... and were met by at least five hundred counter protesters from my school! It was pretty nice. Good music and dancing and everything. It was a pretty neat party, really.
I mean, except for the Westboro people, but there were only like seven of them. There were hundreds of us.
Oh, and I was there kinda part of it! I didn't hold a sign, though.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Wow, I was thinking of starting this thread like a month and a half ago.
They came to my school too, and we got the day off to protest them. (And the school security stood out with us, to keep some of the rowdier students from causing trouble)
*Edit for better video
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
Very cool video T-man. Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
You see me in a blue shirt hoisting a big white sign for like 2-3 seconds Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
Why are 500 protesters needed to counter 7? It seems to me it would be more effective just to ignore them and go on with learning.
Posted by Baron Samedi (Member # 9175) on :
I don't know... sounds kind of fun, and if this is the dumbest way you can imagine a school day being wasted you've probably never been to college.
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
Dumb question: I know the Westboro guys are crazy, but why are they protesting outside random schools to begin with?
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tresopax: Why are 500 protesters needed to counter 7? It seems to me it would be more effective just to ignore them and go on with learning.
How many WBC people showed up is irrelevant.
The objective wasn't to beat WBC into submission. It served as a display of solidarity amongst the students, a show of force against what WBC stood for.
Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
Exactly. Nobody was trying to beat them. There were only seven of them!
But their message is wrong, and the students at my school know it. That's why we went. Because we don't agree with them. Because we don't agree with them about gays.
And we were going to show it. Not just to them. There were only seven of them. But to everybody.
It was a strong statement, and a good one. Besides, it was kinda fun!
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
I agree. If they are there, who is going to want to miss protesting against them?
They are protesting a school in one of the nearby suburbs today because the school is performing The Laramie Project. Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by theamazeeaz: Dumb question: I know the Westboro guys are crazy, but why are they protesting outside random schools to begin with?
They go out and protest as offensively as possible in as many scenarios as possible because they are trying to goad people into assaulting them or attacking them, so that they can sue them in court and take back thousands of dollars in settlements to fund even more trips to earn more cash out of litigiousness.
Many of them have trained as lawyers their entire lives specifically for this purpose. It's the big way the church makes money.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary:
quote:Originally posted by theamazeeaz: Dumb question: I know the Westboro guys are crazy, but why are they protesting outside random schools to begin with?
They go out and protest as offensively as possible in as many scenarios as possible because they are trying to goad people into assaulting them or attacking them, so that they can sue them in court and take back thousands of dollars in settlements to fund even more trips to earn more cash out of litigiousness.
Many of them have trained as lawyers their entire lives specifically for this purpose. It's the big way the church makes money.
Also they came to our school because it is in a very Jewish town, and they came during Rosh Hashanah and went around to all the temples and synagogues nearby.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
It's basically wherever they can stir up the most outrage. They'd protest orphans with leukemia if they could.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
quote:Exactly. Nobody was trying to beat them. There were only seven of them!
Oh, I don't know about that. I think plenty of those half a thousand people were trying to beat them (in the 'defeat' sense of the word), and why not? They're pretty damn awful, after all. It's not just about solidarity, or at least I imagine not. I'm just thinking about why I might show up at a counter-protest, if indeed I would. I might depending on how many WBC were there and what was going on that day go about my own business, but if I did, part of it would be not wanting them to win, not just to show solidarity with my fellow students.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
That is awesome. You know why? because it was positive and joyful and the exact opposite of what they were there to stir up. That's a beautiful thing. Good on yer!
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Yeah, pretty much the best thing that can be said about the Westboro baptists is that their entire congregation is like half a dozen people, and not rising, despite the fact that they get massively disproportionate amounts of publicity.
Well done, man. Well done. Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
Well, I was just there. I didn't even hold a sign. (To be fair, less than ten percent did.)
The real people who should get a "well done" are my fellow students who actually organized it.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
I held a sign, but no one brought any pancake mix Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Members of a small Missouri town banded together Saturday to block a controversial pastor and members of his Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funeral of a fallen U.S. soldier, Fox4kc.com reports.
Hundreds of residents in Weston, Mo. -- as well as people as far away as California and Australia -- rallied in support of Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, who died from injuries suffered during a surprise attack in Afghanistan.
The residents sought to block Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and his followers from picketing Sadell’s funeral, according to the station.
Phelps' church has been the subject of intense criticism for holding more than 44,000 pickets at funerals and other events – including the services of fallen service members.
Citing their First Amendment right to protest, Phelps' followers say they use funerals as an “available public platform” to “deliver the message that there is a consequence for sin.” Phelps is openly opposed to homosexuality and all government policies they he says supports homosexuals.
"We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots," Rebecca Rooney of Weston, Mo., told Fox4kc.com. "We did that so Mr. Phelps wouldn't have a contingency that was really close."
"I'm glad they left, but I'm sad they came," she said.
Sadell, who leaves behind a wife and two sons, was stationed in the Arif Kala region of Afghanistan when his unit was ambushed on Oct. 5. Five soldiers were killed in the attack and Sadell was badly injured.
The 34-year-old died from his injuries on Oct. 24.
That church is seriously wacked out. Everytime I hear about them, I just have to shake my head. Protesting at a funeral is about as low as you can go, and it makes me wonder what on earth they talk about on Sundays. After all, the bible says virtually nothing about homosexuals and quite a bit about God's love and treating people kindly. Even if you believe homesexuality is a sin, they seem to be missing the point.
Anyway, I think the idea of physically blocking them from picketing is pretty awesome. So are all the protests. I don't think we'll ever get them to give up and go home, but at least it shows that there are OTHER people in the world willing to be decent.
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