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Thread ID: 3705 | Posts: 18 | Started: 2002-11-26
2002-11-26 06:48 | User Profile
Commentary on the Scallon piece and FR's degeneration in general linked here:
[url=http://etherzone.com/2002/fall120302.shtml]FREE REPUBLIC'S PRAGMATISM: HOPE AND CONSERVATISM DON'T MIX[/url]
This time, Original Dissent is mentioned and linked. ;)
2002-11-26 08:10 | User Profile
**Commentary on the Scallon piece and FR's degeneration in general linked here:
FREE REPUBLIC'S PRAGMATISM: HOPE AND CONSERVATISM DON'T MIX
This time, Original Dissent is mentioned and linked. **
LOL
That article, if any of the FReakers have the courage to post it there, should stir up some s***!
2002-11-26 08:17 | User Profile
Originally posted by Centinel@Nov 26 2002, 04:10 > Commentary on the Scallon piece and FR's degeneration in general linked here:
FREE REPUBLIC'S PRAGMATISM: HOPE AND CONSERVATISM DON'T MIX
This time, Original Dissent is mentioned and linked. **
LOL
That article, if any of the FReakers have the courage to post it there, should stir up some s*!
:lol: Funny thing about that place is that most articles that tell it like it is seem to be unpostable there.
2002-11-26 15:19 | User Profile
Originally posted by PaleoconAvatar@Nov 26 2002, 06:48 **Commentary on the Scallon piece and FR's degeneration in general linked here:
[url=http://etherzone.com/2002/fall120302.shtml]FREE REPUBLIC'S PRAGMATISM: HOPE AND CONSERVATISM DON'T MIX[/url]
This time, Original Dissent is mentioned and linked. ;)**
Great article paleo! Let me put the text in:
By: Paul Fallavollita
Chronicles magazineââ¬â¢s December 2002 issue features a piece by Sean Scallon in its Cultural Revolutions section discussing the evolution of Free Republic, billed as "the largest conservative-oriented website in the world." Scallon heralds the closure of cyberspace as a frontier of freedom, citing as his evidence the degeneration of Free Republic into a discussion forum beset by heavy-handed moderators who compulsively censor out any posted material deemed detrimental to the GOP Establishmentââ¬â¢s reign in conservative circles. Scallon notes that as Free Republic grew in popularity, size, and cost, "it was only natural for...site administrators to want to look good for prospective donors." The question naturally arises: why would conservatives regularly donate to a website with a Stalinesque reputation for sanitizing their membersââ¬â¢ commentary?
Many readers of Scallonââ¬â¢s piece will be surprised to learn that the operation of the Free Republic website requires an estimated $240,000 in donations annually from readers. The Freepers donate that kind of money because they really are convinced and excited (read: deluded) that they are "piece of the action." They really believe that their online (and off-line) advocacy and organizing efforts are effecting political change. They like the idea that they are "part of the system" and on the side of a winning majority now that the GOP has re-taken the Senate and Bush sits in the Oval Office. To swipe a phrase from Jesse Jackson, it "keeps hope alive." And hope is the archetypal political opiate, rendering populations docile and leaving them unwilling to decisively act to change their circumstances. The Freepers feel as though theyââ¬â¢re connected and influential, but they donââ¬â¢t seem to realize that this is largely an illusion. The GOPââ¬â¢s hierarchy already has its marching orders, independent of the input of the GOP grassroots. The GOPââ¬â¢s top brass merely pretends that it cares about the "regular folk" at Free Republic. The GOP is always glad to take their money and their votes, though, and is equally happy to use Free Republic as a distribution node for official party "talking points."
Some alert Freepers, however, sense that the GOP they work so hard to support is not very responsive to the conservative agenda. Many Freepers are concerned about the immigration problem in this country, for example, yet the consensus of the average posters is that they have to "wait" and not push the GOP so hard on this issue because they feel constrained by what they call "practical politics." They worry that they will be cast as "too extreme" on certain issues, so they are content to water down their positions so that they can maintain a veneer of relevance and influenceââ¬âinfluence that they never had to begin with in the places that matter.
