But I digress. As I was saying, I picked up the paper and without much thought, scanned the Ads by AdBlade off to the right hand corner about E-Cigs, demolishing wrinkles, and how professionals hate moms for coming up with these incredible remedies for stuff that I as a teenager don't really care about. Then the teacher began to read, so I followed along. The article was entitled "Westboro Funeral Pickets Are Protected Speech, High Court Rules."
Well, there are now two things that I don't like about this article: it's from Fox News, and it's about picket protesters. Regardless, I continue to read along, for fear of being called on to read. I gather enough info whilst reading the first few paragraphs to know that a church from Topeka, Kansas called Westboro Baptist has been picketing at military funerals, pretty much as the title said.
You can read the article that I draw reference from here.
What caught my eye, however, is not the article itself; there have been protests since the dawn of time, and since our 1st Amendment - freedom of speech - was brought into play here in the US, it's normal for the government to brush them off of their shoulders. Can't be violating our precious Bill of Rights now, can we? So yes, this shouldn't be a big deal at all to America. What caught my eye is their quite offensive signs. Yes, picket signs have offensive sayings on them, but...well, let me give this analogy. I often refer to picket protesters as little Internet trolls. They say these really stupid things in comments, and wait for someone to bite their bait - then they have what they want. They have a reaction (usually an angry reaction) from someone else. These protesters are practically the same. They wave their signs, the signs have crudely-drawn and mildly amusing little hatred phrases on them, and they wait for someone to retort. These people went a little over the top, I think. Just a little.
So this is a church, eh? Heh...that's kind of funny. Last time I went to church, they didn't protest - especially not in this fashion. And they're Baptist? I'm not a Baptist, I'm a Methodist, but I know enough about the stereotypical Baptist to realize that these people missed the mark by a long shot. These people aren't Baptist. I'm pretty sure they're not even a church. I think they're a cult. Come now, they have small children on the streets during their protests, who probably have no idea what's going on, with leaning "God Hates Fags" signs on their chests. What is this? Children don't protest. They're too young. They protest against nap time, short recesses, and putrid cafeteria food. That's not to compare to a military funeral. You could look the church up on Wikipedia and won't have to read a single word. The pictures provide more than enough information, and Wikipedia has plenty of them.
I'll admit - I'm utterly confused with this church. Not only do I feel that they contradict themselves in their signs, along with my powerful belief that they are an anarchist cult, but they seem to be surprisingly serious about what they're doing. Look at these signs.
These are not cardboard signs with white spray paint hastily scribbled to make words. Though I'm not sure, I think these were professionally made, or printed (God forgive the knucklehead who printed these...). These protests could easily have been planned, deeply and thoughtfully. The Internet also makes it pretty clear that this isn't their first strike. And then I read over the colorful backgrounds at the bold, black letters, and I raise an eyebrow. "Thank God for 9/11?" "Pray For More Dead Soldiers?" "God is Your Enemy?"
Please, be clear with me. Is God your Creator or your Destroyer? Do you love Him or not? They even try to be religious about their words with stupid signs like "You Will Eat Your Babies - Lev. 26:27-29." Quoting Bible scripture is not going to make you more religious, especially if your context is off. Just briefly, the story behind the Leviticus scripture is basically God chewing out the people who worship idols. The part about eating babies comes where God tells them not to rebel, or He'll punish them so severely that survival mode will engage within them from starvation, therefore making them want to each their children. You don't mess with God. Just saying. He'll make you eat your babies.
So now comes my response to this utter nonsense. Though I would be glad and willing to send each member of that church to a spiritual therapist, I have nothing bad to say, really. They may be extremely misled, and may prove to be a gnat in people's ears, but they do, unfortunately, have their rights, just like you and I do. If I were a victim of their protests, I'll admit, I might go to jail as a result. But it's not like trying to stop them is going to do any good. It's like the illegal industry of marijuana. Though it might not be smiled upon, people are still going to smoke it. The best thing that people can do is to take their anger out on these people in a non-violent manner, and let them do what they will. They're just a gnat...or a bumblebee...or a hungry parrot on your shoulder. Regardless, the end of the article includes the Supreme Court allowing them to do their thing instead of trying to suppress them. I'm glad the government decided to be rational instead of just. Don't worry, silly people - these hooligans will get their just desserts when they all die to face the Big Man Upstairs. I personally would like a video copy of how He deals with them then.
Don't worry, not all of my blogs will be like this. This article just really caught my attention today, and I felt the need to mentally express how I felt.
As always, I enjoy feedback on how I'm doing as a newbie.
Thanks!
- Cheryl-Buddy
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