I've spent the last few hours perusing Internet news as well as comments from 'average Americans' about the Bin Laden death and the circumstances surrounding it. I don't feel much more informed or knowledgeable now than I did at the beginning.
In short, it seems doubtful we will ever know with certainty what the full story was. I continue to think this is all part of the 'gaslighting' procedure, along with the eligibility controversy. There is a 'there' there, but it's being clouded and obscured with so much noise and misinformation, plus flawed speculation among average people, that it's all confusion on confusion.
One thing I can't help noticing about the citizen comments on this latest sensational story is that some of the same people who were eager to quash anything they labeled as 'conspiracy-mongering' on the eligibility issue are now happily speculating about conspiracies on the Bin Laden death. Strange how that works.
I was thinking the other day, following my post on conspiracy theories, about how different the Republican debate online has been on the eligibility issue, versus the serial scandals of the Clinton era. The endless drama of Clinton scandals back in the 1990s was the biggest topic of discussion on Free Republic back then. I was a registered FReeper (though still a newbie as a conservative as well as on FR) so I mostly sat back and drank in the discussions about the latest Clinton scandal or outrage. Things like Chinagate, and the Elian Gonzalez story, all those things that are largely forgotten now. Only the blue dress and ''I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinski'' are remembered now.
At any rate there was a very different crowd of FReepers back then, many of them very erudite and well-informed in many areas. Quite a few were witty and humorous as well as intelligent. I suspect many of them are no longer with us, as they were older gentlemen usually. But during that Clinton era, I don't remember all the squabbling and divisiveness that marks Free Republic now, on the topic of the eligibility issue. I don't recall any FReepers then saying ''for Pete's sake, shut up with all this conspiracy talk. You are making conservatives look crazy. You are driving people away. You are paranoid.'' I mean, there were more than a few conspiracy theories swirling around the Clintons, some of them rather bizarre: the Ron Brown thing, Vince Foster's demise, the Arkansas/Canadian blood bank scandal, the Mena drug runners, Arkancides, all of it. It was conspiracy-oriented, and it was credible because of the administration's reputation for dishonesty, shady doings, cover-ups, and hostility towards their political enemies.
But I remember that there was little of the division and internecine fighting that exists there now, at least as regards the conspiracy. What happened in the interim so that there are now many ''conservatives'' who want to silence people because they allege there are conspiracies, or just because they don't trust ''official sources''?
Some of the naysayers actually accuse the eligibility skeptics of 'racism' for continuing to ask for proofs and validation. Definitely, poliitical correctness and race-baiting among conservatives has increased.
Of course it's often the case that there are trolls and operatives posing as conservatives on various forums. Sometimes the GOP operatives are as hostile as the Democrats are to conservative ideas.
Actually there was a sharp increase in quarreling among 'conservatives' on the Internet as immigration grew to its present crisis proportions. Many FReepers were assailed for their immigration-skepticism, and there were quite a few bannings based on what were called 'racist' statements on immigration, about 5 or 6 years ago. Political correctness definitely has increased in the last several years among 'conservatives.'
I can only think that the desire to avoid accusations of 'racism' may motivate some of the desire to stifle discussion of the eligibility issue.
As for the Bin Laden story, it seems to have distracted attention away from the BC issue if only temporarily, and that may be a lucky coincidence. Or not.
In any case, for now, I'm an agnostic about the Bin Laden thing, and even after less than 24 hours of hearing about it, I am weary of it.
However, if you have any comments on it, feel free to add them.
