of the days from the 1950s when Americans were Americans

Why stop there? Let's just call them "darkies" and get it over with.

No, no, not at all. Alan Keyes spoke at BJU, too. Lots of people in the liberal media forget that inconvenient fact.

[Willie Green]

Mark Maggio IS glc1173@aol.com; he posts and links to that dreadful site all the time.

Well, I see a lot of the links he's provided on his posts.
And I also see a number of replies he's made without such links.

So I'm still not sure how anybody has confirmed his identity.
I post links to the Maglev site (among others) quite often.
That doesn't make me the author of those websites.

Has Mr. Maggio ever 'fessed up to being glc@aol.com? (or vice-versa?)

Or is a Freeper being picked on (rightly or wrongly) for linking to that site.
(While I would hope somebody would be aware of the racist content, I suppose it would be possible that there'd be a few articles that didn't reflect that, and somebody (extremely naive) could be unaware of the trash.)