http://gawker.com/5312952/hate-speech-against-malia-obama-on-conservative-blogs-reported-by-hate-speech-planting-journalist
All,
The United Hates strikes again...See vile and vicious racist attacks on 11 year old Malia Obama in articles below...
Kofi
SEWER CREATURES
Hate Speech Against Malia Obama On Conservative Blogs Reported By Hate Speech Planting Journalist
By Foster Kamer
Jul 12 2009
Well, should've seen this coming: conservative blog Free Republic fired hate speech off at Malia Obama after this photo of her appeared, letting their commenters go to town. But the journalist who reported this as news isn't innocent, either.
Chris Parry of The Vancouver Sun highlighted some of the comments on the mainstream, hard right-wing blog/news aggregator Free Republic. Among them, a picture of Michelle talking to Malia Obama with the caption: "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."
"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion. "Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.
"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another. Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.
FreeRepublic claims to be a site that "does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government." Yet, the thread went down, and back up with the original comments in tact, and then some, notes Chris Parry, the story's writer. Parry was careful and kind enough to - maybe unnecessarily - note the few reasonable voices in the crowd who were conservative, on Free Republic, and not racist. But there're always going to be a few exceptions to the rule, which, as far as you should be concerned, are absolute swamp creatures. Pardon any political incorrectness, but I think you'll agree if you happen to go over and dip your toe in what's mostly a bog of contagiously slimy invective and general retardation.
It gets worse, though. Chris Parry, it appears, has advocated on his Daily Kos blog any number of egregious offenses, among them: posting hate speech on sites like Free Republic and blaming it on conservatives. Parry posted under the name "hollywoodoz" on Daily Kos, where his signature was "Fool me once, I'll punch you in the fucking head." Parry outed himself as hollywoodoz here, where he discloses the company he helped start. In essence: Parry, the journalist, found his story right where he'd been circling it for a very long time, and reported it as news. Sigh.
Bottom line: Parry's noble intentions are paving him a road to hell, by taking the same one the slimeball majority at Free Republic employs. They're probably going to cheer a "mainstream," centrist blog pointing out the offenses of a liberal reporter trying to expose hate speech, but they shouldn't get it mixed up. A quick glance at Free Republic and you'll probably see the same thing I did: some of the most egregious examples that lend credence to the idea that some people just shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard, or to open their mouths, no matter what their political affiliation. Or, as some would have it: STFU.
Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children [Vancouver Sun]
*UPDATE III* Free Republic Pulls/Restores/Pulls Thread Bashing Malia Obama; FR Responds
by CatM
Fri Jul 10, 2009
Yesterday, theHalfrican posted a link to the Free Republic Website where several of its regular members were bashing Malia Obama for wearing a peace symbol t-shirt. The thread had several derogotary, racist, and sexual remarks about Malia. It also included a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that was accompanied with a racist caption.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I wrote the media contact at Free Republic yesterday, kristinn@bellatlantic.net, questioning the nature of the posters and the site.
Cat M's diary
Hello. I am an independent writer developing a book about the grassroots conservative movement online, of which your site, Free Republic, is included as a primary online gathering place for conservatives.
Could you please tell me how the owner of the site feels about posts like this one:
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
...in which conservatives who post regularly at the site make several racist statements about the 11-year-old daughter of President Obama for wearing a t-shirt adorned with a peace symbol? Remarks included the following:
"We’re being represented by a family of ghetto trash."
"Looks like a bunch of ghetto thugs. A stain on America."
"Looks like a typical street whore."
"What we now are sending the ghetto over to represent us. and if so who the hell is that flea bag who looks to be dragged from the trash dumpster."
"you could go down any ghetto right now and see exactly the same."
"could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there"
"the world must be laughing like mad right now at that we have this kind of street trash in our white house."
"Wonder when she will have her first abortion."
"sad isn’t it that we now have ghetto street trash over there representing us in Europe."
"This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution.
"They make me sick.... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin’ mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin’, and especially ‘lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin’ my peeps."
In addition, the thread includes a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to her daughter with the caption, "To Entertain Her Daughter, Michelle Obama Likes to Make Monkey Sounds."
Before you dismiss this as only a minority of posters at the site, out of 100 posts on that thread I found only 1 that criticized such remarks. This is not the first time I have seen such an exhibition of blatant racism at Free Republic by members who regularly post there.
