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.
Sounds like we have passed stage three and are half way to stage four.
a.cricket
Yes! The Fallacies Index for use by the few, the intelligent,the rational and the polite!
Best regards,
Maybe the reason FR "isn't accomplishing anything anymore" is because: The success already achieved leaves very little left to be done in the short-run. Perhaps it's simply the case that conservative America is now in a position to digest its recent historic gains, and needs to take a [temporary] breather, a "time-out." Until such time as the Left -- which is now in utter disarray, and one wonders how they're gonna pull themselves out of the morass they've dug for themselves -- can figure out what next enormity it wants to perpetrate against the national welfare and the national interest -- in which case, I am SURE FR will BE BACK, BIG TIME. And make no mistake about it, WE WILL BE.
The second issue raised seems a tad more troubling to me:
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.
It seems to me FWIW that posted articles on immigration should never be pulled -- unless they are clearly one-sided, rabid, or grotesquely ideological. Immigration policy happens to be one of the most critical public concerns alive in America today. If we can't talk about it here, well, where can it be talked about -- in any clean and sober way?
I hope that FR never "locks itself into a box" -- but stays open to a world that it undergoing profound change, to a very large degree because FR was there to facilitate just that outcome in the first place. Otherwise we might manage to "seize defeat from the jaws of victory."...
I have been here since 1998. All that time, I thought FR's finest achievement, its greatest blessing, was its utter hostility towards all things ideological. I hope we never forget to take a page from our own "book"....
Patience. Vigilence. Prudence. These are the hallmarks of historic American genius, values that continue to inspire....
These are values that I associate with FreeRepublic.com. And I hope and pray I may continue to do so.
May God continue to bless JimRob and his able associates.
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
I do see your point of this part. I am a Constitutionalist, and I have noticed that any concern regarding Bush straying from true Conservatism is met with...um...shall we say...something less than tolerance. :-)
I personally believe that it's better for us to hold them accountable than to be satisfied with less than a Conservative position.
most people got that without you having to say it! (cept sugarbabe) lol
good post, and thoughtful of you to get JimRob's permission... :)
Oh?? Do tell us -- what is good about Islam AND those who identify with "The Religion of Peace"?
In a nutshell.
No need for interpretation.
Nothing but pure ignorant garbage.
"Bad" thoughts are punished and the thinker's posts eliminated!
Turn that frown upside down and there shall be no dissent on these posts!
Man, what a world these folk live in. The thing I love about FR is the dissention and passionate arguments. Thank God for the thinking class!
Some flaky ones spend their lives crying in their beer. Others, like JimRob actually work to make a difference.
One can read Matt's rants on the newsgroups by searching on his email addy: GLC1173@aol.com.
Here is one of his more recent posts:
"It may shock you - but I and a whole lot of others here in the heartland who voted for Bush thought from before his election that he was indeed a moron and long before 9/11 wasn't trustworthy."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.