Fred Phelps has got what? 50 or 60 supporters?

[canetoad]

And tens of millions of Americans decry him yet can't shut him down. This is democracy in action?

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Why? Is he not an American?

[canetoad]

5. You either missed or ignored my point. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Then what is your point?

[krispos42]

2. This is a constitutional democracy in action

He had rights that no majority of the people can strip away without due process.

Sometimes freedom hurts. The Phelps minions is one case.

I sincerly hope that Fred Phelps meets Jesus. Very soon, and by means of a flaming bus wreck.

After all, who am I do judge God's methods? O8)

[LeftCoast]

3. As foul as that hateful man is I support his right to free speech

Though I don't think his right to free speech carries over into protesting funerals.

[lapfog_1]

4. This country used to be about Freedom...

and while he and his supporters are the most vile and disgusting creatures imaginable...

many very good people gave their lives so that he can spew his filth.

And they also gave their lives so that we can proclaim that it is filth.

[Ramonna Villota]

8. it is bad

to say something bad about anyone. Phelps is a cancer

[lapfog_1]

12. It is worse to shut people up you disagree with

even if they ARE a cancer.

[Ramonna Villota]

16. I know

but the man is vile the word vile is not enough to correctly label him..

But you are 100% right

[canetoad]

7. You are all very right of course

A democracy does NOT entail the wishes of the majority. Why did that escape me?

[Hannah Bell]

9. More to the point, why does he get so much media time...

when much larger groupings, e.g. anti-war protests, labor actions, etc. get almost none sometimes.

I've been curious about his connections.

[gratuitous]

19. Always curious, isn't it?

So much media attention focused on Fred Phelps and his noxious followers, whom I have had the dubious pleasure of meeting on a couple of occasions.

And the plurality of women's voices featured seems to be the Phyllis Schlaflys and the Beverly LaHayes, the most prominent African American voices are the likes of Thomas Sowell. It's almost as if there are no women or African Americans who are given time to articulate the view, sensibilities and majority opinion for themselves. A white man tells us what women (for example) want or are saying, then it's over to Michelle Malkin or Ann Coulter to explain in detail and at length why those women just need to get laid or something.

[opihimoimoi]

10. But when his free speech hurts and impinges on the rights of those

trying to give last respects....it is in violation of GOOD FORM.

People have a right to Privacy at the cemetary....the Phelps dude should be tazered and pepper sprayed at the same time...fuck him...

[lapfog_1]

13. Are you in favor or against "free speech zones"

at political rallies and campaign events?

When I've seen Fred and his minions, they've been doing their bit on public property.

It may be bad form, but it is not an invasion of someone's right to privacy.

However, it IS perfectly legal for Hells Angels and others to line the road and block the Phelps assholes from being in the view of people mourning... and to even do some more things to make sure that Phelps cannot be heard (a massive noise canceling system comes to mind).

[opihimoimoi]

17. The man is nuts and an attention whore....he leads a small cult of like minded nuts.

He is wasting energy by being there.....sucking gas for no good reason....fuck him and his assholes.

[cboy4]

11. I wonder if Phelps understands how much sympathy

he generates for LGBT people?

I've always argued he's indirectly, a surprising advocate.

Think about it.

He's so over the top insane, he causes people (many who might not "approve" of homosexuality) to say to themselves when they see his klan, "I will not support this man. Whatever he preaches, the opposite must be true. How can he be so cruel? Gay people are human beings and don't deserve this...and now he's picketing the funerals of soldiers?"

People are so outraged, they're turning against him in who knows how many numbers.

It's like if you watch a bully pick on the neighborhood kid(s), most sane people root against the bully.

He's his own worst enemy....he's been a failure at everything he's tried to accomplish.

I feel everytime he and his little protesters are on the news displaying their vulgar signs, he's helping gay people.

Much to his horror, I'm sure.


on edit....typo

[Berry Cool]

14. Maybe in that sense, as awful as he is, he is a blessing in disguise?

He shows us all in full display how ugly and vile pure unadulterated hate is, and the lengths to which it will go to have an excuse to express itself.

He never actually takes physical action to hurt, maim or kill those he hates...he just spews this hateful nonsense against them.

And for that, he is reviled by even people who don't much like gay people, or who think homosexuality is wrong.

They see in him what they could so easily become if they tipped just a bit more over the edge...and maybe, just maybe, it makes some of them think.

Maybe it makes some of them think "OK, I believe what they say about the Bible is true, but nobody deserves this."

And maybe it makes some of them realize that once you start to justify hating, it can grow and spread until it infects everything in your world, everything in your mind, even people and things you never before had a reason to hate. To the point where you're celebrating disasters and murders and catastrophes of all kinds, expressing joy and happiness that they have occurred because you think they are "God's rightful punishment."

And what kind of sick person do you have to be to celebrate 9/11, or a bridge collapse, or a school shooting, or a father who kills his wife and children and then turns the gun on himself?

And maybe, just maybe, it makes some of them turn away from the path of hate, because they don't want to end up like that.

We can only hope. Because while we can all wish the Phelps family never existed, we can't deny them the right to speak, no matter how hateful their message is. The best we can do is try to control where they can speak it so they leave decent people alone.

[Algorem]

15. i guess Mr. Phelps thinks he has decided to accept a mission

from God and that it's not impossible to prove to everyone that "God Hates Fags!"

duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh -
duh-duh-duh........duh-duh-duh........duh-duh-duh........duh-duh-duh........duh!duh!-duh-duh-duh-duh--DUHDUH!!!

[Ordr]

18. This is EXACTLY why our party is FINISHED.

You CANNOT shut someone down because you disagree with what they say! Do I agree with him in the least? Absolutely fucking not. Is he 100% in the right to continue saying it? Absolutely fucking yes. It sickens me that our democratic voices have become nothing but the equivalent of hall monitors who are just waiting for an easy target to get loud about. Substance? No. Just volume.

[terrya]

21. Excuse me, has anyone kept him from free speech?

You DO know what this asshole (and that's insulting assholes everywhere) does, don't you? The picketing of funerals of American servicemen and women killed in Iraq. He was at the funeral of Matthew Shepard. He has been at the GLBT March on Washington in 1993 and 2000 (I saw him there in 1993).

This idea that Fred Phelps has been muzzled from spewing his obscene hate is nonsense.

[Ordr]

22. Yes.

I know exactly who he is and everything he says is utter filth.
Nowhere did I say that he has been muzzled. My issue is with those who say that he should be.

[Kingofalldems]

25. You sound like Jonah Goldberg

Oh wait--Just did a search. Found a post saying you agreed at least partially with Mr. Goldberg. Wow, now that is interesting. It was in the gungeon BTW.

[bryant69]

20. Freedom of speech

Kind of a bitch, isn't it?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Bright Eyes]

23. Free speech sucks sometimes, don't it?

But it's the best system around.

[terrya]

24. I don't wish to deny him his free speech.

I can wish for him to die very soon, so he won't be able to speak, period. Which I do.

But I don't wish to deny him or the KKK or the Neo-Nazis their freedom of speech, either. The 1st Amendment should be available for all. As odious, as disgusting, as filthy, as obscene as that message can sometimes be.