Fred Phelps RIP - rest in pee

[megoscott]

My take on it is that I think he inadvertently caused a lot of people to change their minds about homosexuality. His message was so absurdly hateful and stupid, it made you choose a side and nobody wanted to be lumped in with those monsters. Kind of the way the water hoses and police dogs in the South helped people to support civil rights.

And once they branched out and started picketing soldier's funerals....I mean, c'mon, if you know anything about America it's that you won't get very far bashing the troops.

[Mikey]

Trying not to turn this thread into a religious discussion but I have to admit I had never heard of Calvinism until seeing stories about WBBC.

Their philosophy does make for some interesting reading if anything from an entertainment standpoint.

[torgospizza]

And once they branched out and started picketing soldier's funerals....I mean, c'mon, if you know anything about America it's that you won't get very far bashing the troops.

I'm not sure they were actually trying to gain any ground. It seems like there's plenty of evidence they were a family of lawyers that tried to goad people into acting against them, and then sued the individuals that attacked them or the municipalities that failed to protect them. In other words, it might be a mere racket. Once, I saw a You Tube video of one of their protests, and a car with college-age guys drove buy and chucked a glass bottle at them and hit an elementary school-aged kid in the head pretty hard. I think they count on people not thinking very deeply and just losing it and they're willing to put the safety of their own kids on the line to make a buck. A person's integrity and reputation should be worth more to them than that. Then again, maybe it's as simple as them being purely hate-driven and mental.

Trying not to turn this thread into a religious discussion but I have to admit I had never heard of Calvinism until seeing stories about WBBC.

I can't think of Calvinists without thinking of Solomon Kane.

[jwyblejr]

Someone should paint his tombstone pink.

Either that or rainbow colored.

[huedell]

My take on it is that I think he inadvertently caused a lot of people to change their minds about homosexuality. His message was so absurdly hateful and stupid, it made you choose a side and nobody wanted to be lumped in with those monsters. Kind of the way the water hoses and police dogs in the South helped people to support civil rights.

And once they branched out and started picketing soldier's funerals....I mean, c'mon, if you know anything about America it's that you won't get very far bashing the troops.

I agree with what you're saying. Makes sense.

I don't know if you know this, but, according tio them, they have no no interest in changing anybody's minds one way or the other.

Their only goal is to chastise.... with no expectations of results other than their belief that they are living up to "behaving correctly" by their chastising.

[PNGwynne]

I admit it, I'm glad he's gone. I hope the LGBT ignores his death and leaves him to the oblivion he deserves.

As for his "church", these family-based enclaves of "crazy" can subsist for some time in their own little pocket universes.

[Random Axe]

As the founder of a hate-mogering church filled with a few generations of ignorance and bigotry, he is solely responsible for whatever suffering came at their hands and words. A hate filled and destructive life absolutely deserves reciprocated hate. I don't care about being the bigger person or doing/saying the right thing. He could have kept his views and lifestyle to himself instead of indoctrinating children but instead chose to ensure his specific brand of bigotry lived on for many more years. I kinda hope he suffered in his last days.

[huedell]

As the founder of a hate-mogering church filled with a few generations of ignorance and bigotry, he is solely responsible for whatever suffering came at their hands and words. A hate filled and destructive life absolutely deserves reciprocated hate. I don't care about being the bigger person or doing/saying the right thing. He could have kept his views and lifestyle to himself instead of indoctrinating children but instead chose to ensure his specific brand of bigotry lived on for many more years. I kinda hope he suffered in his last days.

Switch a few words around, and your quote IS Fred Phelps. I'd actually diagram sentiment, but since politics and religion are verboten here, and the only way to show my point would be to put my rewrite in a "Phelpy" Christian context (mixed with a self-righteous bent to justify a "back or white" opinion), I won't do it.

Now, I will (humbly) admit I'm just as guilty of falling into similar philosophical traps, but I still (with a LOT of humility) contend that mongering of Phelps' kind of is harmless compared to other political and religious movements throughout time... like I said earlier, heck, even a small-time female murderer in her 20s seems to me to be much more accomplished in "evil".

It's just my opinion, sure, but dang, give me a ring when someone kills in Phelps' name, and I'll change my tune.

As annoying as Phelps and his clan are---that's all they've ever been: "annoying".

[Random Axe]

Ask any of the families and children of our dead, heroic soldiers if they thought they were "annoying" during their funeral processions.

