My Faith in Humanity is Destroyed. Again.

[Satori]

Sort of a IRL counterpart to "oh, god, fanfic, you got lego stuck up your nose again?"

Please do not bring up religion and politics (long experience tells me that never goes over well), but aside from that, let's hear the gripes.

To start:

Rape is the same as a starving guy stealing food

Yes, the guy who wrote that appear to be serious. Yes, I think he needs to be castrated, STAT.

[Zankaru Zelladonii]

Bringing signs saying "Thank god for dead soldiers." to a funeral is bad enough, but what really makes me want to go at people with an axe is parents making their children participate in cheering at funerals. I refuse to call it protesting.

I would even prefer them bringing children as a way to insure nobody did a drive-by and shot into the crowd or being attacked by a mob. However it is more likely they think it is a good thing to teach their children to do this.

[gman391]

First WTF?

Second WTF?

Third....god dammit humanity is the best reason for a God. Not a benevolent one mind you but it's the only way to explain why idiots like him are allowed to exist.

[jgkitarel]

The congregation of Westboro Baptist Church is certainly making itself specialize in pissing off the one group that even the most rabid hippie knows better than to antagonize.

I'm just waiting for the day the participants finally piss off the wrong group. They're already facing a major lawsuit, which is allowed as the First Amendment doesn't protect religious congregations from civil suits.

I would even prefer them bringing children as a way to insure nobody did a drive-by and shot into the crowd or being attacked by a mob. However it is more likely they think it is a good thing to teach their children to do this.

They might just decide to forgo guns and just go old-school on them and use a baseball bat. God knows, I know people who have dealt with them, and have been tempted to do just that.

[gman391]

For the record Fred Phelps is ummm....completely missing the point of Christianity.
He got booted out of the Baptist mainstream for being, well a complete asshole.

What his religion is I'm not sure. But it ain't Christian any more.
Missing that whole central tenet where all may be forgiven thing.

Anyways things that ruin my faith in Humanity?
Hmmm already pretty damaged...

Most of my gripes right now are political in nature to be honest.

[jgkitarel]

For the record Fred Phelps is ummm....completely missing the point of Christianity.
He got booted out of the Baptist mainstream for being, well a complete asshole.

Wow, I don't know whether I should be impressed or not. It takes a special brand of asshole to get booted out of that faith considering how Baptist fundamentalists at their worst can be.

[gman391]

Yeah I feel a bit of both. Impressed but at the same time horrified.

[jgkitarel]

Is he as disliked in Canada as he is here in the States?

[Satori]

Is he as disliked in Canada as he is here in the States?

Seriously, from what i hear, back before his Westboro con, the guy send his kids out to sell candy door-to-door with sob stories and beat them if they failed to make quota.

Assholes are disliked everywhere.

[gman391]

Is he as disliked in Canada as he is here in the States?

In a word yes

Remember we're all hippies up here and thus hate people like him by default.

[jgkitarel]

Yeah.....

But you know a guys bad when even the reactionary fossils who wish we were still in the 50's, or earlier, hate a guy along with the hippies.

[Chuckg]

Fred Phelps' little cult is also a legal scam machine; they are deliberately trying to provoke people into punching the shit out of them, so that their family members who are lawyers can sue those people for a quick out-of-court settlement.

Its how they make their living. They're not only unregenerate douchebags, they're not even sincere douchebags.

And yes, the hatred of them is universal even down here in the US. Fred Phelps is like the only guy I've seen have articles written condemning him on both the Free Republic and the Democratic Underground. (That is to say, on two of the most politically hardcore websites in existence, for the right and left wing respectively.)

[jgkitarel]

They might want to consider what will happen once they break the law in a way where the First Amendment can not shield them. Groups like to hide behind it, but there are limits, which going outside of will get you thrown in jail for a very long time. The best part is, those limits are based on interpretation by the courts, and if you get a Federal judge on board....

