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!
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.
I was ignoring him. What do mean us, white man?
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 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.
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.
And, yet, here you are! 
Damn you! And I had on my camo jacket.
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.
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.
Don’t be so sure.
Not even there if he doesn’t read this board.
Who finances this prick and his troop of idiots?
Did they ever follow through on the Heath Ledger picket? Or do they just like to issue press releases for the hell of it?
The troop of idiots, naturally.
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.
Yes, they did, but not very impressively:
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.
Most famous “block the Phelps” act is the one portrayed in The Laramie Project- Romaine Patterson’s Angel Wings. (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.)
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”
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.
We can put a man on the moon but no one can figure out a way to pit Phelps against the Scientologists? Bummer.