We're the Freepers of the left! (According to a guy on Fark.com)

[bbernardini]

So says a poster (oddly enough, I accidentally typed "poser" the first time) on Fark.com, in the discussion thread about the fake anthrax mailings.

[Clark2008]

1. None of us have ever been arrested for threatening people.

Some may have been arrested at public protests, but that's hardly the same thing.

Protesting is American and is acceptible in a "free" society; however, sending death threats is not.

[lapfog_1]

2. We spell better, and smell better. And, dammit, people LIKE us!

[jobycom]

3. There's truth in that.

There are some very unreasonable DUers who scare even me (and I'm pretty far left). And there are a limited number of reasonable Freepers (I'm assuming--I've never really hung out over there, so I don't know for sure).


Overall, we've been proven right on the issues, they've been proven wrong, and I don't just mean that we were vindicated by the elections. We were right on WMDs, on Hussein's non-connection to al-Qeada, on the longterm problems of the invasion, on global warming, on the economy... We have been right on every major issue, which means that we have had facts and evidence on our side, and Freepers have had only ideology. In that way we are very different.

But even so, there are people here who have supported unreasonable, non-evidentiary based beliefs, going with what they want to be true more than what they could prove to be true.

The difference is in the numbers, I would say. We have our own lovable loons, but they are not the majority of the board, and their ideals are more pure to begin with. We don't advocate the deaths of large numbers of innocent people, even at our worst. Freepers do, more often than not.

[Kelly Rupert]

4. Yeah, that's a pretty common opinion 'round there.

Fark's a pretty good barometer of the 18-25 demographic, I think. Back 'round 2002, it was like 70-30 pro-war, IIRC, and that's been dropping ever since. Now most of the freepers have been scared away; the people there are pretty savvy. And on Fark, DU is usually mentioned in the same breath as FR when someone's making a point about partisans. I mean, they're not comparable at all, but DU is still the closest thing the Left has to Free Republic, as far as I know.

Don't get me wrong. FR sucks. DU doesn't. But I think the general perception "out there" is that the two are closer than they actually are.

[meegbear]

6. Thanks for the fark description ...

and :party: WELCOME ABOARD!! :party:

[qnr]

9. Welcome to DU :) n/t

[leesa]

11. 2002 they were 70-30 pro-war...so not very informed, huh?

I hope they have turned off their reality teevee shows and tuned into life.

[xchrom]

5. i can think of a few duers who hold the same opinion.

[CoffeeCat]

7. I think that's probably true...generally speaking

Freepers are far right--with a mixed bag of people. You've got your Fundies, your radical nut jobs and some
reasonable people who are conservative--or far right.

DU is far left. We've got a mixed bag in here too, but basically we're a group of progressives who are definitely
not in the "center", according to the definitions of "left" "center" and "right".

So generally--it's fair to say that DU is on one end of the political spectrum and FR is on the other.

However...

Freepers (and those who inhabit Free Republic) seem to follow the neocon agenda--a radical war-centrist faction of the Republican party that has nothing to do with conservatism. FR inhabitants have propped up Bush and his warmongering agenda for the past six years. That's not conservative. George Will is a conservative--limited government, lean government, tight government spending, fiscal responsibility. Bush has ignored conservative ideals. He talks a good social conservative game, but he has done NOTHING that furthers social conservatism, but he has culled votes from those who do follow social conservatism.

I'm sure there are true conservatives (Buckley-types) at FR. However, the place seems to be dominated by neocon/PNAC fans--and
those who support and rationalize the agenda of Bush. I don't see that happening as much at DU. We seem to be more loyal to a progressive agenda; whereas FR seems to be loyal to any Republican power base, and willing to set aside true "right" or conservative ideals to support their Republican leaders.

[zbdent]

8. Doesn't it always seem that righties' idea of "problem-solving" involves

some form of violence?

I'm not talking about wars, justified or no ... I'm talking about how they always say things like smashing in heads, or poisoning people, or, in the case of one radio host, sticking an AK-47 up someone's "glo*y hole" ...

[unpossibles]

13. it seems to go hand in hand with the conservative mentality

never admit you're wrong, never show weakness, and what I assume is their deluded self-image of being a freedom fighter. Most guys I know who fall into that camp (not all though, and some of the women too), get angry and want to fight over the smallest little thing. Speaking of which, I've often assumed it was just penis envy.

[Rosemary2205]

10. We do have a few that I wonder about

I have seen one or two around here that are big on knee jerk and low on critical thinking ability but I would hope none of us is actively trying to harm someone because they don't agree with us.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. That's just farked