Posted on 08/16/2007 7:56:17 PM PDT by crusher
I was listening to the news out of the corner of my ear when I heard FreeRepublic specifically mentioned as a "hate site" about fifteen minutes ago.
Ostensibly the long report was about the Klan using the web to recruit new wackos. Then the focus turned to Casa Maryland, and their director who claimed that calls for his murder had circulated on the internet by anti-immigrant bigots. It was then that the anchor identified FR by name as a hate site.
Typical of the MSM to mistaken a passion for what is right as hate.
I am a staunch fiscal conservative and a free market capitalist.
I have ALWAYS held conservative views and I absolutely HATE liberalism.
I am NOT for open borders. I want the border sealed tight!
I admit I said I was "hopelessly liberal toward the peaceful illegal immigrant" who took the nerve and initiative to trek here with nothing but the clothes on their backs....in search of a better life.
As far as I'm concerned they all deserve to start out here with a 'clean slate'. Therefore, unless they have criminal records from their home country, they're as pure as the driven snow.
Once they are arrested and convicted of a violent crime or theft, they should be jailed and then deported.
They should ALL...upon registration...which is coming sure as Christmas...have a biometric identification assigned to them so that if they try to re-enter, they are caught.
This isn't rocket science.
As far as you being a poster boy for 'hate'...you call me 'the enemy' numerous times. You display your hatred for Americans who happen to have a better understanding of how our economy works and how important the illegal fits into the equation.
You spout and show your hatred for me...a fellow Conservative...stalking me around the forum on a daily basis.
I'm not interested in conversing with you any longer, but I am not going to sit idly by and allow you to spread lies about me either.
I even Freepmailed you offering to debate this as adults and we both know what your response was to that too....don't we?
You're a pathetic angry man, wtc911. Have a good day.
You're mistaken if you think there are no posts or threads at FR that would lead an outsider to label us a "hate site." Perhaps you, like I, have simply learned to avoid the topics and posters that we already know will be unpleasant, and thus we might not actually have a fully developed sense of what's going on here. An outsider will not have enough experience to know what to avoid or not ... he'd just poke into any old thread. The question is: what will he find when he gets there?
so the dominate voice here seems like it is more right leaning when hot button issues come up, then they come back out of the woodwork when the storm is over. Just because the moderates like to "hide out" so to speak still doesn't make it a hate site.
Again, the problem (and the topic of this thread) is not what you or I think about FR, it's what the outsiders think of us -- especially media folks who are predisposed to distrust our views.
The problem you describe is real. The problem with "hiding out" is that we allow "right leaning" to become synonymous with "loud and ill-considered;" and in some egregious cases a "right leaning" poster can be downright hateful. That plays right into the hands of the MSM, many of whom already believe us to be a "hate site."
FWIW, I've spent a good bit of time and effort on those threads, challenging the presuppositions of those whose views seem (to me) to be extreme and/or poorly thought out. You'd be surprised at how much venom can be directed at a FReeper who challenges a loudly-expressed opinion. It's not just "moderates" who avoid such threads....
“Folks, if you don’t like FR, change the channel. It’s that easy.”
AMEN to that.
Hilton Opens Up – (That’s Funny)
BARE BRITNEY SPEARS GETS AIRBRUSHED
NICOLE RICHIE CONFIRMS SHE'S PREGNANT
Now that's some real news
You claim I am hateful. LOL!
If I'm 'hateful'...then so is Fred Thompson, and Rudy and Newt. And President Bush. And most of the people we elect to Congress.
As I said to you before, if we both were to debate this on The O'Reilly Factor, you're the one that would be interpreted as hateful. Not me.
Almost forgot.... I hate Tom Cruise too
BUMP for that!
Okay, I mostly agree with you on both points. I think it’s just that the most obvious influx of illegals is from south of the border and that’s the leaning of the comments. If most of the illegals were coming from China (as once happened) the comments would be geared that way.
As for the second two (which are actually part of the same example), it's quite simply true. There are FReepers who advocate the same tactics that the nazis and soviets used, and for the same reasons. It's fair to point that out to them.
**************
It seems clear to me that you are earnestly trying to be thoughtful and reasonable in your posts regarding this issue. However, I am struck by the above, in which it appears that you believe that the correct response to the posts in which you perceive racist or nazi-like attitudes is to respond to the poster. Imho, that is not the correct way to handle such posts.
That's one of the functions of the "abuse" button. Allowing truly hateful posts to stand is a mistake, as it serves only to embolden the out of line poster, and encourage others of his ilk to join FR. Evidently, it has also led the MSM into falsely concluding that we are a "hate" site.
Not all posters are well-intentioned. Some appear to visit here for the sole purpose of making Free Republic look bad. It may well be that those posters are responsible for the remarks that inspired this recent criticism.
Fox 5 is in DC.
Classic sensationalist peddlers, their motto:
“If it bleeds, it leads.”
Remember, Bush also stood next to Vincente Fox, in Mexico, and called American citizens, who were attempting to protect our border, VIGILANTES.
I will never forgive him for that.
True to form, the left-wing media lemmings follow on cue. Just like “talk radio” after Oklahoma City, the Rodney King video ad nauseum, homosexual marriage . . . they’re puppets of the radical left, so I’m sure they feel really good about themselves (i.e. camouflaging their own racism and hatred) after defaming FR.
Well I guess all those Patriots on FR who double as bikers can be mistaken for thugs as well, but we all know they are some of the kindest people on earth.
That said..I will leave any image cleanup to my superiors. It's not my job. But, I may be guilty along with many others, of going easy on the abuse button because I don't get my feelings hurt very easily.
Maybe there should be a new abuse button hits rule or something. LOL.
And I agree with both of you.
Not true, if they read the mission statement. If they are activist for any agenda that saddles up to socialism, they will get booted eventually anyway. And as our illustrious founder said, if you son’t like FR, you are free to leave.
What really annoys me about this whole sorry affair is conflating Free Republic with kook sites like Kos, or Huffington's comments section- I can hardly stand to read their junk, it's so hateful and rude.
Believe me, in person I'm far from priggish- a chat in private between my wife and myself sounds like a swearing contest between a sailor and a pirate-- but we don't express ourselves that way in public.
Courtesy Comment:
Isn’t having longevity one of the arguments put forth by politicians, tenured teachers, government workers,union leaders,blah blah blah........................many others as an excuse for being right.
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