Here are my questions:
Does Free Republic condone this type of exercise in free speech?
Are these the type of participants Free Republic is happy to have posting at its site?
What is Free Republic's policy about posting racially offensive comments?
What is Free Republic's policy about making sexual insinuations about minors (particularly relevant in light of the David Letterman/Sarah Palin brouhaha)?
Does Free Republic believe its membership accurately represents the conservative movement?
Does the owner of Free Republic believe this kind of discourse is helpful to rebuilding the Republican Party and furthering its goals?
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your responses.
I went back to the site today and saw that the offending thread has been pulled "pending review."
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
I do note that Free Republic has a disclaimer on the first page that claims it does not condone this type of post; however, I am not sure when the disclaimer was added. Does anyone know?
From the disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Free Republic or its operators.
Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting personal attacks, profanity, vulgarity, threats, racial or religious bigotry, or any other materials offensive or otherwise inappropriate for a conservative family audience.
Free Republic is a site dedicated to the concerns of traditional grassroots conservative activists. We're here to discuss and advance our conservative causes in a more or less liberal-free environment. We're not here to debate liberals. We do not want our pages filled with their arrogant, obnoxious, repugnant bile. Liberals, usurpers, and other assorted malcontents are considered unwelcome trolls on FR and their accounts and or posts will be summarily dismissed at the convenience of the site administrators.
Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government.
So, the site will readily delete posts from liberals just because they are liberals and therefore everything they say is automatically considered "arrogant, obnoxious, repugant bile."
But comments calling an 11-year-old black girl "ghetto trash" and a "whore" are pulled "pending review." What is to review? Your site either supports that kind of rhetoric or it does not. Which is it?
If the Free Republic's "conservative family audience" consists of people who say such things as they often do (like yesterday), how conservative are they? And how family-oriented are they? Where were all the posts from other Free Republic regulars or from the owner of the site decrying this kind of racism directed at a child for no apparent reason than the fact that a peace symbol t-shirt inflamed their hatred to disgusting depths, like a red handkerchief in front of a mad bull?
Conservatives continually reinforce the fact that the only families they care about are conservative ones; the only troops they support are ones that do not vote democratic; the only children whose lives they value are the children of conservatives or unborn. How many of those aborted fetuses they claim to hold so dear would they trash had they been born and grown into a pre-teen who wore a t-shirt with a peace symbol or supported a liberal president? Or was gay?
The truth is that conservatives do not know the meaning of Jesus' words despite how much they love to use them when it suits their inner hatred of all those who are different. Worse, they lack basic human decency, as they demonstrate time and again.
****UPDATE***
The review is over, apparently, and they decided it was worth it to keep the article and comments. Only now, they are making an effort to intersperse a few posts criticizing the remarks against Malia; interestingly, these "Don't say those things about a child" chastisements are almost uniformly alike.
Considering there were virtually none yesterday, and they suddenly appear only after the "review" following criticism here, it is pretty clear what the site is doing. They are trying to create the impression that there really are people at Free Republic who decry that sort of behavior.
Let's see if the comments have gotten any better:
That’s a freak kid searching for attention.
We are now represented by the thug ghetto culture, aren't you proud?
I’ll probably get thumped for this, but this girl is showing signs of growing up into a beauty. Wonder what kind of "teen" problems she will cause for the king and queen?
Yes, because if one of Obama's daughters is beautiful that must mean she is going to be promiscuous, too.
I never actually wnated to be a pistol before but.....
I have no idea what that means specifically, but it sounds pretty violent. Or disgusting.
Black nail polish to go along with her nasty radical hair. Using their children for that kind of shit is horrific. But they did grow up in Rev. Wright’s church so what do we expect? Their entire family makes me want to vomit.
DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our WH is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over the WH.
And quit picking on little Chacha & Malaria.
___________
LMAO!
Namecalling, that is always the mature route.
***UPDATE II***
Apparently Jim Robinson, owner of the Free Republic Website, has decided that (1) he should use my post as a fundraising opportunity to support the site and (2) he should make sure his conservative "troops" know they are being criticized so they tone down their true inner feelings.
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
He has reposted my original post, triggering a new round of comments:
From Jim Robinson:
Can't help myself. This kind of crap fills my inbox every morning. But the writer has a point. We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig.
