coming to a school near you

[sahirrnee]

Oh I'm HOT!!!!! HOT!!!!! HOT!!!!!!! HOT!!!!!!!
and its not the unseasonably warm weather


Today my son comes home from school and informs me that a certain unnamed group of vitriol spewing brain dead nutcases, who think they have a direct hot line to their own personal hate filled spook in the sky, are holding a protest by his school. what the fuck!!!!! Funerals aren't a low enough target, now you are picketing schools!! Do you think - well obviously not how could you when there couldn't be more than 10 brains cells between you - that kids are an appropriate audience? Have all the fucking free speech you want and assemble your stinky skanky herd of mouth breathing shit spewers all you want but fucking leave kids alone. You scheduled your fucking hate fest just when school lets out so the kids will have to walk past you and nobody should have to suffer you on the same planet let alone the same block. You will be closing roads and tying up traffic and for what? Nobody but NOBODY wants to hear your shit!!!! The school doesn't want you here, the kids don't want you here, the parents don't want you here and I sure as fuck don't want you anywhere near my son. Don't your bellies get raw from all the slithering? Or have you built up callouses? If I was your own special spook in the sky I'd strike you all down because you'd be an fucking embarrassment to me. If you are the best he could come up then he must be nothing more than a big lump of impotent cow pies . If there is a hell you belong roasting in the deepest pit, with a skewer shoved so far up your ass that your shit will be scraped off on your teeth, rotating until your skin melts and your eyeballs pop.

[Really Not All That Bright]

I assume you're talking about Westboro Baptist Church, given the reference to funerals, but it would be helpful if you spent less time typing "fuck" and more time offering context.

[Sampiro]

Westboro announces plans to protest about 10 times more places than they actually protest. They're really losing their sparkle.

[Inner Stickler]

Now I'm imagining bedazzled god hates fags signs. They're pretty, but hurtful.

[Blake]

Have all the fucking free speech you want and assemble your stinky skanky herd of mouth breathing shit spewers all you want but fucking leave kids alone.


I find your naivete charming.

It's like you actually believe that your child isn't getting bombarded with a zillion messages every day on moral/ethical/religious issues. Either that, or you believe that free speech directed at children is fine, sol long as the speakers agree with you.

Either way, it's charming. You are certainly the type of person who should be raising a child.

[Blake]

Now I'm imagining bedazzled god hates fags signs. They're pretty, but hurtful.

They're more than pretty. They're faaaabulous.

[sahirrnee]

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to actually name them. Now I know. Yes they are coming, already heard from the school, police will be there, roads will be closed. It's not the first time they have done a school in this area. I am well aware that my son sees all kinds messages on religious, moral and ethical issues. I hear his opinion on them everyday. However, for a hate group to specifically target a school is fucked up.

[Eliahna]

Get your own sign and protest their protest.

[Blake]

However, for a hate group to specifically target a school is fucked up.

You do realise that they agree with that statement, right?

[Dag Otto]

I assume you're talking about Westboro Baptist Church, given the reference to funerals, but it would be helpful if you spent less time typing "fuck" and more time offering context.

Fuck that. This is the mother fucking pit. And the motherfucking pit.


Shouldn't we be at the point where a Westboro protest become like the Rocky Horror Picture Show? They protest, and 10 times the number of people show up and make a mockery of their protest?

"Hey, you're protesting? In public? Here, let us join you! You don't mind if we bring this goat, do you?"

[elbows]

Any chance you'll get round to eventually telling us why they are protesting your son's school?

I mean, I know you're 'hot' and all. And they hardly need a reason, Lord knows.

But what, exactly, will they be protesting at this school? Free condoms? Gay teachers?

If you want us on board with you, give us some info to go on, damn it!

[Dung Beetle]

Come on, y’all. sahirrnee is brand new and I think that’s a very nice Pitting, especially the last sentence. So...visual. :D

[Frank]

Yes they are coming, ...
The past few years, they've begun to announce that they're going to protest at just about everything, and then don't show up.

If I were you, I'd assume the school is being trolled.

[Latro]

If there is a hell you belong roasting in the deepest pit, with a skewer shoved so far up your ass that your shit will be scraped off on your teeth, rotating until your skin melts and your eyeballs pop.

Uhmm.. if there indeed is a hell...uhm wouldn't that mean that they had it right all along?

