Oh, This is So Cool! A Freeper gave us the best complment.

[leftyladyfrommo]

Took a lot of courage on the Freeper's part, let me tell you.

I was searching this morning to see if there was new news about Molly Ivins. And one of the sites that came up on Google was the Free Republic. So, of course, I had to go look.

And the posts were awful. Just terrible. They called her every awful thing you could imagine. Were glad she was dying.

And then there was one that kind of took my breath away.

The poster just stated that when her son died last week (in Iraq, I think) that there was a discussion over on DU about it. And that everyone here gave sympathy and wished them all the best.

Really made me proud.

[hlthe2b]

1. K&R

just wish there were more than a single example of humanity over there...

[Jim Lane]

38. Another example

"just wish there were more than a single example of humanity over there..."

When Tim Johnson was stricken, there were a few Freepers who were exulting, hoping that the Republican governor of South Dakota would soon get to make an appointment that would change control of the Senate. Some even hazarded a guess that God wanted a Republican majority and was doing something about it. The majority of them, however, disagreed. There were quite a few posts along the lines of "Put politics aside, best wishes for him and his family."

[seabeyond]

2. lets remember. and lets remember when a female right talking head had breast cancer

threads were started here and all kinds of ugly came from du. we are better than that. or some of us anyway.

i remember the woman whose son died and the thread at du. one of our better moments

[burythehatchet]

4. but how can one compare an unfortunate family and a fascist

propogandist. They certainly don't elicit the same amount of campassion in my heart.

[deadmessengers]

5. You don't have to compare.

Fascist propagandist or not, civilized people don't celebrate the deaths or illnesses of others.

[zbdent]

7. I was going to say something about that group in Florida

[deadmessengers]

16. That's kind of what I was thinking about.

I'm no fan of Castro, but celebrating his death is just ridiculous.

[burythehatchet]

8. I consider myself somewhat civilized

and while I don't celebrate this type of misfortune, I cannot bring myself to feel any compassion. Big difference.

[seabeyond]

11. big difference in what you say now, to what i op. i metioned the ugliness

to a woman that was facing a horrible situation, and how some on du were simply ugly. there is a difference between actively being ugly to another and not having compassion for another.

[seabeyond]

10. i beg your pardon. wow. no. that is not how i see pain and suffering

some deserving and some not. who am i to decide. i am not in anothers heart to KNOW, know if they warrant sympathy. not my job. i have no desire to see anyone go thru something as horrible and scary as cancer. and i feel not a single need to make life worse for that person. that is not about the fascist propaganda. that is my behavior, me, who i am....

[seabeyond]

14. btw, this was about freeper not being ugly to molly ivins. she brought

up loss of family member and kindness here, saying see their ability to be kind. lets not attack molly ivans. they to will see irvins as fascist propangandist. so you are saying, legit to bash rw propagandist, then legit for them to bash ms. ivins

[femmedem]

3. Recommending for civility and compassion. n/t

[Jemmons]

6. Respecting your opponent is rarely a bad strategy n/t

[Raffi Ella]

9. was she then banned?

I can't imagine a statement like that would be left standing at that forum.

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. LOL I don't think so. But you can tell that the Freepers really pay

a lot of attention to our site.

Molly Ivins scares a lot of people. She is so good at hitting "spot on" about an issue. And that kind of in your face truth can be very frightening.

I have seen letters in the KC Star just going on and on about her - and how she uses terrible language and how she calls people names.

Partly, I think the backlash is because she is a woman who is as strong and as smart (smarter, probably) than any man. You can tell from some of the posts making fun of her looks - such a cheap shot. And there isn't anything wrong with her looks. She just looks like a normal 63 year old woman.

[Raffi Ella]

20. Yes, apparently they do.

In some other thread the other day another conservative site,that used our name in theirs, was posted and when I clicked the link I found an entire board dedicated to us,the D.U.!

I was surprised and a little more than happy because,no matter how hard they resist it,the truth has a way of seeping into your brain and I think it makes a difference(for the better)that they read our forum.

I didn't see the thread about the womans son who died in the war but my heart does go out to her.I'm not a cryer but soldiers and their families break my heart in a way that I can't even verbalize.I truly,truly care about them and my deepest sympathy goes out to her.

[leftyladyfrommo]

22. I know. Anyone who loses a child is just devasted for the

rest of their life.

Her name was Dianna. And may God Bless!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

29. That's the Sphincter.

I call it that way because "cu" is Portuguese vulgar for anus.

[jgraz]

12. Links

Surprising, there seems to be more than a few decent people over there

Last month, when my son was killed, there was a thread on DU offering prayers and support for my family. They rightly said that suffering transcends politics. We are all human. We all feel pain.

Ms. Ivins and her family are in my prayers.

108 posted on 01/27/2007 8:09:50 AM PST by Dianna

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1774545/posts?q=1&&page=101

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1774262/posts?q=1&&page=1

[wryter2000]

15. Good for her

And I'm glad she saw that thread here. I don't care who you are, if you lose a child, you get my sympathy.

[jgraz]

17. Every once in a while, I get optimistic

Seeing all the freeper prayers and well-wishes for Molly, I start thinking that not all Bush supporters are irretrievably evil. Of course there are the expected horrible comments, but there'd be horrible comments here if it were Laura Bush instead of Molly who was sick.

Maybe some of them will eventually see the evil they are supporting and change their minds. We can only hope.