Free Republicââ¬â¢s existence is a symbol of the continuing captivity and betrayal of the conservative base of the GOP. The widespread appeasement and accommodation of the GOPââ¬â¢s hierarchy by these "conservatives" guarantees there never will be any decisive pro- conservative change within the party, since the party is permanently assured that its conservative base, ever fearful of the bogeyman of a Gore-style presidency, will never abandon it. In a sense, the "mainstream" conservatives are as captive an electorate as the Blacks in the Democratic Party. Just as the Blacks are under-served and taken for granted by the Democrats, so too are the conservatives jilted by the Republicans. True conservatives are kept in the basement, and are not allowed to speak at GOP national conventions anymore. Yet, these sycophantic conservatives shuffle around the plantation of "Massa GOP" hoping a bone will occasionally be thrown their way, looking as broken and pathetic as Pavlovââ¬â¢s famed dogs. Cries of "tax cuts" take the place of the ringing of bells for these piddling dogs. The Freepers believe they live in an era of conservative victory, but fail to grasp that the price of that victory was the gradual transmutation of conservatism itself into a variant of the same liberalism that movement had long been fighting. The day enough Freeper types realize this terrible situation, and stage a revolt against their masters, is the day conservatism has a chance again in America.
This tactic of "mainstream conservatism" supposedly "overcoming" its liberal enemy by adopting the ideological attributes of liberalism is not confined merely to internal matters of political strategy. The same attitude, essentially defeatist, emerges in the context of more important issues, including the future demographic composition of the nation itself. For example, one Freeper exclaimed that he had no problem with fifty percent of the population of the United States becoming Latino, if only the Latinos immigrated legally to the United States. In essence, that particular Freeper believes America should handle the current "immivasion" from Mexico by turning the United States into Mexico.
Sadly, that poster is not alone in his willingness to allow the GOP to import a new electorate for itself and new cheap laborers for its corporate constituencyââ¬âhitting two Mexicans with one taco, so to speak. On the other hand, Free Republicââ¬â¢s rabidly pro-Zionist administrators would not take kindly to a poster suggesting that they had no problem with Palestinians becoming fifty percent of the Israeli population (with citizen-status). Indeed, judging from one memberââ¬â¢s post, Freepers who plan to counter-demonstrate at future anti-war protests intend to wave Israeli flags rather than American. And Iââ¬â¢d thought the Freepers were arguing that war against Iraq was in the name of Americaââ¬â¢s interests. Such are the quirks of Free Republic, and the priorities of the "mainstream" conservatism it represents are radically askew.
Scallon is right. Free Republic is a large institution, and as with most organs of the Establishment, it is also ideologically bankrupt. In a sense, there is an element of fraud at work as well, since Free Republicââ¬â¢s methodology and approach cannot possibly deliver what it promises: conservative political change. The frontier of freedom in cyberspace isnââ¬â¢t yet totally closed, thoughââ¬âScallon could have listed additional alternative forum websites where paleoconservatives and Constitutionalists can gather and discuss the issues, such as Ether Zone (obviously) and Original Dissent. The Freepers are oblivious to the fact that they are the tail, not the dog. Their Reaganite mantra of sunny optimism they always point toward, and always out of context, functions as an effective tool of political control.
"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
2002-11-27 06:06 | User Profile
This was published on [url=http://www.etherzone.com/2002/fall120302.shtml]EtherZone[/url].
There's a discussion thread at Free Republic [url=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/796217/posts]HERE[/url]
Walter
Chronicles magazineââ¬â¢s December 2002 issue features a piece by Sean Scallon in its Cultural Revolutions section discussing the evolution of Free Republic, billed as "the largest conservative-oriented website in the world." Scallon heralds the closure of cyberspace as a frontier of freedom, citing as his evidence the degeneration of Free Republic into a discussion forum beset by heavy-handed moderators who compulsively censor out any posted material deemed detrimental to the GOP Establishmentââ¬â¢s reign in conservative circles. Scallon notes that as Free Republic grew in popularity, size, and cost, "it was only natural for...site administrators to want to look good for prospective donors." The question naturally arises: why would conservatives regularly donate to a website with a Stalinesque reputation for sanitizing their membersââ¬â¢ commentary?
Many readers of Scallonââ¬â¢s piece will be surprised to learn that the operation of the Free Republic website requires an estimated $240,000 in donations annually from readers. The Freepers donate that kind of money because they really are convinced and excited (read: deluded) that they are "piece of the action." They really believe that their online (and off-line) advocacy and organizing efforts are effecting political change. They like the idea that they are "part of the system" and on the side of a winning majority now that the GOP has re-taken the Senate and Bush sits in the Oval Office. To swipe a phrase from Jesse Jackson, it "keeps hope alive." And hope is the archetypal political opiate, rendering populations docile and leaving them unwilling to decisively act to change their circumstances. The Freepers feel as though theyââ¬â¢re connected and influential, but they donââ¬â¢t seem to realize that this is largely an illusion. The GOPââ¬â¢s hierarchy already has its marching orders, independent of the input of the GOP grassroots. The GOPââ¬â¢s top brass merely pretends that it cares about the "regular folk" at Free Republic. The GOP is always glad to take their money and their votes, though, and is equally happy to use Free Republic as a distribution node for official party "talking points."