[Boyo Jim]

Uhmm.. if there indeed is a hell...uhm wouldn't that mean that they had it right all along?

Not necessarily. There would also be the issue of who would be sent there.

[Cat Whisperer]

It just occurred to me that the incorrect use of scare quotes changes the whole meaning of their name - The Westboro "Baptist" "Church." :)

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

It just occurred to me that the incorrect use of scare quotes changes the whole meaning of their name - The Westboro "Baptist" "Church." :)

Westboro "Baptist" Church sounds like they drown the heathens.

[wellanuff]

It shouldn't be too hard for reasonably intelligent, motivated, and creative school administrators, faculty, and parents to turn such an event into an excellent learning opportunity about free speech rights, hate speech, right to protest, freedom to ignore protests, etc., at a level that is age appropriate for your school.

I mean, it sucks to have your kid have to see some adult shrieking "God hates fags" or whatever bile they come up with, but they can learn a lot about our rights as Americans and the proper use and abuse of those rights. The kids, I mean. The protestors are probably a lost cause.

Just seeing adults the kids know and trust exhibit calm scorn and disdain for such foaming, rabid vileness would be a good thing, I would think.

[purplehorseshoe]

.. <snip>... Shouldn't we be at the point where a Westboro protest become like the Rocky Horror Picture Show? They protest, and 10 times the number of people show up and make a mockery of their protest?

"Hey, you're protesting? In public? Here, let us join you! You don't mind if we bring this goat, do you?"

I wholeheartedly support this idea and, although I cannot at the moment supply either a goat or a bedazzler, I can provide toast.

What costumes should we wear?

[Really Not All That Bright]

God Hates Phelps.

[Vinyl Turnip]

I find your naivete charming.

It's like you actually believe that your child isn't getting bombarded with a zillion messages every day on moral/ethical/religious issues. Either that, or you believe that free speech directed at children is fine, sol long as the speakers agree with you.

Either way, it's charming. You are certainly the type of person who should be raising a child.

Fascinating. Pitting the Phelps clan is a traditional crowd-pleaser on this board---low-hanging fruit, maybe, but a sure thing, nonetheless---and yet the OP not only gets heckled, she has you (out of nowhere) questioning her ability to be a parent?

What crawled up your ass and died, and is there any chance we could talk to it from now on instead?

[Vita Beata]

Fascinating. Pitting the Phelps clan is a traditional crowd-pleaser on this board---low-hanging fruit, maybe, but a sure thing, nonetheless---and yet the OP not only gets heckled, she has you (out of nowhere) questioning her ability to be a parent?

What crawled up your ass and died, and is there any chance we could talk to it from now on instead?

It's posts like these that keep me reading here. :D

[Buck Godot]

It shouldn't be too hard for reasonably intelligent, motivated, and creative school administrators, faculty, and parents to turn such an event into an excellent learning opportunity about free speech rights, hate speech, right to protest, freedom to ignore protests, etc., at a level that is age appropriate for your school.


Now Timmy, see the protestor there? Notice the crazed eyes, the bulging veins on his forehead, the clump of spittle oozing down his chin down his chin, the incoherant ramblings? This is what happens if you accept a belief without proof or any form of critical thinking. You don't wont to grow up to be like him do you? That is why you should stay in school.

[Lasciel]

Fascinating. Pitting the Phelps clan is a traditional crowd-pleaser on this board---low-hanging fruit, maybe, but a sure thing, nonetheless---and yet the OP not only gets heckled, she has you (out of nowhere) questioning her ability to be a parent?

What crawled up your ass and died, and is there any chance we could talk to it from now on instead?

Now Timmy, see the protestor there? Notice the crazed eyes, the bulging veins on his forehead, the clump of spittle oozing down his chin down his chin, the incoherant ramblings? This is what happens if you accept a belief without proof or any form of critical thinking. You don't wont to grow up to be like him do you? That is why you should stay in school.

This is why I love the Pit.

[Lacunae Matata]

These poor excuses for humans protested recently outside a school in Chatham County, Georgia (Savannah.) The counter-protest was a beautiful sight: soldiers and cops and students and old folks, civic leaders and bikers, housewives and granddads and drag queens, all united to drown out the stoopit. In a weird way, it was a beautiful lesson in free speech and the value of standing up for civil liberty. My former stepson's take: "You can't outlaw stupidity, you can either ignore it or drown it out." Pretty good life lesson.

