Posted on 05/27/2011 10:36:25 AM PDT by Dr. Zzyzx
Freeper Friends,
I was saddened by JimRob's imperious pronouncement yesterday, and the ensuing comments & zots. Here's why. One of this site's primary pillars is the Bill of Rights which calls for Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Right to a trial by jury. We believe in those things. We believe in them to the point of being willing to sacrifice our lives for them. And yet on this site, when a JimRob cuts people off for what they say or believe Freepers cheer him like Baghdad Bob would cheer Saddam Hussein! That's not America folks!
"He owns the site!" you say. Tell that to Steven Jobs who got dumped a few years ago from the company he started because he created an IPO to get financial support from others. Once JimRob started taking YOUR money, it became YOUR site. YOU provide the content, YOU provide the financing. Without YOU, Jim would be a lonely guy staring at a monitor in his den.
How can we say we want freedoms out one side of our mouths, and stand by and cheer as Jim zots dissenters in a way that would make medieval Europe's most dictatorial tyrants proud?
John Stuart Mill had the right approach--let all the ideas fight it out in the arena. If they're foolish ideas, they will eventually be seen as such. We don't have anything to fear from hearing someone else's point of view.
Now. In case you're wondering:
My membership date is actually one and a half years earlier than the November 1999 date shown. (Had to re-enlist because of computer and email trouble)
I was raised in Arizona but live in Utah. I fly the Arizona flag on my profile because I'm proud of their stance on immigration.
I’ve told anyone that will listen that I think Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are shifty weasels.
I served on the city council and as the mayor of my community.
I played a part in the grassroots effort to throw Bob Bennett out of office, and hope soon to do the same to Orrin Hatch.
I waged a pitched battle in the newspapers and amongst my fellow teachers against the president, officers, and organization of the Utah Education Association, an arm of the NEA.
I became disenchanted with the Republican party after some of the things George Bush (though I admire his courage and determination) did that I felt were harmful to the financial well-being of America.
In other words, I'm not a newbie troll. I just have a genuine concern with how members are treated here, and you should too.
To save you the electrons of posting replies, I'll post them for you:
Jim owns the site, he can do what he wants.
ZOT!
Put on your asbestos suit.
Put on your tin foil hat.
Viking Kitties!
Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!
A cheese-eating moose bit my sister.
You are free to leave at any time.
By that same "logic," I am the happy owner of numerous Taco Bells.
We like the stand Jim Robinson has taken, like we may buy products that Rush Limbaugh sells, but it’s still his EIB.
Total freedom of speech does not happen in all places.
Try giving a speech while a professor at college is teaching and see how long you last in class.
Try loudly cussing in public for a long time and see if you don’t go to jail.
It’s Jim’s site, Jim’s rules, just like it would be under his roof in his house.
Makes sense to me, you shouldn’t get all offended, just start your own place if you can’t handle it.
I don’t donate to the site. Does that mean that my input should be more censored than the input of a paying contributor ?
It’s a tough question. There is no clear outline as to how Jim should run the site, or to how we should behave when logged into it.
One thing always stands though : We need more conservative sites. If you feel that you can, or you can drum up support for, another site - please feel free to start one with your moderation technique. The Freerepublic software and layout is easy.
Gosh. . .this is series
The first amendment guarantees the FEDERAL government cannot abridge free speech.
Private companies and forums can.
Thanks for not excerpting.
That is honestly how I see it.
Dropped on your head as a baby were you?
Neither is a land where gays, transgenders and other sinful people can peddle their beliefs in public, in our schools, and into our churches. That's not the America I grew up in, and that's the America I intend to defend.
This is Jim Rob's site. He sets the rules. And he's said before, what happens behind closed doors is none of his business, but we don't want it aired in public nor made legal and instilled in our education system. I see nothing wrong with that belief. I support it wholeheartedly. I always will.
If you have a problem with that, then I suggest a reexamination of whether Free Republic suits your tastes.
Vey series!
I shall watch this thread with interest.
My money goes on a ZOT
Steve Jobs is a better CEO today because he got fired from the company he co-founded. I can write tomes on the blunders that occurred because of Steve Jobs.
The Bill of Rights has almost nothing to do with a private enterprise.
I haven’t donated much, but I give JimRob proxy of my shares.
I want to hear agitprop for Romney, I can go elsewhere.
(Kinda tryin to make a point to dude.)
You could start your own site and have fun posting to yourself.
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.