Foo Fighters "Rick-Roll" Westboro Baptist Church Protesters in Kansas City

[cbdo2007]

Love Dave and the guys. Best way to deal with the protesters is to just make a joke out of them, which they always seem to do when in KC.

[TlalocW]

1. I live in the KC area

And I don't think Westboro pickets every concert at the Sprint Center, but I think this is at least the second time they've gone after the Foo Fighters.

Closet fans?

TlalocW

[Travis_0004]

2. Dave Grohl has done some gay rights activitism

I assume thats why they go after them.

[gratuitous]

3. Westboro is a non-discriminating bunch of bigots

They'll picket anyone, and they really don't care what anyone says or thinks about them. Their takeaway from the entirety of the Bible is that you're blessed if people revile you because of your beliefs.

The countertactic we took when they picketed our denomination's annual conference was to engage with them personally, and on the theory that bigotry in high summer in the Midwest is thirsty work, we offered them cold drinks from the street vendors. They didn't really know how to handle not getting a hateful reaction, and they vamoosed after about 10 minutes.

[TlalocW]

4. When I lived in Tulsa

I set up across the street from them with two signs - God Is Love, and Fred Phelps Is a Wanker. One of them actually made to cross the street to have a talk with me, but then he looked at me more closely (I lifted weights religiously back then) and went and got another protester to come with him. As they were waiting for a break in traffic, I pulled out 3 juggling torches, locked eyes with them and lit them then began juggling (a previous run-in with them showed me that if you could take attention away from them, they get pissed). They looked at me, thought better of it and went back to pick up their signs.

It was one of my proudest moments.

TlalocW

[loyalsister]

5. They (or some other crowd) were there for Springsteen

It was wild because it was the 2012 tour, and he had a really strong gospel sound going. The show was like a tribute to the E Streeters who had died. It had a very cool rock n roll church vibe.
It seems like it might have been an atmosphere the folks outside like with their chosen content.