# Weirddave **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 9, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221 "2003-05-09T23:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ben\_Hicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Ben\_Hicks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Hicks)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/1 "2003-05-09T23:03:42Z")
In [This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=182744) thread you say while others hypothesise about whether or not Fred Phelps has cancer: > [@](#): > > Yea, I hope it’s [Fred Phelp’s Cancer] slow and extremely painful. > > I know, I know, that makes me a bad man. > I can live with it. Speaking on behalf of those whose lives have been touched by this horrid disease (and as someone who’s sister died of cervical cancer) I don’t think it is right to wish cancer on anyone, even Fred Phelps. That goes for all people who routinely use this as an epithet. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/2 "2003-05-09T23:10:28Z")
It must not just be rutting season, but also “wishing cancer on bad people” season too. Ahh the joys of spring. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/3 "2003-05-09T23:16:22Z")
Well, as a physician who has seen a ton of nasty cancers, and who now works in a maximum-security prison where occasionally I observe murderers and child rapists dying slowly from said cancers I must say I would not wish it on anyone. I treat the patients to the best of my abilities and never withhold pain medications. But if these cancers have to happen to _someone_, then perhaps some sort of higher cosmic justice is served when the disease happens to the likes of some of these characters. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/4 "2003-05-09T23:34:14Z")
I agree with the OP. Bad form, Dave. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/5 "2003-05-09T23:38:10Z")
Whee! Shades of Pat Robertson’s prostate! Maybe we can get Mykeru back for a special encore appearance. My response to Fred’s cancer is precisely the same as it was for Pat Robertson’s… I wouldn’t wish it on him, _per se_, but if he expires from it, don’t expect to see tears coursing down my face. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/6 "2003-05-09T23:47:30Z")
Ok, I’m not a real fan of the ‘let me verbalize some truly terrible fate for someone I scorn’ genre, so I’d not be posting stuff like “may you get cancer of the genitals” sort of thing in the first place. and certainly Ole’ Fred deserves our scorn quite nicely. however. I don’t recall any pit threads started for the toomanytocount posts whenever there’s some crime that hits the airwaves, from Elizabeth Smart to folks who hurt cute puppies. what’s the difference, please? (especially those comments that gloat about other prisoners raping and beating on the person). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/7 "2003-05-09T23:52:38Z")
It’s my opinion that the world would be a much better place without Phelps. Cancer or heart attack, dead or alone in a room somewhere…I don’t care. I just want him gone. If it’s a choice between cancer for Fred or status quo, I’d choose the cancer. If I had the ability to give someone cancer, I guess I wouldn’t give it to him but I wouldn’t go out of my way to save his sorry ass either. Haj ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/8 "2003-05-09T23:54:47Z")
He says he can live with it – well, I hope he doesn’t. Such an attitude is worthy of correction. > [@](#): > > \*\*Maybe we can get Mykeru back for a special encore appearance. \*\* Oh, God… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/9 "2003-05-09T23:59:16Z")
While I think it was over the top, I too would not shed a tear when Phelps dies. And I have a feeling his family won’t, either. I feel REALLY sorry for them-even the picketers. He’s a monster. ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/10 "2003-05-10T00:01:30Z")
While I wouldn’t want to dimish from the very real plight faced by those with cancer and their loved ones, I think the line does need to be drawn somewhere. **WeirdDave** ’s words, quoted in the OP, do not seem to be handed out partiularly lightly, nor are they an attack on any people with cancer in general. If somebody I knew died in a plane crash, I would like to think I wouldn’t take offense at somebody who said something like “I hope Fred Phelps dies in a plane crash”. I could be wrong however. Without any personal experience to parallel that of **Ben Hicks** , I don’t particularly wish to pass judgement on his motives. However, at the moment, in my opinion, it doesn’t seem like anything to be particularly offended about. Just my $0.02 _Disclaimer_: I too would not be particularly upset if some terrible fate befell Mr. Phelps. He seems like a waste of perfectly good carbon. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/11 "2003-05-10T00:05:07Z")
Hmmm. Yup, I’m a bad person, too. I wouldn’t much mind knowing Phelps was dying slowly and in horrible pain. It’s bad form, I know it. I’m over it. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/12 "2003-05-10T00:07:07Z")
Nice OP, but completely misleading and wrong. If you had bothered to post the entire thing, in context, you would have seen that Baker said: > [@](#): > > it’s been a long time since Phred himself was doing much picketing. He appears to be ill, although the reports of what is wrong with him vary. Strongest rumor is cancer. Which I quoted and responded as above: > [@](#): > > Yea, I hope it’s slow and extremely painful. Nowhere did I “wish cancer” on the man. I said that if he had it, I hoped it was a slow, painful death. Phelps has done nothing but spread hate, fear and pain during his entire tenure as pastor of WBC. I feel no qualms about wanting some of that to come back on him. I would feel the same about Stalin, Hitler, Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. If it makes me a “bad man” because I can’t find it in my heart to be magnanimous toward such evil men, then so be it. I’m not losing sleep over it. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/13 "2003-05-10T00:08:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TeleTronOne \* > **If somebody I knew died in a plane crash, I would like to think I wouldn’t take offense at somebody who said something like “I hope Fred Phelps dies in a plane crash”.** I _hope_ I die in a plane crash at 85, rather than slowly die of cancer at age 49, like some of my relatives. See the difference? ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/14 "2003-05-10T00:14:58Z")
What Dave did not post is that his biological and adoptive mothers both had breast cancer, his biological father died of skin cancer, and my favourite aunt just lost her long and painful struggle with a cancer so vicious that it began in her cervix and ended in her brain. Good people do not deserve the suffering they have endured. Perhaps it would be better served to someone as horrid as Phelps. I don’t speak for him. This is only my interpretation. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/15 "2003-05-10T00:20:51Z")
Why the hell is there a Pit thread about a remark made in another Pit thread? If you have a problem in a Pit thread there’s no reason to start a new thread–_it’s already in the Pit!_ ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/16 "2003-05-10T00:23:42Z")
Can someone please tell me who the heck Fred Phelps is? Really - I have no clue - I’m assuming if **WD** is hoping that he has a slow and painful death, he must be pretty bad, but please - enlighten me. Is he a serial murderer or something? ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/17 "2003-05-10T00:27:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Why the hell is there a Pit thread about a remark made in another Pit thread? If you have a problem in a Pit thread there’s no reason to start a new thread–_it’s already in the Pit!_ \*\* Quiet, you, before i take it to the Pit!!!😃 ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/18 "2003-05-10T00:27:58Z")
OK - I just saw the other thread. Right. Hates gays. Got it. Well, the man is clearly an ignorant shithead whose political views make me want to puke up my Cherios. That being said, I still think wishing a slow and painful death on anyone is over the top. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Hicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Ben\_Hicks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Hicks)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/19 "2003-05-10T00:30:00Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Weirddave_ > Nowhere did I “wish cancer” on the man. I said that if he had it, I hoped it was a slow, painful death. In other words, you hoped he died from it. While you didn’t technically wish cancer on him, you did wish death by cancer which is just as bad IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221/20 "2003-05-10T00:31:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ben Hicks \* > \*\*In other words, you hoped he died from it. While you didn’t technically wish cancer on him, you did wish death by cancer which is just as bad IMO. \*\* We’ll, you’re certainly entitled to it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirddave/174221.md?page=2)