Some alert Freepers, however, sense that the GOP they work so hard to support is not very responsive to the conservative agenda. Many Freepers are concerned about the immigration problem in this country, for example, yet the consensus of the average posters is that they have to "wait" and not push the GOP so hard on this issue because they feel constrained by what they call "practical politics." They worry that they will be cast as "too extreme" on certain issues, so they are content to water down their positions so that they can maintain a veneer of relevance and influenceââ¬âinfluence that they never had to begin with in the places that matter.
Free Republicââ¬â¢s existence is a symbol of the continuing captivity and betrayal of the conservative base of the GOP. The widespread appeasement and accommodation of the GOPââ¬â¢s hierarchy by these "conservatives" guarantees there never will be any decisive pro-conservative change within the party, since the party is permanently assured that its conservative base, ever fearful of the bogeyman of a Gore-style presidency, will never abandon it. In a sense, the "mainstream" conservatives are as captive an electorate as the Blacks in the Democratic Party. Just as the Blacks are under-served and taken for granted by the Democrats, so too are the conservatives jilted by the Republicans. True conservatives are kept in the basement, and are not allowed to speak at GOP national conventions anymore. Yet, these sycophantic conservatives shuffle around the plantation of "Massa GOP" hoping a bone will occasionally be thrown their way, looking as broken and pathetic as Pavlovââ¬â¢s famed dogs. Cries of "tax cuts" take the place of the ringing of bells for these piddling dogs. The Freepers believe they live in an era of conservative victory, but fail to grasp that the price of that victory was the gradual transmutation of conservatism itself into a variant of the same liberalism that movement had long been fighting. The day enough Freeper types realize this terrible situation, and stage a revolt against their masters, is the day conservatism has a chance again in America.
This tactic of "mainstream conservatism" supposedly "overcoming" its liberal enemy by adopting the ideological attributes of liberalism is not confined merely to internal matters of political strategy. The same attitude, essentially defeatist, emerges in the context of more important issues, including the future demographic composition of the nation itself. For example, one Freeper exclaimed that he had no problem with fifty percent of the population of the United States becoming Latino, if only the Latinos immigrated legally to the United States. In essence, that particular Freeper believes America should handle the current "immivasion" from Mexico by turning the United States into Mexico.
Sadly, that poster is not alone in his willingness to allow the GOP to import a new electorate for itself and new cheap laborers for its corporate constituencyââ¬âhitting two Mexicans with one taco, so to speak. On the other hand, Free Republicââ¬â¢s rabidly pro-Zionist administrators would not take kindly to a poster suggesting that they had no problem with Palestinians becoming fifty percent of the Israeli population (with citizen-status). Indeed, judging from one memberââ¬â¢s post, Freepers who plan to counter-demonstrate at future anti-war protests intend to wave Israeli flags rather than American. And Iââ¬â¢d thought the Freepers were arguing that war against Iraq was in the name of Americaââ¬â¢s interests. Such are the quirks of Free Republic, and the priorities of the "mainstream" conservatism it represents are radically askew.
Scallon is right. Free Republic is a large institution, and as with most organs of the Establishment, it is also ideologically bankrupt. In a sense, there is an element of fraud at work as well, since Free Republicââ¬â¢s methodology and approach cannot possibly deliver what it promises: conservative political change. The frontier of freedom in cyberspace isnââ¬â¢t yet totally closed, thoughââ¬âScallon could have listed additional alternative forum websites where paleoconservatives and Constitutionalists can gather and discuss the issues, such as Ether Zone (obviously) and Original Dissent. The Freepers are oblivious to the fact that they are the tail, not the dog. Their Reaganite mantra of sunny optimism they always point toward, and always out of context, functions as an effective tool of political control.
2002-11-27 06:12 | User Profile
Paul, if you were hoping to stir some FR reaction....I think y'got it.
2002-11-27 06:18 | User Profile
Paul, if you were hoping to stir some FR reaction....I think y'got it.
