The gentleman who wrote the short article below is a good man, committed to honor, justice and his country.
Banned from Free Republic…
for Goring a Sacred Cow???
Morgan warned me this would happen.
My screen name was MaligneInterceptor. I was a happy Freeper until this August. Loved FR.
Posted semi-regularly with a group of cyberfriends on the Freeoples Thread. Celebrated conservative/libertarian
ideas. Observed the posting rules
religiously. Promoted FR among friends
and relatives, encouraging them to join the fun. EVEN DONATED MONEY. Yet after compiling a two year record of no
infractions, I was banned without explanation.
I hadn’t posted much in the past year – a
second child really soaks up the time.
Recently Morgan pointed me to a thread
entitled “Who Framed John Fund?” I’d
read a few of the earlier John Fund/Morgan Pillsbury threads; this one wasn’t
much different from the others. The
usual Fundies were out, hurling invective at Morgan and her mother. Some genuinely good people also made an
appearance, offering their support for what they believed to be a good
man. Entirely missing was any post in
support of Morgan. Having been banned
from FR close to eighteen months ago, she was unable to respond for
herself. The one-sidedness of the thread
appalled me; I decided to respond.
I initially Freepmailed those whom I was
reasonably certain weren’t Fund’s friends/acquaintances/paramours. I avoided those thought to be his associates;
I reasoned there was no point attempting to engage them, since they appeared
close-minded on the issue. Upon
reflection, I decided to post publicly – their trashing of Morgan had been
public, so it seemed fair that their defense of their position should be also.
I put up a lengthy post, detailing the
facts as I knew them. The response of
the Fundies was typical; no attempts were made to challenge my post; their response
was more invective. The other Freepers
responded as Freepers do when they believe a troll has soiled a thread: they gave no ground, persisting in their
support of Fund.
I responded to their individual posts
one-by-one about a week later, giving further details in hopes of persuading
them that their support of Fund was misplaced.
Less than an hour after I posted my final reply, the entire thread was
pulled, and my posting privileges were revoked.
It was after 2am EST on the day this happened.
Did I break any rules in my posts? None that I’m aware of. Was I banned for presenting the other side of
an argument about a Free Republic favorite son?
Perhaps.
You be the judge.
The “offending” thread disappeared before I
was able to save it, but I did capture the “My Comments” section of my Free
Republic account. Linked here is that document – if you
scroll down to the first lengthy post (about halfway down, dated “08/07/2003
5:00 AM PDT #42 of 86”), you’ll see my first comment on this
thread. Scrolling up, you’ll be able to
read the responses in order, as well as my replies to them.
I’ll miss Free Republic. Lots of good stuff happens there. There was nothing good about this.
Respectfully,
MaligneInterceptor
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