Posted on 12/01/2002 1:23:55 PM PST by 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.
What I do avoid at all cost are people who seem to use the web to fill a severe void in there lives . Speaking for myself I appreciate your in ~ put . In closing I noticed you did not write the article .
I still don't know where it is. Is it east,west,north,or south of Raleigh? How far from Raleigh?
Ron, your two posts on this thread are among the very few that addressed the article or made any sense. Thank you.
My own observation is that while JimRob and the moderators may not pull a thread that is critical of Bush, the Bush-bots here pounce so fiercely that there is not much chance for the issues to be debated. There's is nothing sacred about the government and to question and challenge the government is still our birthright.
339 posted on 12/01/2002 4:41 PM PST by Badray
While I appreciate the nice compliment, I can't understand why you'd think my comments addressed the real issues more than the rest of the offerings.
For instance, that half full half empty offering was amazing in it's simplicity and clarity.
That comment about some people not wanting grandchildren who looked different than themselves was most impressive.
Then there were the offerings by those that said others wanted them to leave the forum and "allow only the folks 'with brains' to remain."
One person thinks we should shut up if half what Bush is doing is good. LMAO Another thinks we must be stark raving racists if we don't want Mexican nationals pooring across our borders. Another thinks it's insulting, if folks get upset when they act as if Bush was perfect and actually have the audacity to challenge that premise.
The loonacy that passes for loyal support around here is all too often more disgusting than watching someone front for Clinton. Of course the St. George set has no idea what I mean by this. In their cerebral capacity they think you either love Bush or hate him, middle ground being an impossibility.
Silly me, I'd like to think that if Bush is doing something wrong, even if it was only one thing wrong, his supporters would be big enough to address the issue rationally. With the interjection of racism, hatred and red harings, it's rather evident that's an impossibility. Course they're the ones with the brains, so it must be my faulty logic.
I quake in my boots at the fury of your wrath.
By the way, exactly how does one breed like RINOS? Does that mean there are a LOT of us? Or a few? Inquiring minds want an explanation for this metaphor.
I know,but Orchestra didn't fit,and you obviously knew where I was going.
So what do you suggest? Freeper ballistic-fingerprinting? Comprehensive bot-control? Equal-time for folks incapable of defending themselves?
It may seem like it but you are not alone with your logic. Faulty is a matter of opinion.
WarHawk42
Yeah, the multiple use of the word "dissident" to refer to normal Americans who are working to regain control of their country kind of put me off too. Made me dismiss the whole column, frankly.
Regards,
LH
That is how I operate, and I am not changing to please people who never voted for him in the first place (like you).
So far I am only aggravated by the education bill, and it turns out there are some aspects of that I didn't know about so it might turn out better than I thought.
I detest the attitude that only you whiners are honest, and we Republicans are sell-outs. I want to keep democrats from ruining this country, and I use my common sense about what I post here.
Gotta tell you, I'm more than sick and tired of pissant whiners who decide to attack FR every time something doesn't go their way. Good God in Heaven, if that's the kind of people they are, I don't need them and I don't want them on "my side".
I need street fighters, not crybaby pantywaists.
What on EARTH is that?
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