Westboro Church at it again...

[Inuyasha Fandom]

I swear, these hate-mongers need to be stopped. They need to be stripped of their status as a church and be classified as a hate group, which is what they are. I'm of the personal opinion that the preacher needs to be shot for all the hatred he incites. These bastards are not Christian. I'm more Christian than these people are and I'm not even of the religion. Known for signs that say 'Thank God for dead soldiers' and 'God hates ****' these ***** are one of the most obnoxious and rabid hate groups in America. Once you start a sign with 'God hates' anything, you cease to be Christian.

Which brings me to my point of posting this. The Westboro Baptist church is now threatening to picket Newtown, Conn. as yet another one of their hate rallies. The good people of Newtown don't need to have the hate-mongers showing up on their doorstep. Over 475,000 people have signed a petition on the White House website asking to have the Westboro Baptist church stripped of their tax-exempt status and to have it classified as a hate group. However, the White House usually responds once a petition has reached 25,000 signatures but yet it has done nothing.

This Church, with the desire to see other Americans suffering is high treason. Isn't that punishable by death? Edited December 28, 2012 by SOL

[Korey]

Actually [url="http://www.examiner.com/article/westboro-baptist-church-thwarted-newtown-conn-by-peaceful-supporters"]they have attempted to picket some of the funerals[/url], most notably the principal from Sandy Hook and were met with resistance by those who were supporting the families of this shooting. From what is said and what actually happened, there wasn't any actual protesting going on, but the group had announced they were going to attend the funeral. WBC has a habit of protesting at high-profile people's services such as Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Edwards.

Also, if you follow any tech news at all, famous (and recently convicted) hacker "Cosmo the God" broke his parole to [url="http://sourcefednews.com/westboro-hacker-broke-probation/"]hack the Twitter accounts[/url] of two spokespeople for the WBC and allegedly remote recorded gay porn on one of their DVR's. Unfortunately he'll be getting jail time for that, but he definitely did a lot of good (in his own way) to help the people who are still grieving.

Now, I agree 100% that their actions are heinous and very very insensitive and shouldn't be labeled under free speech. However, and this is the kicker in America, you have to prove that the speech incites immenent violence or retaliation against a group or individual. What makes this even worse is that the definitions of Hate Speech can vary greatly from state to state. While the WBC is very hateful in their protests, they are not telling people to gun down soldiers and homosexuals and whoever else they are protesting for. They are saying "God hates ____" and "Good, another dead ___. " Since God can't imminently strike down a person or harm them, then the speech has to be left alone. You see it all the time at college campuses. Sidewalk preacher told me once I was a fornicator for kissing my girlfriend in public and I wasn't married and I was going straight to hell. Did it fire me up? Yeah, but she had the right to say it and I had the right to walk away and get away from this horrible, hateful person.

What happens though is that groups like this get media attention and it spreads their message involuntarily by simply acknowledging their existence Instead of forced goverment action, why not just simply ignore them until they go away on their own? Make the flame die out on it's own by not giving it any oxygen.

[Inuyasha Fandom]

I never thought I of all people, being a flaming fruitcake and all, would be saying this. Let's be thankful the Salvation Army is 'too goodie goodie' to ever join forces with them.

EDIT: let's hope Cosmo the God gets community service because people won't blame him lol Edited December 28, 2012 by Inuyasha Fandom

[Shwa]

Cosmos the God broke the law, while on parole.  It was his responsibility to make sure he would stay out of trouble in exchange for his freedom back in civilization, he chose not to follow the rules given to him and he will be sentenced to jail time.  No matter what the circumstances, the ends don't justify the means. 

 

WBC is notorious for starting up panic within small communities for the sake of their religion, which is a laugh all the same because we all know (or at least smart Americans and Christians) that they are far from the standings of what real Christianity teaches.  Unfortunately, they are protected not only by the church, but by the United States Constitution under the rights of Freedom Of Speech.  We've seen it numerous times, not only with WBC, but with other organizations or individuals who use this to their advantage to speak their minds of hate and ignorance.

 

I'm sure if the Salvation Army were to join forces with the WBC, they would lose millions of supporters and donations for what they try to do as a charitable organization.  Without them, they would literally be f***ed.

 

~Shwa

[Petie]

I thought of this almost jokingly at first but now I'm kind of curious - what if that speech, while not inciting imminent violence against those that it's targeting, incites that violence against the speaker? I'm sure most people who witness them in person would be more than happy to throw a few punches so theoretically, it could be the cause of some violence. Seems like a pretty ridiculous loophole and not likely one that should be taken seriously but it is kind of thought provoking none the less.

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Calibri]I wonder what the laws are regardeing public disturbance of the peace.[/FONT]

[Akieen Cloud]

I read about them trying to picket the Sandy Hook funerals, there was talk that they were actually there and were going to, but supporters(locals, firemen, police, and a few good natured biker gangs decked out in leather) made a human wall around the funerals to keep them out. Supposedly once they saw the bikers, and other supporters they re-thought their actions and decided not to go through with it. 

 

*shakes head* 

I just don't understand how a person or persons can have so much hate for useless things. How can a single person scrounge up this much hate and bring it all together. 

What means do they have for their end...? And is it worth it for all the hurt they cause...? 

[Allamorph]

I honestly don't think they believe what they claim to believe anymore.  In fact, I don't even think their protests are about protesting.  At this point, I'm fairly certain they're just in the game for the publicity.

I mean, think about it.  All they have to do is wait for some tragedy to occur, drop a few religious-sounding insults, and claim they'll be picketing a related event.  End result: their name gets back on most major news sites, they get talked about in loads of forums, they can drive by the event they said they were targetting and see who all turned out against them, so on and so forth.  They only seem to want recognition and a reaction.
 
On the internet we call that a troll. Edited January 2, 2013 by Allamorph

[Akieen Cloud]

xD sounds about right Allamorph. And when you think about it that way, your probably right. 

[James]

I think they do believe what they say they believe - if you've ever seen the documentaries involving Louis Theroux, that comes across pretty clearly.  Having said that, I think they are [i]also[/i] looking to "promote" their message as far and wide as possible (as do many religious zealots).

 

Although they are obviously hateful and highly ignorant, it's worth remembering that they literally number in the dozens; there are hardly any dedicated members of this church any more.  Numerous members left, including the children of some of the more senior members.

 

So, there's a lot of noise around them, but they are actually literally just a handful of nutters.  Ignoring them and denying them air time is, I think, the best policy.

[Petie]

So, there's a lot of noise around them, but they are actually literally just a handful of nutters.  Ignoring them and denying them air time is, I think, the best policy.

 

I think this is true for pretty much all things the media reports on that the public winds up outraged about. Things like the shooting in Connecticut and the other school killings - by talking about them for weeks on end, the killers wind up being glorified. It's easy to remember their names but can you name a victim of Columbine without looking them up? While this certainly isn't the only factor involved, I do feel like giving them this much attention only confirms for anyone else thinking of going out in a similar blaze that it will, in fact, work.

[Allamorph]

Petie's observations are very much on target.
 

Ignoring them and denying them air time is, I think, the best policy.

Which is typically what we do with internet trolls as well. Edited January 5, 2013 by Allamorph

[Inuyasha Fandom]

I guess it really is better to just ignore them, now that I've read all this and have more information than I knew previously.  I'm in total agreement that they should be ignored.

 

EDIT: I find it funny that while in my readings, several people from a certain city claim they saw the Mayor of the city himself strangely close to their vehicles before all the tires were mysteriously slashed lol

Edited January 5, 2013 by Inuyasha Fandom