Another example of what not to do...

[Bill Mattocks]

Most of us probably know who the Westboro Baptist Church people are. They allegedly protest military funerals, holding up horribly offensive signs and chanting, trying to goad reactions from the grieving relatives and friends of the deceased. They do the same at funerals of people who die of AIDS or who were homosexuals. They're the "God Hates Fags" people.

Several states have tried to make their style of protest illegal at military funerals, but they have fought back on 1st Amendment grounds, and won repeatedly. It seems that most states have stopped trying to shut their protests down now.

The Patriot Guard Riders are motorcycle riders who provide escort and protective duties at military funerals, forming defensive perimeters around the cemeteries to try to keep out the protesters. They know from their own experiences that messing with the Westboro Baptist Church people gets them arrested, so they largely form a protective barrier and then ignore them.

However, at least one angry man apparently decided to take the law into his own hands:

http://www.military.com/news/articl...ing-westboro-protest.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS

Pepper Spray Used During Westboro Protest


Police arrested George Vogel on 16 counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of child neglect. Allegedly, Vogel's child was in the truck when he drove past the funeral and extended his arm to spray the protesters. "Initial indications are he was probably targeting [members of] the Westboro Baptist Church," said Omaha Police Department spokesman Michael Pecha.

Now, not only is this guy going to find himself in serious legal hot water on a criminal basis, he may also find himself sued. The Westboro Baptist Church is, I have been informed, extremely litigious.

So no matter how angry they make you, perhaps it is best to keep one's anger in check at certain times.

 

[xJOHNx]

Those guys are even known across the pond.
They were featured on tv a couple of years ago.


America keeps amazing me.

 

[Blade96]

some of em tried to get into our country to picket at the funeral of the greyhound bus victim in 2008. even though they have been banned from my country.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/07/29/greyhound-beheading-anniversary073009.html

This in case some people have no idea what i am referring to, what case.

 

[Empty Hands]

If there were ever a group of people that would make you reconsider that whole freedom and tolerance thing...

What an odious bunch. The "flock" is mostly Phelps and his extended family, and nearly every one are lawyers. His wife is even more hateful, if that is possible. They make all their money from lawsuits.

I ran into an article a while back that surprised me. Apparently Phelps was one of the only local lawyers back in the 60's who would represent blacks in civil rights lawsuits.

 

[CoryKS]

If there were ever a group of people that would make you reconsider that whole freedom and tolerance thing...

What an odious bunch. The "flock" is mostly Phelps and his extended family, and nearly every one are lawyers. His wife is even more hateful, if that is possible. They make all their money from lawsuits.

I ran into an article a while back that surprised me. Apparently Phelps was one of the only local lawyers back in the 60's who would represent blacks in civil rights lawsuits.

Are you talking about Shirley? She's his daughter and yeah, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. I'd read that Phelps had been fairly active in the civil rights movement back in the day. Go figure.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

When Fred Phelps dies we should ALL of us, from Cheyenne to Chicago, Butte to Boston, picket his funeral.

 

[Blade96]

and sing Hallilujah.

 

[Flea]

The problem with groups like this is that making any kind of statement against them only proves them "right," because it fits so neatly into their persecution mentality. It's a lose/lose for outsiders.

I would love to see the LGBT community come up with their own variation on the Patriot Guard Riders. It's such an obvious thing to do.

(And yes, I would travel to the ends of the earth to picket Phelps' funeral. :mst: )

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The problem with groups like this is that making any kind of statement against them only proves them "right," because it fits so neatly into their persecution mentality. It's a lose/lose for outsiders.

I would love to see the LGBT community come up with their own variation on the Patriot Guard Riders. It's such an obvious thing to do.

(And yes, I would travel to the ends of the earth to picket Phelps' funeral. :mst: )

I gave you 'thanks' also because you had 666 thanks. Creepy! I mean I also meant thanks, but uh...

 

[WC_lun]

This chucklehead and his famiy are from the nearby town of Topeka, so we in Kansas City are familiar with them. Thier church is kept afloat through the family, successful litigations, and amazingly enough, dontations. In the past in Kansas City, anytime these guys would show up to picket, the news would be all over them. They'd eat up the free publicity. Now our news stations don't cater to them as much.

I don't think ignoring idiots like this is good because it enables them and creates the impression that hate filled vitriol like thiers is acceptable. However, focus on them and they get the attention they crave and an oppurtunity to share thier hate message with many more people. I really don't know what the answer is with people like this.

 

[Blade96]

lol, chucklehead

Never heard that word before. =]

 

[RandomPhantom700]

The problem with groups like this is that making any kind of statement against them only proves them "right," because it fits so neatly into their persecution mentality. It's a lose/lose for outsiders.

I would love to see the LGBT community come up with their own variation on the Patriot Guard Riders. It's such an obvious thing to do.

(And yes, I would travel to the ends of the earth to picket Phelps' funeral. :mst: )

Well, there's always the ComicCon response, discussed recently here.

And I like the Patriot Guard Riders' idea because, by being a passive defense, it requires the WBC members to be the agressors in order to stage their protests. I hope, one day, someone's able to goad them into making an attack and then sues them for every last penny.

 

[Blade96]

The problem with groups like this is that making any kind of statement against them only proves them "right," because it fits so neatly into their persecution mentality

i read a quote from his daughter where she said

n response, Phelps-Roper said as to the purpose of the protests, "You think our job is to win souls to Christ. All we do, by getting in their face and putting these signs in front of them and these plain words, is make what's already in their heart come out of their mouth."[44]

This was from wiki. Persecution mentality indeed.

 

[CoryKS]

Well, there's always the ComicCon response, discussed recently here.

And I like the Patriot Guard Riders' idea because, by being a passive defense, it requires the WBC members to be the agressors in order to stage their protests. I hope, one day, someone's able to goad them into making an attack and then sues them for every last penny.

I think the ComicCon response was absolutely the perfect response to them, because it was just an excuse for the conventioneers to dress up and be funny. They were having so much fun that the WBC's presence became incidental.

Granted, you can't really offer that sort of response at, say, a funeral. The convention was kind of a unique situation because it was such a random, non-political thing for the WBC to target.

 

[WC_lun]

I did enjoy the comicon response. Of course satire aimed at idiots makes me smile

 

[Cryozombie]

I wish I could support the Patriot riders. But they themselves proved to me they were a bunch of Bigoted *******s who are no better than the people they are "defending us" against.

I went to DC for a Rally and they were lined up "protecting" DC from the evil liberals who were marching that day. I went up to talk to them and see if I could join their "wall" to find out more about them, and they started screaming at me and threatening violence. One of DC's finest came up and told me to "get in line with the march or go to jail" and I tried to explain I wasn't with them... He grabbed me, pushed me in line and said "talk again you go to jail" so I marched with the Anti-war protesters. The whole time the Patriot Guard people screamed threats, called me a Fag, and a traitor.

Screw them.