The moderators do a great job of holding up the standards that Jim has set for Free Republic. However, they need all of our help--in exercising our good judgment when posting and in hitting the abuse button when out of line comments are made.
We are not a politically correct site, however the posting guidelines need to be adhered to. The comments cited by O'Reilly are literally drops in the bucket of the millions of comments posted on FR and do not represent what FR is about. However, the better we take care of FR, the less chances we'll give people to pull stunts like O'Reilly did last night.
I want to thank everyone for the kind and supportive comments last night. It was not a 'fun' interview, but hopefully some good will come out of it.
FACT: O’Reilly lied.
The information provided by Fox News did in NO way prove “hate”, if anything it exonerated us.
When does Bill apologize?
What is the next move?
A DOG looking out for its afternoon nap jumped into the Manger of an Ox and lay there cosily upon the straw. But soon the Ox, returning from its afternoon work, came up to the Manger and wanted to eat some of the straw. The Dog in a rage, being awakened from its slumber, stood up and barked at the Ox, and whenever it came near attempted to bite it. At last the Ox had to give up the hope of getting at the straw, and went away muttering:
“AH, PEOPLE OFTEN GRUDGE OTHERS WHAT THEY CANNOT ENJOY THEMSELVES.”
Switching gears, slightly.
Every so often, we here at Free Republic all see posts that have been removed by the moderator. Generally, these are followed by sincere posts that (what ever was written) was uncalled for, and needs to be removed.
I confess to a bit of difficulty trying to figure out Mr. O' Reilly's malignant, and overstated characterization of this forum.
Is O'Reilly going for some "street cred" here? He gets somewhat testy when folks call him a conservative (and he's not a conservative, and that's fine). Is this some sort of "firing for effect" to show he's an independent?
Could this be jelousy? This is a vibrant, active (and diverse, within the context of our fairly large conservative tent) forum. We enjoy some political "juice", evidenced by such things as the online exposure of Dan-the-forger, and some impressive solidarity re the amnesty-for-illegal-alien bill (call it what you want). This forum will have its say in the nomination of the GOP candidate for President.
I, for one Freeper, enjoy watching O' Reilly from time-to-time. I have not, however, gotten past his shameful treatment of John O'Neill and the brave way he and his fellow Navy swiftboat veterans presented the important truths about John Kerry's wartime hoaxes.
Somehow though, I don’t see BOR as the type of person who can admit “mistakes”, at least not without some prodding.
In other words, a big fat nothing. O’Reilly really stepped in it this time.
I think we can effectively rule out O’Reilly today with the MN bridge collapse. If Bill’s on at all it will only be to provide backup commentary to Shep or whoever else takes over for Shep.
PING...................
PING...................
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-young/oreilly-condemns-right-w_b_57844.html
Fox probably didn't find those posts, they were more than likely directed to them.
I’d say we’re starting to feel the tingling of the coming totalitarian state.
“America the melting pot” is becoming “America the boiling pot” and we are the toads, and the water’s starting to warm nicely.
How do you think this conversation would be going on an underground chat room?
Maybe like this?
“Who typed that statement!?”
“When did they say it? Do you think we’ll be banned?”
“Do you think we’re allowed to say such-n-so?”
Really folks.....haven’t we just outsourced the power to squelch free speech to the media?
Must be where he gets his own material eh.
We have a Death, "scenario", not a threat etc. If that was reported it would have been pulled, but it really is more a bad joke than anything else.
The, "Dog in the Manger", comment was not presented that way but as Homosexuals are dogs, a completely different meaning. That was no accident.
The last is the worst. O'Reilly said "I Hate Blacks". Where is it? Racist statements are the most inflamatory.
Moderators cannot pull non-existant posts.
O'Reilly's entire report was a deliberate act of malignant dishonesty. It is a defamatory and nasty hatchet job.
I usually reserve this comment for members of allied military members, but in this case......
Thank you for your service. :-)
If you follow O’Reilly’s orders to you from last night, you will need to have each and every poster submit comments to a ‘professional’ reviewer before they are posted on the site.
That would end FreeRepublic and that’s no stretch.
Each of the comments you posted were twisted out of context by O’Reilly. The comment about Hillary catching a stray bullet is not an assassination ideation but an accident ideation. Any candidate or President can have an accident and it is fair game to discuss what might happen in the aftermath.
I still think Jim Robinson needs to retain a lawyer and write a letter to Foxnews accusing them of slander, demanding an on-air retraction of Mr. O’Reilly’s comments.
Also it is not a stretch to say that Mr. O’Reilly has threatened FreeRepublic members with their right of free speech. Last night’s episode showed that he is for ending free exchange on interent forums unless they are ‘professionally’ moderated. That is clearly a threat to censor internet discussions.
I haven’t watched O’Reilly in years and only caught the You Tube broadcast or your interview linked here in FR. His ratings are declining and it is obvious why that is happening.
On the other hand FreeRepublic’s reputation is still growing. His tirade leveled at you last night gave the site a lot of free publicity. People that are curious after listening to him last night will wander into FR and see that it is a great source of information and debate.
BTW you did great at keeping calm and poised.
But now he needs to be slapped with a letter that lays out the slanderous elements of his comments last night and then he needs to retract his comments and apologize on-air to FR and all its members.
What happened?
Did O’Reilly criticize FR for having crude offensive material? Because that would be ironic considering a few months back this happened:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1835359/posts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRbH0hpTiLs
Megyn Kelly on the O’Reilly factor said that a rape victim lost on both ends because the rape only lasted two minutes. O’Reilly brushed it off and no one acknowleged it.
I said:
"I hate blacks" for example was an Asian paper's "I Hate Blacks" column. Also, I found two others; to wit, "The reason is not that I hate blacks. . . ." and "...his name used to be 'I hate blacks, Jews and Sp***', now he is a loving member of the Democrat party!"
[End]
I asked that he post links to prove his assertions because that one did not pass muster.
If what the producer sent to you is all they can come up with then the whole bunch of them are "whirling dervishes".
Frankly, I don’t like the loose definition of “hate speech” being thrown around like a beach ball.
We cannot ignore color or gender or culture when the issue is at odds with the laws and the fabric of the Republic of America.
For the most part, Free Republic is a color blind community. But we are not blind to trends and cultures that threaten our very existence as a nation. Hate speech is not defined as calling for enforcement of immigration laws. Hate speech is not defined as identification of a criminal or terrorist because of race. Hate speech is an accusation loosely thrown around as a means of intimidating anyone who speaks out against any culture that attempts to change or control the beliefs of the majority view.
I think O Reilly is a troll looking for ratings. I bet he gets his share of hate mail. I am sure, if his hate mail was published, it would be far worse than any comment posted on Free Republic.
I admire your ability to face O Reilly. But he makes it hard to get in a word edgewise with his self serving agenda.
Bill,
I challenge you to directly compare the participants here on Free Republic and the Daily Kos websites to a face to face debate on any issue, you pick them, give us a call, and we’ll be there...
I put our membership up anyday against the participants of the Daily Kos, and you sir are welcome to moderate...
That should be quite an eye opening experience!
Steve Williams
Houston, Texas
(lets see if this comment makes it on the show)
There are still some tacky posts not pulled by the mods and we can do better, but I doubt it will happen. It’s sad that BOR can twist this stuff to trash us. I think the publicity is better than not though. People will see for themselves when they come to check us out.
Nam Vet