[Chuckg]

OK, dug up an old article on one of my favorite milblogs about what the hell is up with Phelps.

They have a copy of a Department of the Navy advisory from 2005 warning about this dude. Sadly, a link to the original is not available. Blackfive's rep is as of people who don't make things up, but Google couldn't find me any traces of this FP advisory besides their post, a couple mentions on Free Republic, and a brief mention in a January 2007 article in the Western Journal of Communication, "A Thematic Analysis of Milbloggers' Responses to Reverend Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church". Then again, command advisories like this generally aren't posted on public websites.

Is not classified, though. Just, y'know, internal bureaucratic stuff.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/08/t ... _of_f.html

FORCE PROTECTION (FP) ADVISORY MESSAGE 05-180

(THREAT TO MILITARY FUNERALS)// REF/A/MSG/CMC/051956Z JUL 05//REF A IS HQ USNORTHCOM FORCE PROTECTION (FP) ADVISORY MESSAGE 05-180 (THREAT TO MILITARY FUNERALS)// RMKS/

1. REQUEST WIDEST DISSEMINATION POSSIBLE TO ALL COMMANDS, UNITS AND PERSONNEL. ENSURE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS FOR ALL DOD PERSONNEL PARTICIPATING IN OR ATTENDING FUNERAL SERVICES FOR MILITARY MEMBERS.

2. USNORTHCOM IS TRANSMITTING THIS FP ADVISORY BASED ON RECENT
REPORTS OF PROTEST GROUP ACTIVITIES TO PICKET MILITARY FUNERALS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

2.A. A GROUP FROM WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH (WBC) LOCATED IN
TOPEKA, KANSAS HAS PROTESTED OR IS PLANNING TO PICKET AND PROTEST AT PUBLIC FUNERALS OF PERSONNEL KILLED IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM. THIS GROUP HAS REPORTEDLY ANNOUNCED VIA THEIR WEBSITE THAT THEY INTEND TO PROTEST FUNERALS IN ALABAMA, CALIFORNIA, DELAWARE, IOWA, IDAHO, ILLINOIS, KANSAS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, WISCONSIN, AND WEST VIRGINIA.

2.B. THERE IS NO INFORMATION TO INDICATE THAT THIS GROUP PLANS ANY FORM OF VIOLENT ACTIVITY AND THEY ARE NOT KNOWN TO INITIATE PHYSICAL CONTACT. HOWEVER, THIS GROUP DOES EMPLOY PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE TECHNIQUES INTENDED TO PROVOKE A HOSTILE RESPONSE OR OFFENSIVE REACTION FROM OTHERS. THEY WILL EMPLOY WRITTEN AND VERBAL INFLAMMATORY LANGUAGE AGAINST THE DECEASED PERSON, THEIR FAMILY, AND MILITARY PERSONNEL TO ELICIT DESIRED RESPONSES. THIS GROUP WILL THEN FILE A CIVIL ACTION IN AN EFFORT TO REACH A SETTLEMENT IN ORDER TO FUND FUTURE ACTIVITIES.

3. SERVICES AND MILITARY UNITS PERFORMING AND SUPPORTING PUBLIC ACCESSIBLE FUNERAL DETAILS SHOULD:

3.A. ENSURE LOCAL AREA THREAT ASSESSMENTS CONSIDER THIS AS A POTENTIAL THREAT.

3.B. COORDINATE WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT/CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES AT ANY TIME WBC MEMBERS OR SIMILAR ORGANIZATIONS ARE BELIEVED TO BE PROTESTING.

4. ALL DOD PERSONNEL/FAMILY MEMBERS PARTICIPATING IN OR
ATTENDING MILITARY FUNERALS SHOULD BE MADE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING:

4.A. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS OF REPORTED ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE WBC AND THEIR METHODS.

4.B. DO NOT PERSONALLY ENGAGE PROTESTORS IN ANY WAY; VERBALLY OR PHYSICALLY.

