Racist bigots need to be dealt with within the conservative movement. I've seen things on these two Darbyshire threads this weekend that I have only rarely seen before on Free Republic, and that is not helping Free Republic.
I posted this today on the Atlantic's website, in response to a comment there saying that “Given the average level of the comment threads on your fine little website, I find this comment about as believable as the 1938 broadcast about Martians landing in New Jersey.”
“Greetings, Ellid.
Every high-traffic website that allows comments, no matter what its politics, gets a wide range of people commenting. Some are regular participants, some read often and post rarely, some are drive-by one-time posters. Some are smart, some are stupid, some are extremist “true believers,” some are “trolls” from the other side trying to cause trouble. That's life — and it exists with internet comments on both sides of the political spectrum.
What counts is the official position of Free Republic, which is posted on the form used every time people want to make a comment: “Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts”
I think that pretty much says it all. As a Freeper affirmed yesterday who has been a member much longer than me, going back almost to the founding of Free Republic in its current form in 1997, “racist crap has never been tolerated on Free Republic.”
I'm not very happy with some of my fellow conservatives who are racists, but I don't deny that they exist. Fortunately, that tiny minority is dying out. Most conservatives figured out long ago that anti-Communists from Cuba, Vietnam, and South Korea believe exactly the same thing we believe, and might be a lot angrier about it than those of us whose contact with liberal extremism is limited to university settings. I couldn't care less what somebody’s skin color may be; I care a great deal what they believe.
Freep ‘em if the can’t take a joke. That’s my official response.
I LOATHE the Atlantic but I agree with the above sentiments.