Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children

The Vancouver Sun ^ | July 11, 2009 | Chris Parry

[buccaneer81]

Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children

By Chris Parry, Vancouver SunJuly 11, 2009 11:01 AM

This photo of U.S. President Barrack Obama's daughter Malia, wearing a peace-symbol t-shirt touched off a storm of epithet-laced comments on the conservative 'Free Republic' blog

"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."

These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.

The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."

Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing - and for a short time, the comments seemed to have the okay of site administrators.

Moderators of the blog left the comments - and commenters - in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.

"Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.

"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another.

Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.

A note on the front of the blog reads, "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government," but one comment on the thread read, "This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution," while another read, "I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but..."

After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender's email address intact.

"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."

"I agree Jim," wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. "The kids didn't pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife."

"Poor kids. I hope they're not 'punished with a baby'," wrote another. "Hopefully they won't deal cocaine like the Kenyan."

"DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over."

Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

In the wake of the controversy, some Free Republic posters complained about the vitriol.

One poster by the name of "fullchroma" wrote, "To Jim Thompson: The recent uptick here in racist vitriol, aimed at Barrack, Michelle and their children has made me wonder if I belong. My objection to Obama has nothing to do with skin tone. Is the ugly stereotype of Conservative racism true?"

Another, going by the name of TChris, wrote, "Free Republic is a political discussion forum. It SHOULD be beneath us as a group to stoop to such juvenile tactics as I see increasing here lately. Do we REALLY have to insult Mrs. Obama's appearance like a clique of nasty 14-year-old girls?"

But such opinions were not shared by all. Said Roses of Sharon, "Poor libs .... Too late, the battle has been joined." © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

[willk]

“Yep. Unfortunately I have been finding myself more and more distant with some of the commenter’s here. I am not racist, I do not want my name to be associated with racism. I want it to be associated with conservatism and the retaking of this country from marxists. We are better than the left and we should act that way.”

Well said. My feelings exactly. Sometimes I wonder (actually I hope) that most of these people are DU plants.

[jakerobins]

If being the good guy means standing still while someone punches your lights out..NO THANKS. While it’s not right to attack the children of politicians........the left places no limitations on their speach no matter how hate filled.

The libs only get OUTRAGED at others when they dare say something offensive.........Don’t start censoring FR to please the libs! It will just encourage the left. Next time it will be an comment on Obama then it will be any comment against the Left’s policies......

Free Speach is either completely free or it’s not free at all! Kind of like Free Will...If you have one limitation on Free Will it’s not COMPLETLY FREE!

Don’t allow the LEFT to dictate the “RULES” of FREE SPEACH. Because they will NEVER follow the rules they set up for others....They only set them up to limit others FREEDOMS.

[Freedom2specul8]

“...Jim Thompson...” so much for quotes.

Good to see the quotes and research were done so well. :-P

to be honest, I’d rather seem them note all the negative information spewed out by the liberal biased mediea that has been refuted by FR. Buy no, they choose to ignore that..

[keats5]

Well said.

[buccaneer81]

Sun Newsroom
Editor-in-Chief
Patricia Graham
Phone: 604-605-2318
Fax: 604-605-2668 pgraham@vancouversun.com

Managing Editor
Kirk LaPointe
Phone: 604-605-2033
Fax: 604-605-2668 klapointe@vancouversun.com
Deputy Managing Editor
Harold Munro Phone: 604-605-2985
Fax: 604-605-2323 hmunro@vancouversun.com
Deputy Managing Editor
Stewart Muir Phone: 604-605-2147
Fax: 604-605-2323 smuir@vancouversun.com
Deputy Managing Editor, Multimedia
Paul Bucci Phone: 604-605-2445
Phone: 604-605-2154
Fax: 604-605-2323 pbucci@vancouversun.com
Executive Editor
Valerie Casselton Phone: 604 605-2125
Fax: 604-605-2323 vcasselton@vancouversun.com
Senior Editor
Nicholas Palmer
Phone: 604-605-2167
Fax: 604-605-2323 npalmer@vancouversun.com
Editor, editorial pages
Fazil Mihlar
Phone: 604-605-2185
Fax: 604-605-2522
fmihlar@vancouversun.com

[Tribune7]

"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."

And besides, the obvious Dino-Media incompetence, why does Chris "Jethro Bodine" Parry think that's sarcasm?

Nasty posts about the Obama kids are getting pulled and, well, does "Mr 6th Grade Educashun" Parry really think JR (sorry JT) doesn't mean it when he says 0 is an "American-hating Marxist pig."

[Dallas59]

Or Christian or Jewish kids.

[GeronL]

I do cringe at some of my fellow FReepers comments, though. They make us all look bad in the public eye, and if we want to take this country back, we do need to be the good guys.

