Poll: Picketing the Future Funeral of Fred Phelps (Leader of the Westboro Baptist Church)

[Baron von Blitztank]

Despite the fact that WBC would most likely love all the atention they'd be getting, I'm all up for it.

Who's up for dancing around the funeral while some guy follows behind playing this on a stereo as loud as possible?


We could bring a barbeque, bring some beers. Make a day of it!

 

[Denamic]

Naw.
Doing such a thing would invalidate any criticism you have against them doing it, since you'll be the same as them.
Besides, they're not worth my time.

 

[MammothBlade]

Everybody should turn up and pay their respects to him and pray for his soul. It will be exactly what the Phelps don't want.

I'd rather go to his funeral and make it like any other, than make it stand out as something important by picketing it.

I like this idea.

The only way to conquer the Westboro Baptist Church is by the power of love and kindness.

(And this is coming from someone who strongly supports capital punishment for murderers.)

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

Well if what I know about the bible is correct, he'll receive his eternal punishment. I don't believe in the bible but then he'll die and nothing will happen. Nothing. Makes a life spent hating on other people seem pointless. Live life, Enjoy it, die happy.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No, we don't want to lower ourselves to his level. We are better than that aren't we? Best to just stay away from them.

We lower ourselves everyday by allowing that kind of extreme homophobia to happen on such a scale.

We lower ourselves every time we allow them to intrude upon an event of mourning that's supposed to be for a person who died protecting their country, a country that the Westboro Baptist Church resides in.

It's not lowering ourselves to act against these idiots. It's punishment long overdue. And I for one fully support this idea.

It's not about being the better person at this point. It's about teaching a lesson to the remaining members of Phelps' church. It's to teach a lesson to the children, who's parents teach them to commit such despicable acts, that this kind of crap should not and will not be tolerated when they grow up.

It's about showing the LGBT community that not everyone is just going to merely shake their head and go "tsk tsk" at situations like one the Westboro Baptist Church and go about their day.

And if showing people that I don't stand for that crap makes me less of a person then

Public figures like news reporters and radio show hosts can get fired in the U.S. for saying something that has racial undertones, but when a group of people take their kids to go gay bashing no one wants to do a damn thing. That sickens me. At least here in Canada we arrested them for trying that crap and told them they weren't welcome anymore.

If this was just about LGBT and whatever, I might be inclined to agree with you, but it isn't. The WBC aren't extremists, they're attention whores and the worst thing you can give an attention whore is attention. The WBC doesn't really care about LGBT, they just make a convenient target. Oh I'm sure they're is a few among their group that genuinely believes the crap they spew, but I would wager that the primary members of the Phelps family don't; and even if they do, I still would bet that their activities are still more about getting attention than they are anything to do with God or anything else.
Why do you suppose they chose to picket that Comic Con a few months back eh? That had nothing to do with the gay community. They proclaimed it had something to do with false idols, I say it was attention whoring.
Anyway I'm starting to ramble so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Dejawesp]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and how will you ever be able to claim that you're better than him when you do exactly what he does?

Such an American thing to do.

Of course someone would say that. Such a whiny, spiteful, non-American thing to do to assume that everyone here would be for a silly revenge funeral protest.

OT: like many others here, my knee-jerk reaction to the question was yes, it would be fun to go and upset his family and loved ones at his funeral like he's done to so many others who didn't deserve it. That would just be giving WBC fuel, however, and they would continue doing what they do. Probably with more resolve. So no, it would be best just to ignore the whole thing. Hopefully the bastard will die sooner than later.

52% and counting

 

[not_the_dm]

I still think it's a shame they backed out of picketing the funeral of the late, great Ronnie James Dio. They would have all been killed and then we wouldn't be having this argument. I think I might break out the method champagne when he dies though. (No, I can't afford proper champagne. I'm a student.)

 

[Hiname]

"Being bigger then that"?
"Not going down on that level"?
FUCK THAT!

If I were living in the US and had the chance to, I would drive over to that place, dress up as a female version of god, ask my girlfriend to dress up as satan and start making out with her in blank view while holding up a sign with one hand reading "HAA HA, SUCKERS!"

Finishing the whole event by dancing around with her over the place while singing highway to hell on top of our lungs.

 

[newwiseman]

I'm willing to help silently erect a 20foot tall electric fence around the funeral, and then leave everyone of them trapped there. To not to infringe on their right to free speech I'll also give them computers with high-speed internet...

I'm pro-asshole and asshole behavior but I really don't like Trolls for profit. Trolling is for the lulz, to take such an unmoving hard stance that it promotes anger (potentially for your amusement), not to attract visitors to your lame site to make money.

I'm willing to vote for an amendment that if your Trolling for profit that it wouldn't be protected by the First Amendment, but considering how much my government fucks up very simple ideas; it's impossible that they could get it right. As such I'll take the lesser of two evils and just ignore the Westboro group as usual.