Fellow Ether Zone writer and neocon Carol Devine-Molin, who many OD'ers are familiar with, contributed this one. It's hilarious--one of the perks of polemic writing is having opponents like this that you can laugh at.
**To: Constantine XIII
Constantine: I have no doubt that he has been banned in the past.
Paul F. is always preaching the destruction and desolation of the Republican Party. I've occasionally reviewed his articles, and found him to be a terrible anti-Semite, and someone who also loses touch with reality. In my article, A Radicalized Ether Zone, I target one of his many crazy remarks: "On the Internet, the Paleos love to point fingers, "bitch and moan" and generally rail against the ostensibly inferior "neoconservatives", touting that they, the Paleos, are the "true patriots". You think I'm exaggerating? Note the blinking "NeoCon Watch" at the right hand bottom of the Ether Zone homepage. It's linked to a website, Original Dissent, where you can find various screeds, which are virulently anti-neoconservative in content, authored by Sartre, Lewis Goldberg, Paul Fallavollita, Max Shpak, among others. (Poor Paul Fallavollita! On the EZ Daily Blogger, I was compelled to cite my amazement that he believes September 11th was orchestrated by elements within the US and Israeli governments, a true testament to the fringe mentality that I am referencing in this article). At Original Dissent, they wildly spew forth...."
Don't take this nutty Paul Fallavollita and his "hit piece" seriously. He doesn't deserve it. Oh, by the way, anyone that they disagree with over at Ether Zone is automatically dubbed "neoconservative".
96 posted on 11/26/2002 2:53 PM EST by GOPBlonde [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies | Report Abuse ] **
I'm reminded of a quote from a real "hit piece" some postmodern Leftie sociology academic did [url=http://www.sociology.org/content/vol004.003/buchanan.html]on Buchananites[/url]. Here's the quote:
But it could be much more reasonable to assume that Buchanan supporters are not really searching for social critique but transport to an enchanted world or the opportunity to re-enchant their existing world. Rather than critique and objectivity, which would lean on inquiry, analysis and facts, Buchananism represents the Lacanian "scopic drive" or desire to see it all without grasping anything. One could almost say that Buchananism represents a return of the Baroque's "madness of vision" or "the overloading of the visual apparatus with a surplus of images in a plurality of spatial planes." "As a result," says Jay, "it dazzles and distorts rather than presents a clear and tranquil perspective on the truth of the external world" (1993, pp. 47-8). Rather than "social critique" or getting to the bottom of things, Buchananism supplants opacity with mystification. But, as Buchananites alienate themselves by conferring power to representations bearing unearthly qualities they simultaneously energize themselves as a collectivity. It is, quite possibly, fun to be a Buchananite. The far right is able to provide people, especially youth, with excitement, organization, community, and a sense of moral purpose or indignation. These are things the left abandoned long ago.
The author is half wrong. I think paleocons honestly do want social change in their direction, for their own sake, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun, too.
2002-11-27 06:27 | User Profile
Yerka Mazurka! Carol's getting apoplectic at Max Shpak op-eds?!?
Somebody ought to send her the forum url.....she'd probably spin like a top and catch fire besides.
2002-11-27 06:53 | User Profile
Originally posted by Walter Yannis@Nov 27 2002, 06:06 **This was published on [url=http://www.etherzone.com/2002/fall120302.shtml]EtherZone[/url].
There's a discussion thread at Free Republic [url=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/796217/posts]HERE[/url]
Walter
**
It is horrid to read all that insipid discussion now. FR is definitely now unabashadly embracing the "moderate Republican".
Depressing threads like this are why I always think we need an AF section. Just for guys like conservativemusician. Poor guy, tossed among old sharks like Dane - he really doesn't have a clue.
2002-11-27 12:33 | User Profile
Hi, PaleoconAvatar:
Carol Devine-Molin was axed at EtherZone two weeks ago--as a writer, forum participant and on the Blogger section. She went off the handle and began to bombard Bob Momenteller with all kinds of unstable s h i t... Bob had coddled her long enough, and finally cut the cord.
SARTRE & I helped (the cord was a sinewy thing...like the meat of an old horse)...
2002-11-27 15:59 | User Profile
Todd and Paul,
Told C-DM to spell my name with caps. Must be a Neo-Con trait!
Now that Henry Kissinger is appointed to chair the 911 investigation, we will dispense with all those "orchestrated by elements within the US and Israeli governments"
We are now on fast forward . . . What used to take a decade to destroy, was done in a mere year. From this point on the news cycle will just give passing reference to the latest "Police STATE" enforcement.
