How to Deal with Westboro Baptist Church
This is the best example of positive organized action against religious hatred. Take notes for when Fred Phelps and family visit your town.
30 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Absolute genius.
That was a simply awesome idea. =) Good for that guy! I hope it happens everywhere they show up and sticks in Old Man Phelps’ craw.
A complaint:
The “Upcoming Events” Agenda to the right of this video covers up part of the video even in full screen mode using Firefox browser and it is quite annoying.
I really love this.
can’t watch youtube at work, can someone summarize?
FTW! The thank you cards are a nice touch.
At the WBC counter-protest I went to, there were big jars being passed around by the organizers for the Human Rights Campaign as well. WBC didn’t even show up and money was raised!
Fantastic. A wonderful idea of feedback applied to a good cause. For those who can’t view it, the basic idea is to not protest, but solicit donations at WBC protests – donations to go toward the groups WBC is protesting against, with said donations made “in honor of” WBC, and a thank you card sent back to WBC for each one.
A terrific turnaround of the “there is no bad publicity” motif.
He’s cute too he just needs to shave!
It’s a great idea, but not quite original. I remember reading about the WBC protesting outside a gay bar and restaurant in Ann Arbor back in 2001. The owners organised a fundraiser where people donated so much per minute of the Phelps protest, raising $7500 for a local LGBT community centre.
Good on Jason, though. The world needs more of this, at least till the likes of WBC is a distant, fading memory.
Very cool.
Jason is my hero. Brilliant.
I think the “thank you” cards really makes it.
I think that’s a really good idea because he’s turning a negative into a positive. This is not the main reason for doing it, but it will help the image of nonbelievers and skeptics.
Excellent!
Wonderful. I love it. The thank you cards are the perfect comment.
Where can I find Jason? How can I get him to come out to Skepchick events in Chicago? Where do I send my thank you card to him?
I love it! The thank you cards are the icing on the cake! Well done indeed.
Sweet snark. The perfect kind of “thank you” card.
This is awesome. I wish I had thought of this back when the WBC came to my college.
That is a great f##kin idea!
Back in 2001 in Madison Wisconsin we had a fundraiser when they came and protested here – People pledged a certain amount for each MINUTE that the WBC protested. We called it Every Minute Counts, and it meant that we actually cheered for them to stay longer.
I was one of the small group of people that organized the fundraiser, and we raised $4000 for a scholarship fund. It ended up giving $1000 to each of 4 queer youth to attend college.
Blam! Suck on that WBC!
By far the best response. I hope what he suggests does happen and this technique catches on (or like fenderplayer96′s and devianttouch’s versions).
The best thing about the thank-you cards is I can only imagine what kind of mailing lists the WBC is going to get on. If they aren’t already, they’re going to get metric buttloads of solicitations from the ACLU, Jewish Anti-Defamation League, ILGA, GLAAD, amFAR, and — oh sweet ghost of my grandma, I can only hope — Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Someone has to sort through that mail, and after seeing enough of those logos eventually his or her head will explode.
@ZenMonkey:
Sadly, I fear that the heads of Mr Phelps and his family are so calcified internally with hatred and dogma that even a stick of dynamite gaffer-taped to their bonces wouldn’t even make a dent. :(
What everyone else has said… brilliant idea! I just hope they didn’t get harangued by the WBC mob whilst collection donations.
@Elyse: I can have a looksee around UIC if you’d like to find him.
How on earth did I miss this?
This man is awesome. This is exactly the way to deal with people like the WBC.
Our local Planned Parenthood does the same thing with pledges for pickets. People donate to the free care fund (which, being private money, can be used to provide abortion services to those who can’t afford to pay the fee.) I don’t know that it stops them, but it does raise a lot of money for the cause.
Is anyone else bothered that such a self-righteous organization is dragging the US flag around on the ground?
I mean, it’s their right and all, but it seems needlessly disrespectful. I mean, they apparently want to alienate both people who understand gay-rights issues AND anyone who actually, you know, respects the symbols of our country.
AND the flag of Israel. Or did you miss that?