4.C. ALLOW CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES TO ADDRESS ANY INFLAMMATORY SITUATIONS OR EFFORTS TO IMPEDE THE FUNERAL PROCESSIONAL.

[jgkitarel]

Yeah, I remember seeing that when it came out. Needless to say, he may be under a lot of unofficial scrutiny, and with all of the public stupidity involved, they are making it very easy for law enforcement to eventually get a warrant when it decides to come down of them, hard. They need to just get caught in something so they can't use certain laws as a shield.

Since it is a "religious" organization, tackling it can be tricky, despite the fact that the First Amendment does not shield religious organizations from the law.

The fraudulent charity work is a start, especially if they've been careless.

They're gonna want to make this as clean as possible when they finally go after him.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

*shakes head at this... reverend's foolishness* Silly child, are you so blinded by hatred that you cannot see that you are only hurting your cause?
Or are you so determined to hate that cause is meaningless?

[Tempest Kitsune]

My favorite incident involving these schmucks came about during this year's San Diego Comicon. A group of (cult) members were protesting the con. An unofficial counter-protest immediately sprang up from the con-goers. Even Jesus (Buddy Jesus from "Dogma", but still...) was against these wackos!

[Chuckg]

Pictures available here:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/2 ... st-church/

[jgkitarel]

That was sooo worth it. It would have been made sweeter if Anonymous participated.

You gotta love those cute little internet anarchists.

*looks off to the side*
All right, you guys can quit standing there....

[Satori]

*shakes head at this... reverend's foolishness* Silly child, are you so blinded by hatred that you cannot see that you are only hurting your cause?
Or are you so determined to hate that cause is meaningless?

he doesn't have a cause. he's using it to make money. I don't think he actually even believes in a higher power.

Speaking of which, anonymous has organized picketting of scientologist buildings.

[gman391]

Scientology vs. Anonymous? No matter who wins we loose.

As for Fred Phelps not believing in God. That may well be. The man did use to be a lawyer
*checks wikipedia profile*
He used to be a civil rights activist?
He ran as a Democrat?
And supported Al Gore?

WTF?

Okay apparently his disbarment drove him batshit crazy

[jgkitarel]

The fact that he was disbarred says a lot about his morals, or lack of them. As for it driving him crazy, he was probably batshit insane to begin with.

Hmm.... Oh yeah, this guy's a piece of work. The lawyers in his familiy getting suspended from practicing law for 30 days, some of his, and his family's conduct....

They'll eventually step even further out of line, and will get crucified. Literally, if they piss the wrong people off.

[tjchaos]

Faith in Humanity?

I guess faith in what exactly are people going to do...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/shocking-photo ... 328&page=1


Can't resist:
Religion is easy, since nobody can really agree that's a pretty good indicator that everybody is probably wrong somewhere along the line. General rules of religion, don't trust any organized religion that has more than 5,000 members, also don't trust any organized religion with less than 5,000 members and keep a good distance from such groups. Coming from a loosely Christian background I'd say that it's also a good idea not to trust any type of Christian that doesn't drink to some degree, they apparently either missed the whole 'water into wine' bit or they don't trust themselves to drink. Either way they fall into my 'don't trust' category.
Politics are also easy, can be broken down to poli-tics or 'a lot of blood sucking parasites'. General rules of politics, when in doubt vote against the incumbent. If anyone outside of the politicians local home actually know about them, then that politician is more likely than not economically beholden to someone who isn't you. Some American Indian tribes believe that anyone actually seeking to hold a position of authority is mentally ill and therefore should be barred from holding such positions, seems like a good idea to me that we should apply here in the U.S.

Funny recent political item:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2D-MFNKvLM
I may not like the guy but he was on the ball with this one.

[SLAMU]

Who was that guy in the youtube vid? I feel like I should recognize him from somewhere.

[bookworm702]

Wait, me too. Huh....Will Smith?

Hey, Will, was that you in the video?

Spoiler: show

Well...now I'm just confused.