Non partisan and independent = BLESSED cover-up . . .
SARTRE :ph34r:
2002-11-27 16:40 | User Profile
Originally posted by Okiereddust@Nov 27 2002, 06:53 ** It is horrid to read all that insipid discussion now. **
Not only are they at a loss for clues...
but this:
.......and walla,here is that attack
now , know what is great about the four points above ? can not stop em.....it's the sqinging pendulum thing
2 posted on 11/26/2002 7:23 AM PST by cactusSharp
Not one person made fun of this. Walla? Sqinging? People used to get roasted mercilessly for posting such stupidity. Now, no one even notices.
2002-11-27 17:45 | User Profile
People used to get roasted mercilessly for posting such stupidity. Now, no one even notices.
As many have noted, that's because of the purges--the quality of the posters has dropped to the point that the gaffes you quote above are the best they have to offer at that site. This pleases me because anyone with a brain who shows up at that site and reads the posts like that will quickly conclude FR is peopled by morons, and they'll move on. FR hurts their own neocon cause by putting that kind of public face on their site.
2002-11-27 18:07 | User Profile
Now that Henry Kissinger is appointed to chair the 911 investigation...
SARTRE, that is so profoundly depressing I just stubbed my cigarette out into my Danish. We now have Government By Mystery Writer....first decide the outcome, and work backwards from there.
To paraphrase Pogo Possum....we have met the Great Satan, and he is us.
2002-11-27 18:14 | User Profile
> Now that Henry Kissinger is appointed to chair the 911 investigation...**
SARTRE, that is so profoundly depressing I just stubbed my cigarette out into my Danish.**
I must be in "lemonade from lemons" mode today. When I'd heard that Kissinger would be the man for this job, I was somewhat happy to see this. Appointing a figure like Kissinger just provides our side with more evidence of the government's status as a tool of the New World Order crowd. Ever more people are going to have to start asking themselves just what it is about the political situation in America that the same old figures keep getting recycled over and over again into the Regime. This "revolving door" is going to reflect a lot of sunlight that might wake some people up.
2002-11-27 18:17 | User Profile
Carol Devine-Molin was axed at EtherZone two weeks ago--as a writer, forum participant and on the Blogger section.
That's really too bad. I'll miss reading Ms. C D-M's "Omigod! I can't believe they actually said that...How dare they, don't they know I voted for Ronald Reagan!" columns. Ether Zone readers will miss out on being able to compare her writings with the more rational ones that surround it contributed by other EZ writers. She was her own best refutation. But, if she was becoming a pest behind the scenes at the personal level, I can see why she'd be shown the door.
Looks like we'll have to find a new token neocon.
2002-11-27 18:56 | User Profile
Originally posted by PaleoconAvatar@Nov 27 2002, 17:45 > People used to get roasted mercilessly for posting such stupidity. Now, no one even notices.**
As many have noted, that's because of the purges--the quality of the posters has dropped to the point that the gaffes you quote above are the best they have to offer at that site. This pleases me because anyone with a brain who shows up at that site and reads the posts like that will quickly conclude FR is peopled by morons, and they'll move on. FR hurts their own neocon cause by putting that kind of public face on their site.**
I don't think its just the quality of the posters per se, as the quality of the posts. The atmosphere at FR has changed so much that the people who preferrred thoughtful articles, including really smart people like KCBurke, along with non-neanderthal neocon leaners like annalex, roscoe, Uriel1975 etc, just don't seem to find any real reason to post anymore. Without people like us to engage, positively or negatively, it just goes right over most peoples heads there.
That, incidentally, is why JR I think kept us around for a long time, not necessarily because he was highly principled. He saw the virtue of keeping the forum lively by encouraging a certain amount of dialectical interactions. Eventually though I think it just got to be too much trouble for him.
2002-11-27 21:41 | User Profile
**SARTRE, that is so profoundly depressing I just stubbed my cigarette out into my Danish. We now have Government By Mystery Writer....first decide the outcome, and work backwards from there. **
HA HA HA!
Damn, but you crack me up, il ragno...
I must admit, those were my thoughts as well, though not as eloquently put.
The fix is in, ain't it?
I'm guessing that after two or so years, hundreds of witnesses, millions of dollars and countless hours of C-SPAN footage no one watches, the end result of the investigation will be that the "terrarists" attacked us because they "hate our freedom."
Care to place bets, anyone?