Wheeler honors its slain soldier (registration required…BTW, amarillo.com SUCKS)
Motorcyclists try to drown out protesters at soldier’s funeral (registration required)
I find the whole story unbelievably baffling in its stupidity, and I’m a bit torn by it. I’d like to see these people get flushed from our collective conscience and never get another headline again, but there’s a part of me that thinks if everyone knew how totally bat-shit crazy they were, my first wish just might come true.
Whether or not you happen to support the war in Iraq, I find it difficult to believe that good and decent people do not and/or cannot admire the contributions and sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. I speak only for myself, but I cannot imagine I am the only one who adamantly opposes the immoral, endless war in Iraq while honoring those who have been ordered to prosecute it. Soldiers follow orders, and in the case of American soldiers, they follow orders to the best of their ability, because it’s their job and it’s what they’re trained to do. Because of this, we have the toughest, most efficient and professional military force in the world. Soldiers understand that politics is for civilians; their job is to complete the mission they are tasked with.
This is why I cannot for the life of me understand what would possess former DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener Fred Phelps (#98, 6.1.04) and his fellow trolls from the Westboro Baptist Church to desecrate the memory of a fallen soldier by staging a loud, obnoxious protest at his funeral. What could possibly be gained by pouring salt in the wound of family and loved ones?
These are Christians?
WHEELER - Following through with plans they announced last week, about 20 protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church staged a protest a block away from 1st Lt. Benjamin Britt’s funeral Monday.
The Topeka, Kan.-based church claims that American soldiers are dying in foreign lands because of the country’s support of homosexuality, according to a flier circulated by the church prior to Monday’s protest.
I can’t help but wonder why Phelps’ collection of inbreds thinks they are accomplishing by exposing themselves as horribly insensitive and behaving in a manner that no one with a shred of decency could describe as Christian compassion. Do these trolls WANT to be reviled? Are they REALLY that ignorant, intolerant, and profoundly self-righteous that they are willing to insult and demean a family that has just lost a son? Apparently so.
Motorcycle riders opposing the protesters surrounded the group, revving their engines to drown out protesters’ chants….
Shawn Read, who coached and taught Britt at Wheeler High School, said he thinks Britt would have respected the demonstrators’ right to protest.
“I don’t think Ben would have been angry,” Read said. “He would have just walked up and asked, ‘Do you believe all the things you’re saying?’”
Lavon Williams, a former Wheeler High School substitute teacher and friend of the Britt family, called the protests disrespectful to Britt’s memory.
“They were not needed, and they damn sure wasn’t welcome,” Williams said.
Indeed. I couldn’t agree more. Look, I am adamantly opposed to the war in Iraq, but 1LT Benjamin Britt and the 2,200 others who have died in Iraq were doing their jobs. He may or may not have agreed with the reason he was in Iraq, but Britt understand his role as a soldier. He had a job to do, and he did it professionally, ably, and to the best of his abilities. Do I agree with the reason he was in Iraq? Not hardly. Was his death a waste? Unquestionably. Would I EVER stoop to the depths that Fred Phelp and his WBC inbreds did? Not on your life. There is a time and a place for protesting, if that is what you think is an appropriate behavior. Doing it in a way clearly designed to pour salt into the wounds and exacerbate the pain of Britt’s family and loved ones is a tasteless and highly offensive to make your point. That these knuckle-dragging troglodytes have the gall to call themselves Christians gives everyone who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ a bad name.
I know I’ve said this before, but it’s still true. Free speech can be and often is offensive speech…and it doesn’t get more offensive than this. My hat goes off to the motorcycle riders who were determined not to let the WBC trolls be heard.
If there is any justice in this world, Rev. Fred Phelps will go directly to a very special place in Hell when he exits this world. May he and his suffer unimaginably for eternity. It’s the least they deserve.
