A friend of mine sent me an email with a news story talking about how the Supreme Court will be hearing a case as to whether the Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group disguised as an actual religious organization, has protection under the First Amendment to picket soldiers' funerals.
You can find the story here.
Now if you are not familiar with what this group is or what they do, they're the backwards inbreeds you always see with the "God Hates Fags" signs. Now they've got signs which read things like "Thank God For I.E.D's" and "Thank God for 9-11" etc. The make up of this group is mostly family of the "Reverand" Fred Phelps, and when I say mostly family I mean by marriage as well.
That means exactly what you think it does.
I guess according to the Phelps klan (purposeful misspelling) its a sin worthy of death to be a homosexual but its perfectly normal to fuck your relatives. I mean that totally makes sense right? If you don't see how sensible that really is do what I did and snort a few lines before reading his interview.
I keep reading these comments from people saying that while they don't agree with what these fanatics do, they hope that Westboro wins its case because they have the "right" to say whatever they want. I got to fully disagree, as a libertarian, with that statement.
I don't claim to be an expert on the law but I know that first off we have laws in this country that protect private citizens against slander and libel. These apply to soldiers as well. I'm pretty sure that if you can take down people for hate crimes and hate speech in this country the court should have no problem applying malicious intent in defamation of character to these people. Tell me that's not what they're doing...
I also know that the families of these fallen heroes have the right to mourn their loved ones in peace. If somebody can go to jail for "disturbing the peace" and "inciting violence" why can't this also be applied to Westboro? I hear all the time about these fundamentalist wacko groups who are always the first to jump to the defense of hate groups like Westboro. They always have some spokesperson who says something along the lines of, "Well lets punish the conduct, not the thoughts." Well guess what buddy? Last time I checked the act of them maliciously showing up to intimidate and antagonize these families fits under the "conduct" umbrella. Maybe we have different editions of the dictionary but I'm pretty sure a person's actions fit their conduct.
If you want to sit in your house and hate people be my guest, but when you infringe on the liberties of others to live their lives peacefully and undisturbed, you piss me off as well as a lot of America. You can't shout "fire" in a crowded theater. You can't do anything that can lead to a riot. You explain to me why these people should have Constitutional protection? Are they not inciting hatred? Are they not a trigger for violence? I know I'd give anything to kick this guy's ass and his followers' as well. Wouldn't you? Kind of sounds like a trigger, don't it?
I know that they just recently lost their tax exempt status like maybe in 2008 or 2009 from Kansas. How they got away with tax exempt status for so long is besides me but you know bureaucracy in government...I'm sure the IRS could destroy them if they really set their mind to it. Maybe for once in our nation's history that administrative agency would be put to good use.
Folks, no matter what they say, these people are not Christians. Look I have done things in my life that I'm not proud of and there are many times that I've questioned my faith and the actions of the Catholic Church. In fact I still disagree with a lot of things that they do and say but I believe two things for sure when it comes this issue...
1.) There is one God and he is a loving God and he is a forgiving God who created man in his image to live their lives for the betterment of themselves, this world, and in peace.
2.) These people are domestic terrorists using perversion of religion to justify their own personal hatred and cultural phobias.
I have a theory that seems to consistantly prove itself over the course of time right when it comes to gay marriage. The people who are so rediculously against gays and have such sentience and vigor in support of a laughable "traditional marriage amendment" are either closeted/conflicted or stupid. I don't like calling people stupid because it's such a blanket name calling tactic and it doesn't usually carry and laudable reason behind it, but in this case it just does.
Every time you get into a debate with one of these people you almost always hear one of these as a justification for their "belief."
- Well if we let gay people get married soon people will be marrying their dogs and horses and then what are we going to do?
As if two consenting adults who love each other has anything to even remotely do with bestiality? This isn't even an argument folks. If this is the only defense they have of a marriage amendment than remind them that that card was already played against a woman's suffrage prior to 1920.
- Well God says it's wrong!
Really and yet he granted us free will? Last time I checked I don't recall any moment in my life where I sat down at a table with two packets of information and decided on whether I wanted to be straight or gay. You know as if we all reach a point in our lives where we come to this crossroads and are like weighing the options or something? If you consciously ever made the thought in your life of whether you wanted to be with a dude or a chick, I hate to break it to you but you're probably bisexual, because you can obviously be attracted to both.
Of my gay friends I can let me tell you that never once have I ever felt threatened by their sexual preferences. Why should I be? What effect does it have on my life? I know one thing I'll never have to worry about them cheating with the girl I'm with. They're not exactly my competition in anything. So why should I feel threatened?
These "traditionalist" people act as if every gay person out there is just jumping and tackling random heteros as they walk down the street and raping them.
And don't even get me started with the whole destruction of the traditional nuclear family thing. If you think that every family should strive to be made up a man who is the sole provider of the household, a woman who stays at home and does nothing but wait for the man to come home to tell her what she should do next, and a son and daughter with a dog named Lassie, do us all a favor and remove yourself from the gene pool immediately. If that isn't possible for you to do, stop voting these closet homo Republican (& some Democrat) dinosaurs into office who sit their and pass homophobic legislation because they don't want to accept who they really are.
For some reason we've always had the "big kid on the block" interventionist mentality in this country that everything that happens is our business. Well guess what America? I think its time that we snap out of this delusion. Not everything is our business. We don't need to know everything about everyone. We don't need a who, why, what, where, and to what extent with every freaking person we encounter on the street. If it does not threaten your right to life, your right to liberty, and your right to the pursuit of happiness in this great land, shut the hell up about it. Its that simple.
So if the day comes and the SCOTUS comes to the finding that Westboro isn't protected by the Constitution to go out and disrupt funerals you're not gonna get complaints out this man. None at all.
Until next time...
Love everybody
Peace & Love,
Joe K.
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