And I'm sure the left really means no harm to Sarah Palin's children. Thank God for the love and basic human decency displayed by TRUE Democrats.
Nice! Does he even know what Marxism really is?
I really would like to see all the posts he's talking about where liberals trashed the minor Palin children (aside from comments about 18-year-old Bristol after she became a public spokesperson for abstinence). Most of the comments I saw bashed Palin for the way she used her children, not the children themselves.
I do not recall any posts making fun of the way the Palin children wore their hair, for example. That being said, it would not be a valid defense. If your neighbor down the street robs a bank, the police will not consider that in your favor and exonerate you should you later rob a bank.
A comment from mnhering, who I guess does not realize the post was restored and more racist comments were added:
That just proves this site doesn’t put up with crap comments like that if the post was pulled, while KOS not only keeps crap like that up, they encourage it.
It isn’t what was said, it is how the sites deal with it that shows the difference.
The comment was only "pulled for review" because attention was drawn to it. This is what you call a "cover your ass" ploy. That is the same reason Robinson is now addressing it, although the thread was restored.
Finally, if Free Republic wants to question whether I am a hypocrite, personally, I recommend they look at my comments about the offensive Huffington Post column that the author later took down on Palin calling for more "retardation" and my comments on Letterman's jokes, which I said were in poor taste.
But a few points to make on this--we are not the side claiming to be the bastion of morality. There is also a difference between making a personally disparaging remark like the ones made about Malia and a remark about how Palin uses her children as props that does not insult the children themselves.
The one or two times I have seen someone make a remark here that was negative about Trig Palin, I and many others jumped right in and HR'd it out of existence and blasted the poster for it. And why shouldn't we? I have family members with developmental disabilities or out-of-wedlock pregnancies.
I guess if they had more minorities among them or people with relatives who were minorities or simply people who believed in racial equality, they would have responded more negatively to the comments about Malia.
***UPDATE III***
I really cannot keep up with their indecision. The first time it was pulled pending review by the "Religion" moderator; now it is pulled pending review by the "Administration" or something like that.
Perhaps they cannot decide what they fear the most--being called out for having this kind of diatribe or caving in to what they perceive as liberal pressure by removing it.
Either way, it was there, these are their sentiments, and the sad thing is, most of them are now only decrying the thought of picking on a child and not complaining about the overt racism in these comments they have made.
It is a sad place and reaffirms more than ever why I am not a republican.
Chris Parry of The Vancouver Sun highlighted some of the comments on the mainstream, hard right-wing blog/news aggregator Free Republic. Among them, a picture of Michelle talking to Malia Obama with the caption: "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."
"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion. "Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.
"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another. Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.
FreeRepublic claims to be a site that "does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government." Yet, the thread went down, and back up with the original comments in tact, and then some, notes Chris Parry, the story's writer. Parry was careful and kind enough to - maybe unnecessarily - note the few reasonable voices in the crowd who were conservative, on Free Republic, and not racist. But there're always going to be a few exceptions to the rule, which, as far as you should be concerned, are absolute swamp creatures. Pardon any political incorrectness, but I think you'll agree if you happen to go over and dip your toe in what's mostly a bog of contagiously slimy invective and general retardation.
It gets worse, though. Chris Parry, it appears, has advocated on his Daily Kos blog any number of egregious offenses, among them: posting hate speech on sites like Free Republic and blaming it on conservatives. Parry posted under the name "hollywoodoz" on Daily Kos, where his signature was "Fool me once, I'll punch you in the fucking head." Parry outed himself as hollywoodoz here, where he discloses the company he helped start. In essence: Parry, the journalist, found his story right where he'd been circling it for a very long time, and reported it as news. Sigh.
Bottom line: Parry's noble intentions are paving him a road to hell, by taking the same one the slimeball majority at Free Republic employs. They're probably going to cheer a "mainstream," centrist blog pointing out the offenses of a liberal reporter trying to expose hate speech, but they shouldn't get it mixed up. A quick glance at Free Republic and you'll probably see the same thing I did: some of the most egregious examples that lend credence to the idea that some people just shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard, or to open their mouths, no matter what their political affiliation. Or, as some would have it: STFU.
Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children [Vancouver Sun]
*UPDATE III* Free Republic Pulls/Restores/Pulls Thread Bashing Malia Obama; FR Responds
by CatM
Fri Jul 10, 2009
Yesterday, theHalfrican posted a link to the Free Republic Website where several of its regular members were bashing Malia Obama for wearing a peace symbol t-shirt. The thread had several derogotary, racist, and sexual remarks about Malia. It also included a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that was accompanied with a racist caption.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I wrote the media contact at Free Republic yesterday, kristinn@bellatlantic.net, questioning the nature of the posters and the site.
Cat M's diary
Hello. I am an independent writer developing a book about the grassroots conservative movement online, of which your site, Free Republic, is included as a primary online gathering place for conservatives.
Could you please tell me how the owner of the site feels about posts like this one:
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
...in which conservatives who post regularly at the site make several racist statements about the 11-year-old daughter of President Obama for wearing a t-shirt adorned with a peace symbol? Remarks included the following:
"We’re being represented by a family of ghetto trash."
"Looks like a bunch of ghetto thugs. A stain on America."
"Looks like a typical street whore."
"What we now are sending the ghetto over to represent us. and if so who the hell is that flea bag who looks to be dragged from the trash dumpster."
"you could go down any ghetto right now and see exactly the same."
"could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there"
"the world must be laughing like mad right now at that we have this kind of street trash in our white house."
"Wonder when she will have her first abortion."
"sad isn’t it that we now have ghetto street trash over there representing us in Europe."
"This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution.
"They make me sick.... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin’ mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin’, and especially ‘lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin’ my peeps."
In addition, the thread includes a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to her daughter with the caption, "To Entertain Her Daughter, Michelle Obama Likes to Make Monkey Sounds."
Before you dismiss this as only a minority of posters at the site, out of 100 posts on that thread I found only 1 that criticized such remarks. This is not the first time I have seen such an exhibition of blatant racism at Free Republic by members who regularly post there.
Here are my questions:
Does Free Republic condone this type of exercise in free speech?
Are these the type of participants Free Republic is happy to have posting at its site?
What is Free Republic's policy about posting racially offensive comments?
What is Free Republic's policy about making sexual insinuations about minors (particularly relevant in light of the David Letterman/Sarah Palin brouhaha)?
Does Free Republic believe its membership accurately represents the conservative movement?
Does the owner of Free Republic believe this kind of discourse is helpful to rebuilding the Republican Party and furthering its goals?
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your responses.
I went back to the site today and saw that the offending thread has been pulled "pending review."
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
I do note that Free Republic has a disclaimer on the first page that claims it does not condone this type of post; however, I am not sure when the disclaimer was added. Does anyone know?
From the disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Free Republic or its operators.
Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting personal attacks, profanity, vulgarity, threats, racial or religious bigotry, or any other materials offensive or otherwise inappropriate for a conservative family audience.
Free Republic is a site dedicated to the concerns of traditional grassroots conservative activists. We're here to discuss and advance our conservative causes in a more or less liberal-free environment. We're not here to debate liberals. We do not want our pages filled with their arrogant, obnoxious, repugnant bile. Liberals, usurpers, and other assorted malcontents are considered unwelcome trolls on FR and their accounts and or posts will be summarily dismissed at the convenience of the site administrators.
Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government.
So, the site will readily delete posts from liberals just because they are liberals and therefore everything they say is automatically considered "arrogant, obnoxious, repugant bile."
But comments calling an 11-year-old black girl "ghetto trash" and a "whore" are pulled "pending review." What is to review? Your site either supports that kind of rhetoric or it does not. Which is it?
If the Free Republic's "conservative family audience" consists of people who say such things as they often do (like yesterday), how conservative are they? And how family-oriented are they? Where were all the posts from other Free Republic regulars or from the owner of the site decrying this kind of racism directed at a child for no apparent reason than the fact that a peace symbol t-shirt inflamed their hatred to disgusting depths, like a red handkerchief in front of a mad bull?
Conservatives continually reinforce the fact that the only families they care about are conservative ones; the only troops they support are ones that do not vote democratic; the only children whose lives they value are the children of conservatives or unborn. How many of those aborted fetuses they claim to hold so dear would they trash had they been born and grown into a pre-teen who wore a t-shirt with a peace symbol or supported a liberal president? Or was gay?
