...as fucked up as their messages are, they are just building their "brand". While they may only have 40 actual members, it appears as though they generate a lot of income from their various websites. Denny's servers wouldn't know what to do if S2 had this kind of "free" publicity!
That's what you consider "applauding"? And one group does not speak for all. Freedom of speech does not just apply for those who agree with you.
SCOTUS rules WestBoro has 1st amendment rights to do the things it does. I agree with the ruling. Doesn't mean I have to like, in the least, what WestBoro does. But when they and people like Cindy (Occupied New Orleans) Sheehan were being a PITA for the military or the previous administration, it was easy to look the other way or applaud. Or going back just a little further, I'm sure you remember it was Ronald Reagan spitting on GIs returning from Vietnam. In any case, I'm quite consistent. I think they were vile then and are vile now.
They are as "real" as a any other church. They just can't attract many members for some unfathomable reason...
As for "hate group" and "hate crime", those terms don't belong anywhere in our legal system if it is to survive. When half a million people call on the President to take action against 3 dozen not-very-bright homophobes for simply voicing their opinion, you know Freedom of Speech is dead in America. Only The Second Amendment, bruised and battered as it is, stands between Real Americans and their looming slavery.
Applauded them? No one applauded them. Saying someone has a constitutional right to even the most despicable speech is not applauding them. But don't let facts get in the way of a good slander.
I think when people were supporting Cindy Sheehan, they were supporting her right to do it. I support their right to do it too. I think most "lefts" do. You're confusing issues, imho. And doing it on purpose.
Applaud? Bullshit. Supporting someone's first amendment right is not applauding what they use it for. Unless you applaud people who shoot up schools. Because you support their 2nd amendment right. So Denny, quit applauding kids dying.
I think nobody would even know about Westboro if they hadn't been war protesters. That was enough for the media to promote the hell out of them. I get that you don't see it. So be it.
So a few hundred thousand people sign a petition to label Westboro a hate group. Them and their 40 members. SMH. Family Research Council has 450,000 members and they say terrible and untrue things about gay people. Where's the outrage against the 450,000 group? They weren't anti-war, that's why. Get it?
People only know about the 40 because they were anti-war. Otherwise, they'd be what they truly are - a tiny church that is beyond fringe and not very noteworthy. They were protesting funerals at a time when liberals were whining about the govt. not allowing the paparazi to have at it with the coffins of returning dead soldiers.
yawn. like we wouldn't hear about them after this sort of thing. Sure. Still not sure why you applaud murdering kids Denny.
I get that you don't like the mirror held up so you can see yourself, but it is what it is. 450,000 anti-gay people are here, not queer, and much more likely to be in your face. Why are the 40 of Westboro so worthy of any attention at all, aside from by the assistant sheriff of Topeka Kansas?
I still recall your half cocked argument about how supporting someone's right meant supporting what they use it for. Pretty sure that means you support and applaud the killing of kids. Good job Denny.
How many Americans died in Iraq in 2007? How many died in 2012? Gee.....a simple, obvious explanation. What fun is that?
And nobody would've known who they are had there not been a war. I'm not sure your point was really a good one.
It might just be that the FRC doesn't hold signs saying that God hates gays or whatever. And the FRC didn't just say (or was implied to have said) they would protest the funerals of the children and teacher/staff of Newtown. People know the WBC not because of the war, or the protests of the war, but because of their methods and the message they were saying.
That might've been a good point to make if one of the following were true of the situation. A: Barack Obama started a war, ANY WAR, under false pretenses. B: One of the wars is all but done and the other one is winding down C: People were against the war and protested then and aren't now because of many reasons. None of which has to do with Barack being in office now. See A and B. Also see D: D: War isn't cool, and to act like the left now thinks it is cool is condescending, insulting and pretty much partisan horse shit that you and the "non republicans" on this board love to trumpet out and then act like you were just posting for fun or something. You want to know why people protested the war? Because it was a mistake. And it needed to be made known that it was a mistake, a misguided war and that the smothering of those who were opposed to it (i.e., "Why do you hate our troops?") wasn't going to be accepted. And then once the overwhelming majority of Americans came to the side of "these wars were a mistake/stupid/misguided/need to end", what the fuck is the point of continually protesting? Oh, I know, it can't be any of that. It HAS to be that the left just blindly follows their president (who didn't start any wars, was in office when one of them all but ended and the other one will end too). Yeah, you're not a republican hack Denny. Nope, not at all. (btw, are you going to update your signature to say 2016 instead of 2012? And, also, was the guy who played the Shore character as much of an annoying character in that TV show as he was when he played a role on the Office? Not sure why but I can't stand that guys characters)
