The Westboro Baptist Church makes me sick. Sicker than most any group around right now.
I tell people to ignore them. Don't give them the attention they are seeking.
So here is why I found myself at their latest protest today in Washington, D.C.
I heard Edmund Burke in the shower.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Edmund Burke's words sprang into my consciousness as I got ready for the day. All week I had planned to ignore their hatred and idiotic antics when I learned they would be at American University this Friday. I held onto my belief that the counter protesters are just giving Fred Phelps and his ilk huge evil hard-ons. And I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
The thought would not leave my head.
This afternoon, I ignored my own advice.
I joined the counter protest.
I arrived on the American University campus to see a few hundred students listening to an acapella group singing and a speaker imploring the students to stand in solidarity, but with their backs to the WBC.
I was teary-eyed as I listened to them. So many people who believe that good will triumph over evil.
It is hard to see the words, but this girl's sign says she was expecting Michael Phelps.
There were people watching from the roof.
There were angels in the field
And mere mortals in the snow...
Just people, not allowing evil to win.
At least for one day, evil doesn't win...
At least for one day, good is funny too.
And for one day, good men and women gathered to do something.
The students at American University did a good thing today.
Edmund Burke would be proud.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Seer
Jacqueline Allain
Erica K
jlsathre
Frosty Funk
Pensive Person
Salon.com
Comments
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGG
What? :D
Great piece, great day.
Rated.
I just read a compelling piece by a lawyer who claims Phelps does not believe his own crappola, but is an opportunist, setting up ideal conditions for his assault and resulting lawsuits that earn him money. Apparently his entire family are lawyers, a fact that gets lost in the sensationalism. This writer's argument points made complete sense and I wonder if we will begin to hear more on this angle.
And so did you.
joan... you give me hope. thank you.
Phelps and his entourage came to Provincetown to protest the homosexual lifestyle. The town told us to completely ignore them. No one paid attention. It started to rain. They went home.
If only they would stay home.
R
rated
Good for you for going!
Atta girl!
Lezlie
If they're making you sick, you should ignore them, too. Yeah, I know what Edmund Burke said, but give it some thought. According to him, if good men didn't fight evil, we'd all be evil and there'd be no fight. Edmund Burke was a warmonger. And a moral authoritarian. If he was my guide, I'd be sick, too.
oh, and jeff said it best, which you obviously caught before i got here. good on you both.
They can be beaten.
With Reason
With Love.
`R
And cosine
And tangent!"
So cool that you went against your own advice to be there, witness and report!
rated with love
R
Thank you for sharing your pictures.
I watched an interesting BBC documentary on the WBC (you can find it on YouTube; the title is "The Most Hated Family in America"), but the most revealing thing I've seen about the church/family is a surrealist/absurdist counter-protest where the counter-protestors out-media'd the WBC by attracting attention away from the church members, rather than arguing with them.
It looks as though the group you joined did something similar.
Brava!
R
Thanks Joanie!
News to me they're a family of lawyers and thanks to greenheron for the info.
Thank you for reporting on the goodness there.
Thanks for being there for the rest of us.
BTW, a pretty smart dude had something to say about what you did, too:
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
And what perfect words for today...MLK's birthday.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this and comment. Epiphanies can come to anyone, anywhere. Even in the shower. :)
terrific stuff
You did the right thing and are leading by example.
Thank you Joan, you are inspiring.
It's kind of a good thing he didn't show up, because there were hundreds of people lined up on the street by the church, some wearing huge angel wings designed to shield the family from seeing those signs, others...well, this ID Arizona, so they were ready to rumble if necessary. Big old bikers were there, waiting to make sure there were no signs, and to clear a path for the family if necessary.
Wasn't necessary. I guess they stayed over your way. And I'm glad you were there--we're going to have to start being more visible at these things, so that it's not quite so easy for people like this to keep spewing hate and thinking the whole country agrees with them.
no photo coverage or description of the wackos in your post
very well played, joan
thank you!
And, what the tall green bird had to say about phony phelps is interesting.
Wanna hear more on that.
Rated.
Evil men will triumph through violence
only if good men do nothing to fight
for sometimes we must use violence
to protect people and ensure justice rules
from temple of Zeos on Mount Zion.
That group of train wrecks will only get more obnoxious until they get the attention that they seek. I am glad that they got some that they did not seek.
R
What I like best about it is that it or something like it seems to happen wherever these freaks go now. There are many, many good people out there. Most of us, I think.
My favorite was the one where the bikers gunned their loud engines whenever the freaks started their yelling, completely drowning them out.
And here's another great bit of wisdom: "If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem!"
Read more: Anne Lamott observed, "You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."
I keep remembering what nantehay said in his comment: "Ignoring evil will not make it go away."