The truth is that conservatives do not know the meaning of Jesus' words despite how much they love to use them when it suits their inner hatred of all those who are different. Worse, they lack basic human decency, as they demonstrate time and again.
****UPDATE***
The review is over, apparently, and they decided it was worth it to keep the article and comments. Only now, they are making an effort to intersperse a few posts criticizing the remarks against Malia; interestingly, these "Don't say those things about a child" chastisements are almost uniformly alike.
Considering there were virtually none yesterday, and they suddenly appear only after the "review" following criticism here, it is pretty clear what the site is doing. They are trying to create the impression that there really are people at Free Republic who decry that sort of behavior.
Let's see if the comments have gotten any better:
That’s a freak kid searching for attention.
We are now represented by the thug ghetto culture, aren't you proud?
I’ll probably get thumped for this, but this girl is showing signs of growing up into a beauty. Wonder what kind of "teen" problems she will cause for the king and queen?
Yes, because if one of Obama's daughters is beautiful that must mean she is going to be promiscuous, too.
I never actually wnated to be a pistol before but.....
I have no idea what that means specifically, but it sounds pretty violent. Or disgusting.
Black nail polish to go along with her nasty radical hair. Using their children for that kind of shit is horrific. But they did grow up in Rev. Wright’s church so what do we expect? Their entire family makes me want to vomit.
DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our WH is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over the WH.
And quit picking on little Chacha & Malaria.
___________
LMAO!
Namecalling, that is always the mature route.
***UPDATE II***
Apparently Jim Robinson, owner of the Free Republic Website, has decided that (1) he should use my post as a fundraising opportunity to support the site and (2) he should make sure his conservative "troops" know they are being criticized so they tone down their true inner feelings.
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
He has reposted my original post, triggering a new round of comments:
From Jim Robinson:
Can't help myself. This kind of crap fills my inbox every morning. But the writer has a point. We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig.
And I'm sure the left really means no harm to Sarah Palin's children. Thank God for the love and basic human decency displayed by TRUE Democrats.
Nice! Does he even know what Marxism really is?
I really would like to see all the posts he's talking about where liberals trashed the minor Palin children (aside from comments about 18-year-old Bristol after she became a public spokesperson for abstinence). Most of the comments I saw bashed Palin for the way she used her children, not the children themselves.
I do not recall any posts making fun of the way the Palin children wore their hair, for example. That being said, it would not be a valid defense. If your neighbor down the street robs a bank, the police will not consider that in your favor and exonerate you should you later rob a bank.
A comment from mnhering, who I guess does not realize the post was restored and more racist comments were added:
That just proves this site doesn’t put up with crap comments like that if the post was pulled, while KOS not only keeps crap like that up, they encourage it.
It isn’t what was said, it is how the sites deal with it that shows the difference.
The comment was only "pulled for review" because attention was drawn to it. This is what you call a "cover your ass" ploy. That is the same reason Robinson is now addressing it, although the thread was restored.
Finally, if Free Republic wants to question whether I am a hypocrite, personally, I recommend they look at my comments about the offensive Huffington Post column that the author later took down on Palin calling for more "retardation" and my comments on Letterman's jokes, which I said were in poor taste.
But a few points to make on this--we are not the side claiming to be the bastion of morality. There is also a difference between making a personally disparaging remark like the ones made about Malia and a remark about how Palin uses her children as props that does not insult the children themselves.
The one or two times I have seen someone make a remark here that was negative about Trig Palin, I and many others jumped right in and HR'd it out of existence and blasted the poster for it. And why shouldn't we? I have family members with developmental disabilities or out-of-wedlock pregnancies.
I guess if they had more minorities among them or people with relatives who were minorities or simply people who believed in racial equality, they would have responded more negatively to the comments about Malia.
***UPDATE III***
I really cannot keep up with their indecision. The first time it was pulled pending review by the "Religion" moderator; now it is pulled pending review by the "Administration" or something like that.
Perhaps they cannot decide what they fear the most--being called out for having this kind of diatribe or caving in to what they perceive as liberal pressure by removing it.
Either way, it was there, these are their sentiments, and the sad thing is, most of them are now only decrying the thought of picking on a child and not complaining about the overt racism in these comments they have made.
It is a sad place and reaffirms more than ever why I am not a republican.
