I’m not sure where to put this: things about the Phelps usually end up in the pit but I’m not pitting anything, and I don’t have anything to debate or ask, but on the other hand I’m not sure this is Mundane or Pointless.
Anyway, found this story, apparently a leader for an upcoming BBC documentary, on the Phelps. It’s a bit short but quite fascinating.
If they limited themselves to picketing anything other than funerals, I could probably ignore them - or pity them. As it is - I can honestly say I hate them, and I very seldom use the word “hate”. If someone offends me, or irritates me, I just try to erase them from my world. If I use the word “hate” it means I would happily see the person/persons I have directed that word to dead. Painfully, slowly and painfuly, dead.
I don’t like feeling that way. Other that the P clan there is only one living human person I hate.
I feel sorry for the younger ones, and hope there is some chance for them to have a normal life. “11 children”? Guess she’s busy breeding the next generation of P-clan.
It would be interesting to see that documentary. I wish there was a way I could get a tape of it.
Being as I live in Topeka I see and hear a lot about them. Back in the early 90’s we did a lot of counter-picketing against them, and part of my email address speaks to that. The first three letters, “chw” stand for the words “crop headed whore”. It’s what Fred used to call us counterpicketing women who cut their hair.
A film student at the University of Kansas made a documentary title “Fall From Grace”. It was shown here at the public library, and also got several recent showings in Austin, Texas at a music/film festival, South by Southwest. An amazing work, if you ever get a chance to see it please watch.
Princhester, if you see the BBC show let us know what you think, will you?
Type in the following into Google or some other search engine.
Addicted to Hate: The Fred Phelps Story
The title sounds like a crappy dime-store novel doesn’t it? After reading through the article, however, hating Phelps just wasn’t worth the effort; instead it left me with pity for him and his family–they’ve totally wasted their lives pursuing a lie
Think for a second: what will happen when a gay child is born into their sect? What will happen when that child is old enough to understand what he is?
I’ve always viewed the Phelps as being the real life equivalent of an Internet troll, and therefore not really worth all the attention they get. It’s pretty easy to see that they love the publicity and drama their over-the-top antics generate. Why keep feeding into their desire for attention?
Yes, of course I think their behavior is horrible (and I’m sure that if I died in some news-worthy way, they would be picketing my funeral to announce that I too am some sort of fag-loving whore that is going to hell). I just don’t think the incoherent ranting of some crazy old man who has absolutely no political power and alienates almost everyone he meets really poses a threat. There are legitimate threats from religious extremists out there, but this craziness isn’t even worth taking seriously.
I don’t take them seriously - I think they are idiots. But the way they have chosen to proclaim their idiocy bothers me. I would probably in up in jail if these wahoos showed up at the funeral of someone I loved. These people are the extreme version of why I turned away from Christianity - they read the Bible and take only the hateful, spiteful bits, while rejecting what is good and loving.
I don’t think you appreciate just how scary the Phelpses can be in person. For example, Maya Angelou was so frightened by an encounter with the Phelpses that she cancelled a speaking engagement:
I believe that Ms Angelou said at the time that she would not return to Kansas. Doesn’t need very many events like that and your state is getting a pretty bad rep for people planning business conventions, to take just one example.
I think they really jumped the shark when they picketed the funeral of Fred Rogers. That’s righ, Mister-freaking-Rogers.
Of course, given that Rogers was a much beloved person here in his native Pittsburgh, they had plenty of counter protestors, including, I’m told, several former and current Pittsburgh Steelers, surrounding them and singing songs from Mister Rogers’s Neighborhood.