Dude... what?

So I joined this one parenting community that was suggested to me by a friend (who's not local for me at this time! BOOOO!) because it would have less of the stupid BS, and there are a lot of people there who are kind of like us (meaning, not idiots).

I will say, that site is nice. There are some very intelligent people there, and people who fall in line with what I like. It was nice to be able to discuss things and not get all the stupid myths about cloth diapering thrown in my face, or told that organic food is a hoax, or told that I'm harming my son by rear-facing him in the car at 18 months. There's just enough military presence there, but not so much that it could ever be considered a military board, and there are even other prior service moms! It seemed so cool.

The today, I received this (and I'm paraphrasing, as it was much longer):

"We are a family website, and need you to edit your language in the post I'm linking. We do not allow foul language here."

You may wonder what the offending word was. It was pr0n. Yeah, as in porn spelled wrong. It was a legitimate post, which was very relevant to the conversation. Nobody was offended. You have to be an adult to join the site, so um, seriously? We need a language censor? You must be kidding me.

My friend did warn me of a religious right element to that community, and before this, I hadn't seen it. I guess I was having too much fun bantering back and forth with the cool moms, who run the gamut from heavily tattooed and gothic, to rockabilly chemists, to cutoff jeans wearing rednecks. I hadn't even encountered any of the ones my friend had warned me about being there, and being like a crazy shadow over everyone's shoulder, and it took about half a year, but I guess I have now. Somehow, this community doesn't seem half as cool as it used to. I mean, I just got my ass (oops...) chewed for saying the word porn spelled wrong (which is kind of a running joke with a lot of- kind of nerdy- people and has been for years).

I guess I just have a real dislike for Big Brother kind of stuff. I know, nothing put online is ever private, and it's all public information. That in itself doesn't bother me at all, as I see it very similarly to interactions in a public place being public knowledge to anyone else in that place. What bothers me is when people try to tell me what I can put out and what I can't when I haven't harmed anybody. This thing is minor, and I'm definitely not going to raise any stink about it, but it was indicative of a certain mentality that I do not jive with at all, and has definitely colored my opinion of a certain community. I intensely dislike censorship and I always have. I think adults can take what's out there, and deal with it for themselves. I cannot imagine being so weak that you cannot stand to read anything but squeaky clean things, or else it ruins your day. Honestly, I think people like that need to get off their high horses and join the real world on at least a part-time basis.

Have I mentioned recently how the religious right scares the bejeebuz out of me? They really do. It amazes me that these people breed like rats, yet have the most outdated views of anybody I've ever seen. It's like, all the progressive people have 0-3 kids, and these crazy fools have like 4-10. Come to think of it, that's probably got a whole lot to do with how we got to the point we're at today....