http://www.apj.us/20010609GodFreepers.htmlGod Sees The Freepers
by William Rivers Pitt
"The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me." - Denis Diderot
June 9, 2001 (APJP) -- There was a striking moment during the interregnum last November/December that has stayed with me ever since. Inside Politics was running 24 hours a day on CNN, you will recall. I was watching one evening, several days into the theft, and there was Judy Woodruff interviewing conservative columnist Bob Novak. The question of the hour was whether or not Al Gore should just quit and go home.
On this night, Novak was pointing to a public poll that had been running on the CNN.com web site. You know these polls: log on to a news site and give your opinion on whatever happens to be the headline of the day. The poll Novak referred to asked the question: "Should Al Gore concede?"
The results showed that some 89% of the American population who found their way onto CNN.com voted "Yes" to this question. The count of those who voted numbered in the tens of thousands. Novak flapped this poll all around the studio as indisputable proof that a large majority of the American people saw Gore as a thief and a usurper and a sore loser who should just go away.
I never forgot that night, and never lost the sneaking suspicion that something shady had occurred. Somehow, someone had flooded that poll with "Yes" votes to skew the result. I had no proof, and the theme song to X-Files was sounding in my head -- I was mortally sure that something was rotten in Denmark.
Now, after all these months, I have figured out what happened that night. That CNN.com poll was 'Freeped'.
What does it mean when something gets 'Freeped'? Aim your browser to
http://www.FreeRepublic.com, join the "conversations" in the "forums," and you will find out. FreeRepublic.com is a website which describes its cause thusly: "We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America."
This seems innocent enough. I am a particular fan of governmental largesse, but respect coherent arguments against it. I believe my work against the illegitimacy of Bush proves my dedication to rooting out political fraud and corruption. And while I am no conservative, I have met many conservatives whom I admire for their intellect, ability to articulate a message, and integrity in the truest definition of that word: "Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code."
My grandfather was a conservative of great integrity from the old school, and I never once found cause to look down on him, even when we disagreed on a principle. My grandfather was the ideal conservative, in my opinion. A part of me is glad he died before I could tell him about the Freepers.
A Freeper is a member of FreeRepublic.com. Freepers speak to each other on the forums of this website, "discussing" all varieties of topic. Purportedly, they support the ideals espoused above. But in actuality, there is a yawning moral chasm between word and deed. Take the CNN.com poll I discussed above, for example.
A common Freeper tactic is to post on the FreeRepublic forums a notice that a poll exists somewhere which asks a question dear to the conservative heart, such as: "Should the Congress pass more gun control legislation?" or "Is Bill Clinton the illegitimate spawn of Satan and Baal?" The URL to this poll is provided, and the Freeper legions swarm to vote... say, "no" on the first and "yes" on the second. There are a lot of Freepers, and many of them will vote multiple times. This obviously skews the result.
This is how a poll is 'Freeped.'
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