It seems to be a natural law that pretty much every online discussion forum will eventually turn into complete crap. The Usenet groups are now almost wholly vacated by those who once used them to share useful and relevant information; the sci.space heirarchy seems to have been taken over by the conspiracy loons and the spammers and the just plain whackjobs.
Around 10 years or so ago, I found the Free Republic forum to be a generally good place to hang out and discuss conservative issues. But over time it turned from a “conservative” discussion forum into a “creationist” discussion forum, with the consequent mass bannings of “evos” – myself included in around 2006 (a FR discussion of that time highlighting Jim Robinson’s belief that evolution and Marxism are essentially one and the same is here). At the time it was annoying. Now I see that I got out while the gettin’ was good. The place has turned into a cesspit, overrun by the worst Liberal stereotype of the modern “conservative:” racist, anti-science, anti-Constitutional whackjobs.
Just a few weeks ago a flap flared up when FR hosted a thread loaded to the gills with racist rubbish directed at Obama’s daughter… and this not long after the righteous indignation over Letterman’s joke about Palin’s daughter.
And now comes this glittering bit of insanity: a call for the overthrow of the US government. Now, I’m as big a fan as anyone of seeing everyone currently in the US government being tossed out on their asses. But through *legal* means, such as voting the bastards out and passing term limit laws. FR founder Jim Robinson has posted a call for a million people to storm D.C. and physically overthrow the government… replacing Obama with, oddly, Hillary Clinton. OK, now that’s all kinda of wacky. But it quickly spirals into utter bilge as the posters – as of this writing there are ove 700 replies – yack it up and go straight to getting the guns and goin’ at ’em.
In any discussion forum you’re going to have your keyboard warriors. But these people are depressing: they are doing their damnedest to become the public face of conservatives, of those who oppose Obama’s tragically awful plans. This thread, as with the previous racist one, will make the news and make conservatives look bad. If the Freepers try to stage their gigantic demonstration and only a few sad protestors show up, that will make the news and make conservatives look bad. If they stage their demonstration and someone takes it seriously and, say, starts some violence (even if that “someone” is a leftist agent provacateur), that will make the news and make conservatives look bad. If they do actually cause a ruckus, you can bet your ass that the Obamists will use that as an excuse to further infringe on the rights of speech, assembly and self defense.
Now, I suspect that even after the purges, there are a number of active military Freepers. If so… they might be wise to consider jumping ship. I believe the military takes oaths to avoid membership in organizations that advocate the violent overthrow of the US government. I also recall that various state bar associations also have the same sort of restrictions. Being a Freeper could well be damaging to your security clearance and your career, now that it seems to be calling for open armed rebellion.
Obama needs to be removed from office as soon as practical. And the soonest that the Constitution justifies, barring high crimes, would seem to be January, 2013. He can be opposed to a standstill in the meantime. But an army of morons marching on D.C. would do little but give him the ammo he needs to truly drop the hammer on this country. Opposing Obama because he’s crapping on the Constitution while at the same time advocating crapping on the Constitution is not a winning strategy.
