Not So 'Free Republic'’—The Shot Heard Around the Net

http://vdare.com/misc/gheen_050211_shot.htm


The shot heard around the Internet has been fired on FreeRepublic.com. The owner Jim Robinson and his moderators have launched a sniper style purge against members that disagree with the President's 'guest worker' amnesty or support more control of illegal immigration. Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country.

The problem for the administration of the site is that their creation is allowing the participants to learn that the Bush immigration record and plans are shockingly out of line with the views of most conservatives. The management's answer to this conflict between the majority of conservatives and the influence of the White House on their Web site has become electronic executions and censorship.

Members and readers of Free Republic would be surprised to know that many members of their community have fallen silent on the discussions about illegal immigration lately because free speech is an illusion on FreeRepublic.com. They are silent because they have been banned from the Web site without warning, cause, or explanation in most cases. For weeks the moderators have been suspending and banning new members that chimed in quickly on the immigration debates

In light of the fact that rule abiding and lawful members of the Free Republic community have been shunned simply for their opinions has sent many longstanding members and financial contributors looking for a new place to express themselves. Many are simply walking away from their accounts because of what they consider a deceptive and unethical practice that is contrary to the founding principals of Free Republic.

...to come and defend their free speech.

Just like their icon OxyLimbaugh did to help protect the privacy of his medical records.

Nobody likes the ACLU until they actually need them.

at any rate, if it did, it would be wrong.

however.

Let's see them blame the 'liburl media for this.

FR is a private site run by and for RWers. If Jim Robinson wants to ban members to a private site, that hardly counts as censorship.

I believe that FR is a shill for the RNC, like Gannon allegedly was, Jim is purging because a significant amount of his money and support come directly from the BFEE. Even if I'm right, I don't see the problem.

This is only a blip in the internal struggle within the Republican party as the Religious Right, libertarian-conservatives and NeoCons start to realize that their goals no longer sync.

You know, maybe if Bush got together some kind of post-modern indentured servant plan, it would satisfy his bigoted constituency.

Like, sure, you can come to our country, but you have to live with and serve some white family for seven years for free to start out with. THEN you can move up to making $6 per hour working 12 hours per day in the hot sun.

So FreeRepublic is all for spreading democratic values in the Middle East, but doesn't quite like the idea on their own website?

H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E-S!!!!

Thanks for posting that!

Maybe the GOP rank-and-file will finally wake up to what's going on....

It's merely agressively xenophobic, and ANYTHING they would regard as pro-immigration will get under their skin. Up to a few years ago, the customary code-words of racism were frequently spotted there. Virginis Dare was the name of the first English (ie: WHITE) child born in the New World, something they made much of then.

pnorman

Try a search on FR for "immigration" and you get several recent articles.

The Vdare people are very right-wing-nut, and you've got triple check anything they say.

I can't think of anything funnier . . .well, I did laugh until I cried over Gannon and his cutsy boy photo and adult websites . . .but, really, repugs aren't very happy campers. There are both serious devisions within the conservative vs neocons movement, as well as ALL House of Reps are up for election in 2006 AND 1/3 of the Senate -- these ppl are going to have to compaign on what they've done or failed to do during these 2 years.

There is a huge backlash going on over immigration issues and the public is not at all happy over the huge amount of illegal alieans nor over the security breaches this implies. If there is another major event on US soil within these two years, I foresee one heck of a lot of people with their Congressional seats up for grabs, especially if they went along with the Administration.