# Phred to Protest at funeral of Mormon leader **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548 "2008-01-30T04:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/21 "2008-01-30T20:44:19Z")
Fred thanks you for yet another thread giving him the attention he’s looking for. Be sure to post another one next week when he announces protesting someone else! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/22 "2008-01-31T00:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I like **Ponder Stibbons’** idea better. Hooh-boy fun! 🙂 [/QUOTE] Phelps would love it; it would play directly into his hands. For that matter, the SDMB plays into his hands too; it’s one of Phelps’s most valuable Net resources. He wants attention, and he gets it here every time he burps. He doesn’t care if the attention is positive or negative (it’s all negative, anyway.) He just wants it, and we give it to him, so he wins. Congratulations, guys. Something for us to be proud of. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/23 "2008-01-31T00:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] Phelps would love it; it would play directly into his hands. For that matter, the SDMB plays into his hands too; it’s one of Phelps’s most valuable Net resources. He wants attention, and he gets it here every time he burps. He doesn’t care if the attention is positive or negative (it’s all negative, anyway.) He just wants it, and we give it to him, so he wins. Congratulations, guys. Something for us to be proud of. [/QUOTE] I was ignoring him. What do mean us, white man? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/24 "2008-01-31T00:23:48Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] I think that the mistake you’re making here is that old Phreddo is working on some sort of system of logic that most reasonable people can understand. You have to crawl before you can walk, my friend. Start out with something a bit simpler. “If it weren’t for that horse, I never would have spent that year in college.” [/QUOTE] He absolutely has his own logic, though: god hates _everyone_ that doesn’t strictly follow the Phelps-style reading of the bible. Ergo: God hates fags and anyone who doesn’t preach that message. God hates America, because patriotism is idolatry. God is a pretty hateful creature, according to Phelps. I recommend [this](http://www.altweeklies.com/alternative/AltWeeklies/Story?oid=oid%3A145872) article that ran a few years ago in a local paper, in anticipation of a Phelps visit to our lovely mountain town. FWIW, they are often no-shows, and even more frequently their protests consist of a couple people standing on the sidewalk holding signs. Obviously, that doesn’t make it okay, but it’s a lot easier to just ignore the crazies if they’re there in small numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/25 "2008-01-31T00:24:44Z")
Phred, baby, _BIG LOVE_ isn’t about what you think it is, and those aren’t real Mormons anyway. That said, some of those 20 year old boys on bikes could make anybody go gay, so Phred has a point. HIJACK, but did anybody see Glenn Beck the other night when he was crying over the death of Gordon Hinkley (who he admitted he never met)? I thought it was a bit O.T.T. even for Beck considering Hinkley was 97 years old and (though I know Beck is Mormon) a complete stranger. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/26 "2008-01-31T00:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] I was ignoring him. [/QUOTE] And, yet, here you are! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/27 "2008-01-31T00:37:24Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] And, yet, here you are! 😉 [/QUOTE] Damn you! And I had on my camo jacket. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/28 "2008-01-31T00:44:53Z")
Just a theory: does anybody else think it’s coincidence that Phred only became nationally prominent _after_ Andy Kaufman supposedly died? Because WBC has “Masturbatory Performance Artist Troupe” written all over it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/29 "2008-01-31T00:50:47Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] For a long time I’ve secretly hoped that someone, prehaps with end-stage AIDS with nothing to lose, would off the whole family. Of course there’s the risk of turning them into martyrs, but at least we’d be rid of those scum. “Not that murdering them would be right.” 😉 [/QUOTE] Martyrs for **who**? There’s nobody out there this loony. And somehow I doubt Fred reads this board, so any “pleasure” he gets from us discussing him is completely in his what-passes-for-a-mind, and therefore completely illusory. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/30 "2008-01-31T01:18:28Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Martyrs for **who**? There’s nobody out there this loony. [/quote] Don’t be so sure. [QUOTE=silenus] And somehow I doubt Fred reads this board, so any “pleasure” he gets from us discussing him is completely in his what-passes-for-a-mind, and therefore completely illusory. [/QUOTE] 😕 Not even there if he doesn’t read this board. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/31 "2008-01-31T16:59:06Z")
Who finances this prick and his troop of idiots? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/32 "2008-01-31T17:08:33Z")
Did they ever follow through on the Heath Ledger picket? Or do they just like to issue press releases for the hell of it? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/33 "2008-01-31T17:30:11Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Who finances this prick and his troop of idiots? [/QUOTE] The troop of idiots, naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/34 "2008-02-04T18:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Can’t we block them up in their lair or something? [/QUOTE] If you feed them plenty of meat and bread, and deny them regular servings of fiber, that’ll block them up no matter where they are. Alright, I confess. This is just a bump so I can ask if the Phelps clan actually showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/35 "2008-02-04T19:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] This is just a bump so I can ask if the Phelps clan actually showed up. [/QUOTE] [Yes, they did](http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695249809,00.html), but not very impressively: > [@](#): > > Instead of Fred Phelps, four Westboro members comprised the church’s showing at a city-permitted protest zone on the southwest corner of State Street and North Temple Saturday morning. > > “We don’t want to be in their faces,” said Westboro member Rachel Hockenbarger. > > She brought along her son, Stephen, 11, brother-in-law David Hockenbarger, 17, and Sara Phelps, who stood on top of an American flag next to a curb while she sang hymns. It’s estimated there are between 70 and 100 Westboro members. > > All four of Saturday’s protesters held up signs, usually one in each hand, that provoked passersby to protest right back with honks, hand gestures and shouts like, “Go home, you’re evil.” ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/36 "2008-02-04T19:31:38Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] [Yes, they did](http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695249809,00.html), but not very impressively: [/QUOTE] According to the local paper, there were also four at Ms. Lauterbach’s funeral, again not including Fred. They were greeted by some hundred counter-demonstrators, and left shortly before the funeral actually began. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/37 "2008-02-04T20:01:49Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Can’t we block them up in their lair or something? [/QUOTE] Most famous “block the Phelps” act is the one portrayed in _The Laramie Project_- [Romaine](http://eatromaine.com/) [Patterson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaine_Patterson)’s [Angel Wings](http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/snaps/20050423wings2.jpg). (She and friends wore huge “wings” that they raised when the Shepard funeral procession passed by to block out the signs and sights of Clan Phelps.) ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/38 "2008-02-04T23:32:01Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] Did they ever follow through on the Heath Ledger picket? Or do they just like to issue press releases for the hell of it? [/QUOTE] They couldn’t find his funeral (see the other thread on the subject). But also yes to your second question. It’s not an “or” with them, though. It’s an “and” ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/39 "2008-02-04T23:45:39Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Who finances this prick and his troop of idiots? [/QUOTE] Outraged people who lose their temper and haul off and assault church members while they’re standing on the corner; then the Phelps organization sues them, sues the police department/jurisdiction where there happened, etc. And wins – or settles, most often. The church membership is all extended members of the Phelps clan; they’re sort of like the Travelers that way. That’s what this is all about – litigation and getting publicity. Which is why if everybody ignored them they’d go out of business. Yeah, sounds counterintuitive, I know, but that’s the way to go. It’s not as satisfying as hitting 'em but better for business. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548/40 "2008-02-05T00:00:02Z")
We can put a man on the moon but no one can figure out a way to pit Phelps against the Scientologists? Bummer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phred-to-protest-at-funeral-of-mormon-leader/435548.md?page=3)