No... we the bad guys.... the good guys are the ones who make rape jokes about Sarah Palins minor daughter. what a disgusting post.

[KYGrandma]

I think they should read the liberal blogs. They are worse than anything here. I really hope Jim doesn’t start censoring everything.

[cripplecreek]

I will treat my enemy’s children as my own. I’ll go after the parent with everything I have but will never teach his child to hate me.

[ElayneJ]

Dear Vancouver “journalist”: Note that it is NEVER OK to attack anyone on a personal level, and it is certainly never OK to attack children. I think most people would agree with that. Now go back and check the countless personal attacks on George Bush as well as those on Sarah Palin and her family. Did you laugh at the Letterman jokes? Did you think it was funny when people made fun of Trig? Or when his mother was called “trailor trash”? I thought so.
Good journalists do their homework, get their facts straight, and show objectivity. Try acting like a good journalist. Quote me.

[txhurl]

I think we were set up, too.

I actually hit abuse for maybe the 4th time in 7 years on a poster that the article did not name, interestingly, the dog that didn’t get barked at.

Let’s just say this joe’s frname involves rum and mint and ice in a glass.

[buccaneer81]

In that case I seriously question your judgement.

There was nothing wrong with posting the article. It was relevant and I had no comment on the children. Just on the parents role in seeing that they are properly attired.

[Question_Assumptions]

Is the author saying that only blacks can be "street whores", "ghetto thugs", "ghetto street trash" and only black women have abortions?

No, the author is saying that those play into predictable stereotypes of blacks, just like a lot of the unsupported allegations against Sarah Palin play into predictable stereotypes of poor rural whites. Assuming the worst of a person based on their race, ethnicity, sex, or class on the basis of negative stereotypes even when they aren't true is pretty much the core of bigotry.

[fr_freak]

I do cringe at some of my fellow FReepers comments, though. They make us all look bad in the public eye, and if we want to take this country back, we do need to be the good guys.

Oh, I don't know. Every time we get a thread going on this celebrity or that movie or this book which is blatantly offensive or outright racist (against white people), we get a whole crowd of people on FR saying we should just ignore them, because any publicity is good publicity and any protest will only enrich them. So, are we now saying that some left-wing attack on FR won't bring us needed publicity? It's not as if the comments were really racist - it is only that hyper-sensitive left-wing idiots think that any criticism of non-whites is racist, period.

The fact is that it would be a complete waste of time for any conservative to ever give a damn what left-wingers think, or what they publish in their left-wing rags. We could be as innocent as newborns and twice as sweet and they will still twist everything to portray us as racist barbarians. That is what they do. In the meantime, anyone with half a brain can see through their ruses and will either recognize kindred spirits when they come here, or were never capable of being on our side in the first place. Que sera sera.

One final note: I have seen some threads where people go off on one minority characteristic or another here on FR, and sometimes we are pushing it, but I think it comes from the frustration that many white people, especially men, feel after years of being told that, despite the fact that they are generally the solid citizen taxpayer backbone of this country, they are still the bad guys simply by virtue of their skin color. Black people didn't like it when it was done to them, and white people aren't going to like it either. Case in point: that female dog Sotomayor getting to say on the national press, without the slightest hint of shame, that she is superior to white men simply by her being Latina. Then, if the white guy says "Hey, wait a minute!" it is he who is the racist. Complete BS.

[library user]

I really hope Jim doesn’t start censoring everything.

The "Aw jeez not this shit again" pic in Aisle #6 is still there. That's a good sign. :O)

[devane617]

Ditto me on those comments. We are better than that post.

[Question_Assumptions]

The media is to blame. After what happened to the Bush twins and Palin’s kids the gloves are off.

So because they unfairly attacked innocent kids we're going to do the same? So we want to become unprincipled thugs just like our enemies?

[ActrFshr]

Common guys and gals, we were upset with all the attacks on Palin when Letterman went after her 14 year old daughter. This is no less gutter than Letterman.

Why put the onus of being respectful on the already respectful users? Keats5 has a great point that should be heeded by all users on this board. There are liberal trolls everywhere willing to copy comments. Even if they get reported and deleted, it will be too late. Spewing bigotry is not only contrary to the concept of liberty for all Americans, it presents liberty minded ideals and unpleasant to the wider American sheeple audience. We can’t let the first impression of us that CNN watching America has be that we are a bunch of bigots. We have to be better than that.

[Iron Munro]

We all know the rules:

1 - Democrats, commies, Palin Haters and other leftoids can do and say anything they like. Any vileness at all is acceptable because their motives are pure.

2 - Conservatives and Republicans must drive within the lines, be nice to their tormentors, help democrats destroy America, keep quiet when they see the press praising another racist hack, pretend they like Obama and swear that Michelle is beautiful or they will be sternly warned that people might not like them.