Highly upset!! - Fred Phelps to Visit

[lvpets2002]

Its all disgusting to me.. I would say all of these protesters need to get a real job to take up their time.. I agree any & everyone needs & deserves to rest in peace.. So sad we cant even do that anymore with all these Idiots out there..

[Lady's Human]

And as long as the press continues to give credence to whackjobs like phelps (and airtime, and ink.....) they will continue to do what they do.

[lvpets2002]

Well said && I agree.. Freedom of Speech = Isn't Nice!! Yes it is Butttt: Lets reserve some for silence ok..

And as long as the press continues to give credence to whackjobs like phelps (and airtime, and ink.....) they will continue to do what they do.

[Cataholic]

A few, stategically placed, snipers would certainly bring a halt to this group's "protest". Sometimes, I think we are TOO civilized a nation.

[Edwina's Secretary]

And as long as the press continues to give credence to whackjobs like phelps (and airtime, and ink.....) they will continue to do what they do.

Ah yes...all the fault of the press....

If your point is correct...the very existence of this thread is support for these whackjobs.

I blame the horrid people who would even think of protesting at a funeral.

[Lady's Human]

Sara,

I'm not blaming the press for the actions of the protesters. I'm just saying that if they had one of their protests and no one publicized it, they wouldn't gain the attention they are so desperately seeking.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I just think to say the press gives credence is to suggest the press acknowledges what the protesters are saying is true. (I looked it up in the dictionary... ) I haven't seen the press suggest ANYWHERE that the deaths of our soldiers in Iraq is devine retribution.

The protesters are nuts...and should be told that they are nuts. The protesters are horrid human beings and should be told that.

What a shame it would be if these horrid people were doing this horrid thing and good people did not know about it (from the press) so that they could help and support the families being hurt by these horrid people.

[Lady's Human]

Another definition for credence is acceptance. Most words have more than one meaning, after all, it all depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

It's really a viscious circle......

They protest for shock.

A local paper/TV station runs the story.

They get press out of it (No such thing as bad publicity)

They protest again, and get more attention. This time instead of the local TV station, it's CNN.

They get still more attention.

Ignore the bastards and let them fade back into the morass.

Yes, the stories have lead to counter protests, but they have also lead to the idiots getting attention which they would not have gotten had people simply looked at them, said "Damn, what a bunch of idiots" and looked away.

There's no hell like anonymity for idiots like this. They crave attention, and we stupidly give it to them.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Another definition for credence is acceptance. Most words have more than one meaning, after all, it all depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

It's really a viscious circle......

They protest for shock.

A local paper/TV station runs the story.

They get press out of it (No such thing as bad publicity)

They protest again, and get more attention. This time instead of the local TV station, it's CNN.

They get still more attention.

Ignore the bastards and let them fade back into the morass.

Yes, the stories have lead to counter protests, but they have also lead to the idiots getting attention which they would not have gotten had people simply looked at them, said "Damn, what a bunch of idiots" and looked away.

There's no hell like anonymity for idiots like this. They crave attention, and we stupidly give it to them.

Hurrah! Another vote heard for censorship of the press.....

(and you are wrong on the word credence....nice try but it is rooted in the word "creed" or truth...)

[DogLady]

It's really a viscious circle......

They protest for shock.

A local paper/TV station runs the story.

They get press out of it (No such thing as bad publicity)

They protest again, and get more attention. This time instead of the local TV station, it's CNN.

They get still more attention.

Ignore the bastards and let them fade back into the morass.

I'm new here but this caught my eye.

Unfortunately, the situation with Fred Phelps is not that simple to resolve. He had the police and city government of Topeka cowed for years with a barrage of lawsuits (he's a disbarred lawyer and nine of his kids are currently lawyers). When the local government grew a spine and started fighting back, he looked for another way to get attention and discovered that picketing would do the trick.

The press covered the Westboro Baptist Church pickets at various businesses and churches in Kansas for awhile but then lost interest and stopped covering them as a story.

By your theory, that should have caused Phelps & family (the Westboro Baptist Church is 80+% Phelps family members by blood and marriage) to fade away.

What really happened is that Fred Phelps then upped the ante. He started picketing funerals of people he thought (correctly or not) had died of AIDS in Kansas. When the press stopped covering that, he started showing up at funerals in other states. The press covered it a little, not much, and then ignored him.

So he upped the ante again--he showed up at the funeral of the victim of a vicious hate crame, Matthew Shepard. That got publicity and the press covered him for awhile, then they started ignoring him again.

So Fred got another idea--he started picketing the funerals of victims of other disasters like the World Trade Center bombings. After the Iraq war started, he picketed the funerals of soldiers.

The man is a whore for attention and he's a genius at figuring out ways to up the ante so he can't be ignored. Simply ignoring him just doesn't work. Fighting back does work but it's a tricky thing to do without unconstitutionally restricting the rights of others as well.

[RICHARD]

There's no hell like anonymity for idiots like this. They crave attention, and we stupidly give it to them.

Bill "big tuna" Parcells, The head coach of the Dallas Cowboys commented about the press giving Terrel "I'm a selfish AH" Owens press about his antics.

"He suckers you media in, Conisder yourselves sucked"

[Edwina's Secretary]

Right here....

And as long as the press continues to give credence to whackjobs like phelps (and airtime, and ink.....) they will continue to do what they do.

and right here....

"Ignore the bastards and let them fade back into the morass."

These whackjobs do what they do because they are whackjobs....they do it because their God tells them to.

They don't do it because the press makes them.

As an American who believes in the importance of a free press to a free society I don't think the press should be blamed for the actions of those about whom they report.

You suggest silencing the press. I disagree. It is important for us to know what kind of evil exists in our society. How else do we combat it?

[Edwina's Secretary]

So let's do your sentence again...

And as long as the press continues to give mental acceptance as true or real to whackjobs

yup...like I said...when has the press said that the deaths in Iraq were devine retribution?

or is it...And as long as the press continues to give Renaissance sideboard used chiefly for valuable plate to whackjobs?

All I am saying is keep the focus on the bad guys....the whackjobs as you call them (is that an okay word to use on here??) and not those who give us warning of the bad guys.

[Lady's Human]

Sara,

Nowhere did I say anything about silencing the press.

Nowhere.

It didn't happen.

I don't hold your opinion that the press is a wonderful, incredible pure as the driven snow institution, but nowhere did I say anything about censorship.

Stop reading into words, and take them at face value.

It IS possible for the press to merely ignore things. It has happened in the past.

There's no rule stating that they have to report anything and everything.

[Edwina's Secretary]

<<shakes head>>

Your really don't see where you said it?

<<shakes head>>