Westboro Funeral Pickets Are Protected Speech, High Court Rules

[Ptarmigan]

I suppose you're also free to stand outside a family reunion for a black family and scream the n-word.

Yes, you would be free to do that.

Though I suppose I might imagine the consequences of such actions.

That's a way to win a trip the ER.

[Boudicca]

That's a way to win a trip the ER.

Not to mention being excoriated high and low.  I have always thought if the media made half the fuss over the Phelps crazies as they did over Don Imus and that Seinfeld actor that sheer public opinion and loathing would've shut those ****ers the hell up.
Rest assured, if one of the dead victims happens to be black and the Phelps loonies scream about dead N being God's judgement, we won't have to listen to their shit any longer.

[thundley4]

Not to mention being excoriated high and low.  I have always thought if the media made half the fuss over the Phelps crazies as they did over Don Imus and that Seinfeld actor that sheer public opinion and loathing would've shut those ****ers the hell up.
Rest assured, if one of the dead victims happens to be black and the Phelps loonies scream about dead N being God's judgement, we won't have to listen to their shit any longer.

Are you implying that the MSM and the left only pay lip service to teh Gheys and don't really care about how the Westboro Cult talks about teh Gheys?

[Ptarmigan]

Are you implying that the MSM and the left only pay lip service to teh Gheys and don't really care about how the Westboro Cult talks about teh Gheys?

I get the sense that is what the MSM is doing. Interesting that the ACLU defends WBC, but not other Christian groups. Makes me think WBC has something to do with the left.

[Boudicca]

Are you implying that the MSM and the left only pay lip service to teh Gheys and don't really care about how the Westboro Cult talks about teh Gheys?

Well, teh Gheys might actually like it IF the MSM and left paid lip service to them.
But yeah, over and above any other group, it's gotta be the African American who remains the UBER oppressed group in the Dim coalition.  No one else can aspire to their special victim status.

[thundley4]

Well, teh Gheys might actually like it IF the MSM and left paid lip service to them.
But yeah, over and above any other group, it's gotta be the African American who remains the UBER oppressed group in the Dim coalition.  No one else can aspire to their special victim status.

And that is because they are a guaranteed voting bloc for the DemRats.

[MP_Sarge]

Not to mention being excoriated high and low.  I have always thought if the media made half the fuss over the Phelps crazies as they did over Don Imus and that Seinfeld actor that sheer public opinion and loathing would've shut those ****ers the hell up.
Rest assured, if one of the dead victims happens to be black and the Phelps loonies scream about dead N being God's judgement, we won't have to listen to their shit any longer.

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church protested outside of Coretta Scott King's funeral.
This was their portrayal of Topeka Mayor James McClinton [who is black]:


He's not condemned in the press because a reaction is what he wants.
The man and his entire family was thrown out of his former church.
Condemnation doesn't do anything.  You can't shame someone like Fred Phelps into silence.  Attention, even negative attention, is like gasoline on an open fire.  You ignore people like Phelps, which is what the media has wisely done.

[Boudicca]

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church protested outside of Coretta Scott King's funeral.
This was their portrayal of Topeka Mayor James McClinton [who is black]:


He's not condemned in the press because a reaction is what he wants.
The man and his entire family was thrown out of his former church.
Condemnation doesn't do anything.  You can't shame someone like Fred Phelps into silence.  Attention, even negative attention, is like gasoline on an open fire.  You ignore people like Phelps, which is what the media has wisely done.

The media has mostly ignored Phelps but it hasn't helped at all to curb his batshit crazy antics.  Maybe gasoline would help.

[MP_Sarge]

There are at least three, that I know of, documentaries on Phelps.
Google says there are 2,000+ news articles about the recent court ruling, alone.

[vesta111]

There are at least three, that I know of, documentaries on Phelps.
Google says there are 2,000+ news articles about the recent court ruling, alone.

Interesting from all sides.    Now does anyone know if the WBC protested outside the funeral if DR. Tillman??????

[Boudicca]

Interesting from all sides.    Now does anyone know if the WBC protested outside the funeral if DR. Tillman??????

I went and googled it.  Got sidetracked by the wikipedia entry for this lunatic, and boy he's nuttier than a bowl of peanuts on a bar counter.


Couldn't find any mention of him picketing Dr. Tillman's funeral, but he did protest, among others, Fred Rogers.


Link, followed by exerpt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps

Prominent examples include President Ronald Reagan, Princess Diana, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, National Football League star Reggie White, Sonny Bono, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, atheists, Muslims, murdered college student Matthew Shepard, the late children's television host Fred Rogers, the late Australian actor Heath Ledger, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, political commentator Bill O'Reilly, Jews,[57] Catholics, Swedes, the Irish and US soldiers killed in Iraq. He has also targeted the Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts, center of the David Parker controversy. In 2007 he stated that he would target the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral.[58]

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of Fred Phelps, has appeared on Fox News, defending the WBC and attacking homosexuality. She and her children have also appeared on the Howard Stern radio show to promote their agenda and church. However, every time they appear, they are the subjects of ridicule and taunting.

[Bertram]

I get the sense that is what the MSM is doing. Interesting that the ACLU defends WBC, but not other Christian groups. Makes me think WBC has something to do with the left.

Like half of Fred Phelps family are Lawyers. In there lies the problem.

[MP_Sarge]

Like half of Fred Phelps family are Lawyers. In there lies the problem.

In where?

[Bertram]

In where?

therein*
Meaning they know what they're doing legal wise,

[MP_Sarge]

Ooooh, therein makes so much more sense.

Silly me, I was trying to figure out what physical location "there" was referring to, in which lay the problem.

[The Sarge's hint for young college kids:  If you're going to adopt a condescending tone, try to do so with proper grammar.]