 

[Lyri]

Everybody should turn up and pay their respects to him and pray for his soul. It will be exactly what the Phelps don't want.

I'd rather go to his funeral and make it like any other, than make it stand out as something important by picketing it.

I like this idea.

The only way to conquer the Westboro Baptist Church is by the power of love and kindness.

(And this is coming from someone who strongly supports capital punishment for murderers.)

It would be quite a moving sight I would imagine.

Thousands of people turning up to watch the final moments of one of the most hateful people in the world be lowered into the ground and for us all to say he's forgiven.
I'd like to see the look on Mrs Phelps face.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

As much revenge and payback sound sweet, i'll refrain from such actions with these guys. Mainly because it would only give them the ability to say "you hate us for what we do and yet you do it to us" and blah blah blah. Just ignore this situation and anything else these idiots do and eventually they'll just give up.

 

[Ickorus]

At first I thought yes but then I realised im better than him and so are all you, he and his family are terrible people and you shouldn't lower yourselves to his level.

 

[ShadowKatt]

I don't bother with it, because I know there are people out there with far less tact and shame that will do it for me. Why dirty my hands when I can simply relax and enjoy the irony?

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Hmm. My knee-jerk reaction is definately 'picket that shit' but now I'm thinking it might be more fun to organise a massive bunch of gay people/black people to go. Not to picket it, but to actually go. Purely to piss off the Westboro Baptist Church as much as humanly possible.

Also, get Richard Dawkins to do a speech.

If I were living in the US and had the chance to, I would drive over to that place, dress up as a female version of god, ask my girlfriend to dress up as satan and start making out with her in blank view while holding up a sign with one hand reading "HAA HA, SUCKERS!"

Awesome. Do it.

 

[holy_secret]

It's not about lowering ourselves to their level.

It's about the fact that we are against picketing funerals, because they're sacred and incredibly sensitive.

Why would you want to do something you despise and are against?
Makes no sense to me.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

It's about the fact that we are against picketing funerals, because they're sacred and incredibly sensitive.

Why would you want to do something you despise and are against?
Makes no sense to me.

There's a difference between picketing the funeral of a soldier or black person or a gay person and picketing the funeral of an evil hateful nazi bastard who will be going to hell anyway.
That's how I see it anyway.

 

[Pyramid Head]

I'm going to say "No" for the same reason i say "No" to when people think they should run counter rallys to white supremacists. They're attention whores, picketing them and playing into their persecution complex is exactly what they want. It's pretty obvious Phelp cockslapped some of the kids into believing it anyway, so you also have to have a bit of sympathy for the family of this closeted homosexual psycho. When he dies, let him rot in peace. I'm sure the organization will fall apart without him, and we'll only have thirty other groups of Christian fundamentalists to worry about.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

He deserves it. He's utter scum. And so is his family, and likely anyone who would actually want to attend his funeral to mourn his passing.

Thing is it would probably escalate into something more than is legal considering the emotions that bastard evokes in people.

On the contrary, that would perpetuate the cycle. You can't fully blame his kids/grandkids for how they turned out, because let's be frank: the conditions under which they were raised were nightmarish. It's a miracle that one of them was able to retain enough sanity to escape when he was of age.

Instead, if you still feel the need to show up to the funeral, do the one thing they would never expect: offer condolences for the loss of a father/grandfather/husband. It could be as simple as a "I'm sorry for your loss," and departure, but say it with sincerity. Mocking them for it would only convince them that they're right in thinking that the rest of the world is worthy of their bizarre form of bigotry.

If they insult you, so be it. But don't let that change your actions. Act as you would at the funeral of a family you weren't exactly 'friends' with, but you knew who they were, and you know that they just lost someone dear to them.

Look at their protests: there are still kids there, being raised into the next generation of these hatemongers. Would you rather laugh and jeer at them for a few minutes, ensuring that they would continue their leader's legacy, or take a short time to put aside your anger and show them that the world isn't what they had been told it was.

I never thought I'd ever say this before, and I can barely believe I'm saying it even now, but, in all honesty...think about the children.

 

[holy_secret]

It's about the fact that we are against picketing funerals, because they're sacred and incredibly sensitive.

Why would you want to do something you despise and are against?
Makes no sense to me.

There's a difference between picketing the funeral of a soldier or black person or a gay person and picketing the funeral of an evil hateful nazi bastard who will be going to hell anyway.
That's how I see it anyway.

So you're saying it's okay because you don't agree with his life views?

That means he's right in doing it too. He does not agree with the life views of homosexuals, soldiers and so on.
Why should your opinion be more important than his?

Don't forget that it's this mentality that makes him act like he does. He justifies it by saying it's wrong and god hates it. Just because I agree with you (that he's a fucking awful human being), doesn't mean I can turn a blind eye to this horrible display of double standard.