$11M Verdict in Funeral Protesters Case
BALTIMORE ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages to a grieving father smiled as they walked out of the courtroom, vowing that the verdict would not deter them from protesting at military funerals. Members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags.”….”Absolutely, don’t you understand this was an act in futility?” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church. The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. They say they are entitled to protest at funerals under the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion.
I cannot believe that I’m about to even intimate in any shape, manner, or form that I could ever in ANY way be anything remotely resembling supportive of the Rev. Fred Phelps and his merry band of intolerant, inbred assholes. Nonetheless, I do have to be intellectually honest enough to own up to a reality I’ve championed for years- that free speech can be, and too often is, highly offensive speech. As much as I hate to admit it, the Westboro Baptist Church and it’s ignorant, knuckle-dragging troglodytes have every right to spew their hate and filth. Of course, the rest of us have every right to marginalize and ignore them for being the ignorant, mouth-breathing, uber holy fools they are.
(Jeebus…if these losers are Christians, then I’m the Queen of England….)
Here’s the problem, though…if we begin suing people because we don’t like what they have to say, haven’t we started down the path to censhorship? This is by no means a defense of Fred Phelps and his band of looney tunes. I detest them and everything they stand for. Nonetheless, this truly is a free speech issue. If we begin suppressing “objectionable” and “offensive” speech, and if judges issue multi-million dollar judgements against those who engage in speech that “reasonable” people find to be beyond the pale…well, we’re engaging in censorship. Let’s not sugar coat it, OK? Advocating for censorship, in whatever form, runs counter to the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and everything that makes this great country what it is. Are we really ready to give that up?
On one level, I’m all for doing anything and everything possible to marginalize the Westboro Baptist Church. These folks are why I have such a problem with modern Christianity, which all too often is as much about the teachings of Jesus Christ as Saddam Hussein was about benevolent dictatorship. If any of y’all had the misfortune of watching CNN’s Rick Sanchez interviewing Phelps on Halloween, you know of which I speak. Phelps and his band of knuckle-draggers know nothing of Christian love and charity, and they understand even less of the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s about hatred, fear, and ignorance- plain and simple. Phelps’ performance was truly pitiable, and what made it especially pitiful was that he presents himself as a man of God. Yeah, if Fred Phelps is a man of God, then please feel free to join me in Oslo next month when I pick up my Nobel Peace Prize.
It pains me greatly to have to come to anything resembling the defense of someone so hateful and objectionable as Fred Phelps. Then again, I’m NOT defending him, his words, or his hateful, unChristian, completely devoid of compassion actions. What I am defending is his right to hold his pitiable beliefs and spew them as he sees fit. As objectionable and disgusting as his views, and those of his followers, may be, I’m not willing to begin travelling down a path to a place where some people have the right to determine what speech is acceptable and which deserves to be quashed as beyond the pale. That’s censorship, and no matter how you may try to dress it up and justify it, that reality isn’t going to change. No matter how much lipstick you put on this piggie, you’re still left with a pig.
Fred Phelps is an asshole, as are his merry brand of inbreds. Of that there can be no doubt. There is nothing even remotely loving, Christian, or even decent about the views they espouse. Their willingness to to trample on the grief and pain of those who have lost loved ones only serves to demonstrate how little they truly know of the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Westboro Baptist Church represents everything I hate and detest about modern Christianity. Thankfully, I know enough good and decent Christians to recognize that these freaks are aberrations who deserve to ridiculed and marginalized. Nonetheless, if we value the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and everything that makes this country great, we cannot countenance censoring this sort of speech.
I support Albert Snyder’s right to to harrass Phelps and his band of moral reprobates. He deserves to have some peace of mind, and he has every right to demand justice. I’m not at all certain that a judgement against the Westboro Baptist Church accomplishes anything of value. It does set us a little bit farther down the road to censorship, though…and that truly frightens me, because that indicates that we’ve learned nothing from the past six years of the Bush Administration’s progressive chipping away at our civil rights.
If free speech falls in the forest, and no one cares enough to hear it…does it even make a sound? And will anyone even notice?
