Crazy Kansas Clan Coming To Mess With Our Town
The nation's eyes will be on Raleigh tomorrow as people from all over come to pay their respects to Elizabeth Edwards. Local news outlets have been reporting that the Westboro Baptist Church, an extremist organization that seems crazier than a shit-house rat, plan on coming to the Triangle to stir things up and make people all kinds of furious.
According to the group's web site, the name of which is so repulsive I refuse to type it, they plan to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, which is happening downtown at Edenton Methodist Church at 1:00 on Saturday. The horrible flyer that they released indicates they plan to set up 45 minutes before. I'd also like to point out that this flyer uses both Godsmack and Smashmouth in the same sentence.
Even posting an article about this is a double-edged sword. While acknowledging their activities gives them the attention they are seeking, they're going to show up regardless, so some people have chosen to show them that's not okay. Several Facebook groups have already organized to counter-protest their protest of the funeral, planning to create a wall of safety around the church for funeral goers. Fred Phelps and his band of lunatics feed off of violence, so there are several things to take into account if you attend the "human buffer."
• These people are trying to start a fight with you, so try not to let them egg you on.
• Ignore them. The most successful protests against this group in the past have been where the group has completely turned their backs on them, and not spoken a word.
• Don't yell at them, that is exactly what they want.
The Facebook event also brings up these points:
• This will be a powerful and peaceful gathering.
• Remain on city property.
• Do not under any circumstance touch any member of the WBC.
• Do not say or chant anything that acknowledge WBC's presence.
• Police officer(s) will most likely stand between us and WBC to ensure peace.
• Anyone making a physical threat can be arrested for disturbing the peace.
To show up and protest a funeral is beyond disrespect, especially for someone who ahs done so much for our country like Elizabeth Edwards. What do you guys think? Should people show up to counter-protest, or does that give them the attention they are seeking? Do you plan on going?
Radio Interview with the wackos
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Westboro Baptist Church Edenton Street Methodist Church Elizabeth Edwards
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crankasaurus
12/10 01:54 PM
the plan is to sing christmas carols!
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Powell
12/10 02:05 PM
I’m going- but not to protest them- moroe to give respects to a wonderful NC Woman.
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Chris C
12/10 02:12 PM
singing christmas carols seems pretty disrespectful. Why dont the anti-protesters just go there and not say anything. its a funeral!
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Sandy
12/10 03:14 PM
Even we people from Kansas are embarrased by them. :(
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Face_palm
12/10 03:21 PM
Consider this:
If you are the Metro editor for The N&O. You have reporters and photogs covering the funeral. There may be 3-4 protestors, whose primary goal is to use the media spotlight for attention.
Protestors show up. You cover the funeral. If the protestors are mentioned at all, it is a short one-line mention in the story.
Now, consider this. There are 3-4 crazy protestors. However, there are 100 counter protestors. There may even be heated arguments and arrests. Your coverage responsibilites just changed. The big story is not the funeral, so you pull one of the photogs off that and have a reporter also go cover the counter protest. This event is going to provide great photos and art for a day when news is slow and 1A art is hard to come by. The story of a woman who died and the family who mourned her is now a secondary story to the days true event.
This is how Westboro works. Your rage, and the planned counter-protests plays right to them—a small group using specific opportunities to get media coverage.
Counter-protest organizers, while they may be well-intentioned, are exhibiting the highest level of well-intentioned stupidity in this situation. If the counter-protests are effective, if I were Westboro I would visit Raleigh every chance I could. It makes for great free press.
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Crumpet
12/10 03:43 PM
Face_palm is correct… DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS!!
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Parrotlover77
12/10 04:24 PM
Not sure I agree, Face_palm. WBC is now enough of a story on their own and lazy journalists will lead with them even without signicant counter efforts.
In addition, without the “human shield” efforts, they would be right up in the faces of those attending. I do agree it’s not a perfect approach, but I think counter-protestors showing up contrasts what a fringe group WBC is.
I guess I really just don’t see any other way. The media already has the storyline written, so that shouldn’t be an considerationg, IMHO. What should be the issue is showing support for Elizabeth Edwards, who was an awesome, awesome human being and local NC hero. Whether that be by actually attending the event, or standing outside, back faced and silent against assholes like WBC. It shows the love our town and state had for this woman, and maybe, just maybe, breaks the stereotype of NC being a state of a bunch of hicks, not unlike WBC.
All that said, in an ideal world (in which we do not live), there would be no protestors, counterprotestors, or anything of the like. It would just be a respectful event, honoring a wonderful person’s life. I wish we lived in that world.
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Micah
12/10 06:53 PM
Westboro’s permit has them on city property about two blocks from the church. The permit is for 10 picketers or less. As a friend of the late Wade Edwards and Mrs. Edwards, I was planning on going tomorrow, arriving early to join the counter-protesters and then attending the service. After thinking about it all day, I think I might remain at home. Face Palm gives many good examples of my reasoning.
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B-fuss
12/10 08:33 PM
Not a big fan of either side. The Westboro freaks deserve to have the police turn their backs while the rest of us pound their faces into pavement. Anonymous women die every day of cancer and their fight is no less heroic the Elizabeth Edwards’. In fact, they may be more laudable because they suffer without the minor comforts that wealth can bring to a situation like terminal cancer.
The best thing that could come out of this would be that all hell breaks loose, WBC get their asses kicked and the rest of us realize that the Edwards’ are just people.
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Micah
12/10 08:51 PM
Oddly, since I am a gay man, I don’t think Westboro should have their faces pounded in to the concrete. Even though I think what they have to say is despicable, they have every right to say it. I still think funerals should be off-limits though.
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Todd Morman
12/10 10:56 PM
It’s worth mentioning that one of Westboro’s favorite strategies is to announce a high-profile protest, get all sorts of attention and cause all sorts of emotional outpouring, and then not bother to buy the plane tickets and actually show up. They’ve done it many times in the past, including recently: http://www.google.com/search?q=westboro+fail+show+up Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral might be high-profile enough to get them to actually appear, but don’t be surprised if they don’t. My money is on “they don’t bother.”
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Sans McGees
12/11 06:09 AM
What do you guys think? Should people show up to counter-protest, or does that give them the attention they are seeking? Do you plan on going?
By posting this “story” you just gave the dumbasses that much more press. Way to go.
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Jay Taliban
12/13 11:25 AM
Westboro is probably a psy-op. They polarize in regard to how much speech the 1st amendment protects.
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Merboy
12/14 10:15 PM
So what happened with this?
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Sylvitans
01/01 04:23 PM
Hello ! I’m new on this forum, hope to talk to you soon
I love carsn seotons and tuning, and you ? -
eagelpOpenaig
02/03 01:10 AM
Edit: sorry je me suis trompe de site
Et vive la simulation de seotons !!
Quoi, une <a >simulation de seotons</a> ??
Oui oui !
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