Freedom of Speech Sure is Great

Posted by Lionel Boyd Johnson.

The Westboro Baptist Church is coming to the Sacramento area for the next few days, making stops around Davis and Folsom. You might know them as the "God Hates Fags" people who picket at funerals of homosexuals or soldiers. They tend to be holding signs that say "Thank God for..." followed by 9/11, IEDs, dead soldiers, terrorists, whatever. As I learned recently, they also don't like Jews, Catholics, Protestants, pretty much anybody.

The focus of this trip seems to be to protest Judaism. Several Jewish groups (and many other groups) are contemplating how to stage a counter protest. To my knowledge, most groups have taken what I consider to be the wisest course of action: none. Attention seems to be exactly what these people want and it's not worth it to start a fight, especially when they're already classified as a hate group right alongside the Ku Klux Klan.

I've heard some interesting brainstorms about how to counter these pickets, and none of them have been anything but parody or satire. Some of my favorites have been to sell popcorn, or set up bleachers, or gay make-outs. Even so, here's why it's still a better idea to just stay out. (1) It's not one group against another group; it's one group against everybody. They're not out to convert people like some of the other religious fanatics, they're out to piss off as many people as they possibly can. Their website is GodHatesFags.com; there are no ideas they're sharing, just hate speech. (2) They bring their children to these. I'm not even going to go into how these people have shattered their childrens' lives before they were old enough to read, suffice it to say that they could get hurt. I've heard rumors of passer-bys throwing things and accidentally hitting the kids. Even without that, it couldn't help their development to see their parent(s) get into a screaming argument with a by-stander (any argument with people like these quickly becomes a screaming argument). (3) You don't have to. Everyone already thinks these people are crazy, and anyone who doesn't won't be convinced by you. That's why all the best ideas to counter protest have been ways to make fun of them. It's not about showing people how intolerant they are, it's about reducing their message to the crazy babble that it is.

Just the same, if you want to make a sign that says "Love thy neighbor," go for it and be sure to take pictures while you're there. However, you won't find me there not only for the reasons I stated previously, but also because I want to reduce my chances of getting hit by a stray bullet.