Of course there are far more evil people and way worse things that happen in this world. Child molesters, the Klan, terrorism are all things we as a society comdemn and will always be met with strong resistance, often anger and yes, hatred. I am very judgemental when it comes to this stuff, probably a character flaw. My opinion is of no more value than yours or anyone's, I just happen to have a strong one. This entire plane of existence is now a little less evil than it was before.

[johnmiic]

Timothy Phelps told CNN that the Westbozo Baptist Church will sue funeral protesters of Fred Phelps.

Wow.

I would be more worried about his gravesite becoming a huge urination basin if I were them.

[jwyblejr]

Geez. Those dips hid behind the First Amendment every time they held their protests. Now these hypocrites pull this garbage.

[huedell]

Ask any of the families and children of our dead, heroic soldiers if they thought they were "annoying" during their funeral processions.

Of course there are far more evil people and way worse things that happen in this world. Child molesters, the Klan, terrorism are all things we as a society comdemn and will always be met with strong resistance, often anger and yes, hatred. I am very judgemental when it comes to this stuff, probably a character flaw. My opinion is of no more value than yours or anyone's, I just happen to have a strong one. This entire plane of existence is now a little less evil than it was before.

I agree entirely.

Despite my "Devil's advocate-ish" slant with my take on these WBC guys and their context in "my personal opinion of the world's evils, and how most seem to interpret what WBC contributes as (let's just say) "a higher value given to evil's bang for it's buck/pound for pound evil" higher than I do, I still tag 'em as "evil" no doubt.

The Nolan Batman movies were hit and miss with me , but had some great moments, and some great lines... Alfred's "diamond poacher" story was super-cool profound to me as far as definitive evil ("evil" being personified as people who just enjoy "watching the world burn"). This is applicable to the WBC in that, they are doing stuff in the name of (let's keep it on the surface in this Mego Museum forum---God) stuff, the WBC do it in that "name" without actually trying to accomplish anything, other than chastising. in other words, they do it to watch people "burn".... not so that people "learn a lesson" Metaphorically. Right?

The WBC openly admit that they are not trying t6o change anybody's minds. There's something doubly evil to me about that, because my divining point for good/evil is to never cause anyone any pain unless you are backed into a "no other option" scenario. So, not only do they violate that particular "rule" I have, but they say they don't care if it changes peoples minds. THAT is "evil" to me, no doubt.

Yeah, they don't murder, and they don't have others conspire to do it... but they are pretty nasty evil all the same.

At first I was surprised reading that they are looking to sue those who picketed Phelps' funeral, because I thought it was hypocritically outlandish at first thought... but then, although I continue to think the WBC are monumental bad people, I still see the consistency there... they think they are "right" and everyone else is wrong.... so they'll "burn this planet" in the name of you-know-who, and that means junking up our court systems yet again with more of their malarkey.

The first amendment meant everything to them and now it will mean nothing. Not because they are hypocrites, but because their "fire" has changed. It's going from "heroic soldiers" to "Fred Phelps" and that translates to going analogously from "finding every way possible to championing the First Amendment" to "finding every way possible to depower the First Amendment". So, it's: "Same attitude, different fire." so to speak.

These people are the oddest terrorists out there... ones who are so full of "lawyer-ese" that they continue to terrorize without any lasting damage. If they break the law in some way, they either find a way around it, or they bow out and find some other legal way to wreak havoc. That's "irony" at it's best, and that's why I find the WBC fascinating. Evil, and repugnant, yes. But fascinating nonetheless.

it makes me wonder what would happen if one of their own "stepped over the line" and really broke the law big-time... how would their organization be affected?

Over the years I've had many theories on the WBC's modus operandus, and one of those theories was that Fred basically contorted his main family bunch to indoctrinate as many people as possible...NOT for the stuff he CLAIMS his church stands for and works for (i.e. the mouthpiece of you-know-who), but REALLY so that Fred could wield that power that's usually only accessible to governments and other larger entities (like a certain one located in Rome) fueled with income from court settlements, media paydays, etc.

If my theory is correct, then that means that the WBC should die out fairly quickly.

As it stands, over the years, they've steadily LOST more members than they've gained. If my theory's correct, with Phelps dead, they'd need someone EQUALLY DECEPTIVELY manipulative to take his place. Without the illusion that their maliciousness is for "the man upstairs" firmly in place, it'll become more apparent that their malicious actions were (covertly) more about the WBC's power-seeking. My theory is that that very revelation will dissolve the majority of what's left of the WBC, now that Fred is dead, and not able to maintain that illusion. Just a theory.