Way to go, Mississippi!

I know Mississippi has a lot of history of police and bystanders looking the other way when a crime is committed, but for once, I'm glad to see them do it for the good guys.

 

Agreed. That state is still backwards as hell, but good to see they came down on the right side of this issue.

 

I know this is wrong and I should feel bad about this, but I don't. Sometimes people get what's coming to them.

 

Not a fan of the ass-kickings even though they are richly deserved. That said, I'm happy that they were blocked and that the police saw it for what it was. Now we have a template.

 

No, no, no.

First off, I'm not exactly jumping up and down at the prospect of aligning myself with WBC for any reason. They're scum. Scum three months past their expiration date. Garbage wrapped in the skin of sub-standard human beings. All in all, a bunch of bad eggs.

But they also have the right to express unpopular thought. Freedom of speech doesn't carry much weight if it's only applied to statements of universal truth.

Cops harassing them for fabricated crimes is wrong, not because of the recipient but because of the action. Who's to say they won't create another artiface to put someone more likable through the same rigmarole? It's not as if there's no precedent down there. Ditto blocking them in with tow trucks.

And assault? That's the worst possible reaction to these clowns. Because while it feels good at the onset, there's people out there who feel very similarly to the WBC members who don't put voice to it because they aren't fond of their tactics. But make them martyrs, and that'll convince the fence-sitters that they were right all along. They get stronger with every slight or punch because it allows them to play the martyr card with factual backing -- they ARE getting persecuted because of their dumbass beliefs, and with that comes sympathy and allegiance, even if only in dribbles.

Ignore them. Sound and fury signifying nothing ... unless you signify it for them.

 

MM2 is right.

Also, we'll see how much the town is celebrating when they have to raise taxes to cover the upcoming legal battle.

 

Thanks, TBF, for bringing this to our attention. Thumbs up.

 

They have their Constitutional rights. But with those rights comes responsiblity. And the Westboro folks don't express their speech responsibly.

If they want to carry signs about how the Bible is against gay people, that's their right. But when they personalize it like "XXXXX Soldier is in Hell!", well, what do they expect?

The Westboro folks are bullies, plain and simple. They protest things their way because they can get away with it, just like bullies. Sometimes, the only way a bully learns to stop is a punch in the nose. The Mississippi folks just punched the Westboro folks in the nose (in one case, literally).

 

The thing is, I could take you anywhere in the state and within five minutes you'd see at least one and maybe more interracial couples. Nobody cares. But I wonder how welcome they'd be in parts of, say, Boston.

 

Assaulting someone isn't a straight-across trade for having unpopular speech directed to you or executed in your vicinity. It's a damn dangerous precedent to advocate escalating matters, because either a) they escalate back, and/or b) emboldened by the positive reaction, people become more likely to assault other people for their unpopular speech, even as fewer people are onboard with it. Do we punch out Operation Rescue protestors? PETA protestors? Tea Partiers? The 4-H Club?

 

Is this even true?

It's based off a post on an Ole Miss message board.

 

I watched a documentary on those nuts. The church is basically Fred Phelps and his large extended family, nothing more. It was chilling seeing his grandchildren and great grandchildren spouting pure bigoted bile, taught to them by Phelps.

Good for the folks of Rankin County. I have no problem with people exercising their free speech, but the Westboro gang borders on fighting words, which isn't protected.