[twilight_sailing]

24. Direct quote from your link

"The key is to gloat in private and not on an internet forum.
...especially one where Hillary can hire goons to track us down and make us pay for all the nasty things we've said about her."


Honestly, what planet do these people live on?

[jgraz]

25. Yes, many of them are evil and many are insane

And almost all of them are very, very stupid. But even the catastrophically stupid can potentially come around to the cause of light if they have a kernel of decency in them.

We need to remember that some of the freepers may actually be vulnerable to appeals to morality and simple education about what's really going on. I gotta think that if Diana could see what this war was doing to Iraqi mothers, she may start rethinking her support for this sociopath in the White House.

[Uncle Joe]

18. Thanks for the thread leftyladyfrommo

Kicked and recommended

[Time for change]

19. You should be -- I have to say that I believe that is one of the big differences

between us and them.

[jgraz]

21. Funny, they're saying the same thing about us

At least the ones with enough class to wish Molly well. Some are wondering what we'd say if it was a conservative columnist with cancer.

[Time for change]

31. Yes, but

I don't believe that I've ever seen DU posters say that they were glad someone was in pain or was dying.

Sure, we comment on what we consider to be bad traits of conservatives whom we dislike. And the fact that they're dying or dead doesn't necessarily mean that we can't make comments on that. But I don't remember us ever showing glee over something like that.

And another thing. I don't believe I've ever seen a DUer show contempt for or make fun of anyone for the way they look or because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or national origen, whereas that kind of thing takes place on the Free Republic often. I think that's a big difference.

[jgraz]

33. I've done it and I had plenty of company

Check out some of the threads after Reagan died.

[Spiffarino]

34. Like DU, they're a big community

Molly Ivins is one helluva smart and funny political pundit. Unfortunately, bad news for a polarizing figure like her brings out the worst in some people, just like it did here when Reagan died. There are over 100,000 registered posters on both sites. No small wonder, then, that some of them are callous. When Ann The Mann Coulter gets lung cancer from years of chain-smoking, count on a lot of this on our side, too.

With that, Molly, I wish you the best and a speedy recovery. I'm not ready to stop buying your books.

[Time for change]

35. Really? What did you guys say about him?

[leftyladyfrommo]

23. There were some other really nice posts, too.

One was a poster who had lost a family member to cancer.

I am old now. And one of the things I have found as I got older was that you do not have to hate anyone. You can disagree without wanting to destroy the other person.

Hate is just such a wasted emotion. Takes way too much energy and gives nothing back.

[jgraz]

26. I surprise myself by saying this, but even Ann Coulter would get some sympathy from me

After going through this with my girlfriend, I can't imagine being happy that someone else has this disease.

[leftyladyfrommo]

27. I wonder if we will ever really beat cancer? I guess if we did there

would just be something else out there. Cancer may be the price we pay for living longer and not dying from all the other stuff that used to kill everyone.

[jgraz]

28. If cancer is the price for living longer...

then I REALLY hope Ann Coulter never gets it.

There -- I feel better now. :evilgrin:

[leftyladyfrommo]

30. Bad Ann Coulter day?

She is a complete puzzle to me. Why would anyone want to be so abrasive and so purely unlikable? Maybe because she makes the big bucks for just acting stupid?

I simply ignore her. And Bill O'Reilly and Rush. Don't like any of them.

[jgraz]

32. Is there any other kind? /Jack Nicholson

[truedelphi]

36. Here's what I have only recently learned about some of the

Freeper mindset

lady across the street from me - Born again Christian, totally hateful of anything that smacks of the Demcoratic Party or liberalism or progressive-ism.

One day when she and I were talking (we both love mystery novels and share a love of children's lit as well) she said - "I am so thankful to God for all He has done for me!"

I asked what she meant. Well her Mother abandoned her father, and her three month old brother, when she was fifteen months old.

Her Dad was a terrible alcoholic - and often by the time she was four, she was getting up early to take care of a sibling only a year younger than herself.

By the time she was in grade school, she was not only a school child, but the mother of this sibling. A lot of times the only parent.

Dad's drinking got worse and worse, and relatives took her brother and her in finally - but she was severely damaged by this emotionally.

When she was nineteen, she realized she had a drug and alcholol problem and hooked up with the Religious Right through a woman who had a boarding home for young Christian women.

My neighbor sees everything in black and white - but now I cannot judge her.

I mean, when I was four and learning to ride my bike with training wheels, with both my parents fanatically worshipping me, my Right Wing neighbor was four years old and taking care of a baby!

I can't imagine who I would be if that experience had been mine.

[jgraz]

37. Many people have had that experience and not gone the Krazy Kristian route

At some point, people need to be responsible for their own pathologies. All of us have demons to fight.

[truedelphi]

39. I know what you are saying,and believe me

I often see it that way too.

But maybe it is one of those things that we acknowledge when we see it in reverse - on a crucial afternoon, a teacher extends help to a troubled student and they learn to appreciate their own innate gift for sports or art or music, and they turn their life around.

in my neighbor's case, at the crucial moment, (age nineteen and seriously screwing up her life) it was a Christian Right Zombie who helped her - but in exchange for the dictum - do not ever think too deeply - God will do your thinking for you (God in this case being whatever minister is in charge of her congregation) and being vulnerable my neighbor adopted this philosophy.

And yes <sigh> it would be nice if she got over it. But her religion allows her to control her mother, her husband and herself, so I can't see that she will move away from it anytime soon.