[Cat Whisperer]

If you outlaw stupidity, then only outlaws will be stupid.

I think that's how that goes.

[Lemur866]

I find that lots of people have no idea what the Westboro Baptist Church really is. It's Fred Phelps, his children (the ones he hasn't disowned), and his grandchildren. That's it. Remember how they used to picket the gays? Well, Fred found out that when you're picketing people, and they hate you, it bonds the group together. The more they hate the picketers, the closer the picketers get to each other.

But just hating gays isn't enough. After all, there are plenty of other churches that hate gays. It's not enough to isolate your family from the fags, the goal is to isolate them from every human contact on the planet. And so you start picketing soldier's funerals. Because that makes everyone hate you, and that's the point. You don't want these kids to associate with people in other right-wing churches, do you? They need to be under your total control. Every human kindness they have ever seen came from another member of the WBC, and every person they've ever seen from outside the WBC hates them. And that's the point. How can the grandchildren leave the church if they have no friends and no human contact outside the church?

[bup]

If you outlaw stupidity, then only outlaws will be stupid.I LOVE that!

[gamerunknown]

How can the grandchildren leave the church if they have no friends and no human contact outside the church?

When an incredibly sexy (http://wakeywakeynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/louis-theroux.jpg) documentary maker comes traipsing in and they feel something funny in their nether regions they'll begin to seek outside contact. At least that's the impression I got from the two women that left the Church in the second documentary with Louis.

[Katriona]

This was an interesting article: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/19/3275645/megan-phelps-roper-an-heir-to.html#storylink=misearch

[pikey pete]

Phuck Phred

[YWalker]

The Phelps clan are the personification of impotence.

A little over a year ago, they sent a small contingent to protest at Elizabeth Edwards' funeral. I joined up with a group called Line of Love that formed on Facebook that planned to block the mourners from seeing the protesters.

As it turned out, the Raleigh police department already did a very good job of protecting the mourners. They gave the Phelps crew a permit to protest on the next block over from the church and cordoned off a small area for them on the far end of the block. It was a relatively long block, so it wasn't really visible from the church. If you planned your route to the church well, you wouldn't see them at all.

IIRC, there were two adult protesters and 2 kids. They also had their own 2 photographers that stayed in the corral with them to document their attention whoring. They had a number of different signs, and normally held up two at a time. In addition to "Elizabeth Edwards in Hell" and "God Loves Cancer," they had one with an image of Santa Claus buggering a little boy. The woman started singing a song to the tune of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," ending with the line "Santa Claus will take you to Hell." That was a sweet touch, especially since they were right in front of another church which had children lined up around the block waiting to get in for a Christmas gift distribution.

Their whole schtick was designed to push buttons. They were dragging an American flag on the ground (in the rain), and then had the two kids ball it up into a makeshift soccer ball and kick it around to one another.

But, all in all, they were just a couple of pathetic losers who were abusing those kids by dragging them into their crap. By corralling them off behind the police barricades (and keeping all other counter protesters on the other side of the street), the police made it possible for us to observe them like animals in the zoo. All they had was the ability to hold up nasty signs and shout out offensive statements.

We give them far more power than they deserve by paying attention to them. I wish the media would band together and choose not to publicize their events. They really are just a couple of pathetic losers spewing hatred. If we refuse the attention whores the attention they feed on, maybe they will eventually starve and go away.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

My favorite response to the Phelpses (http://phelps-a-thon.com/): the Phelps-a-thon. The ideal, IMO, is for the counter-protest to consist of one unflappably cheerful person with a big "Phelps-a-thon" sign with the url and a short message (maybe, "help the Phelps clan raise money for civil rights--whether they like it or not!"), and a stack of fliers to encourage everyone else to stay away from the counter-protest and instead to join the phelps-a-thon.

Big counter-protests encourage them the same way that massive outraged threads encourage Internet trolls. They love seeing how angry they can make everyone. It makes them feel important.

Instead, make the counterprotest small, funny, and for a good cause--and let them hold up their stupid signs for themselves to see.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Personally, I think the most effective small protest would be a couple of small signs that say, "Fred Phelps loves the cock".

[Ludovic]

But in order to not offend any sensibilities, it would have to have a picture of a chicken. In bed with Phelps.

[Really Not All That Bright]

It'd have to be a rooster.