On Phelps and Westboro
Now that Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptists have announced their intention to protest the funerals of the victims of the Tuscon shooting, once again they are in the news.
Dear media and fellow bloggers: stop it.
I live in Kansas. I’ve grown up with Phelps and crew protesting just about everything in sight. They protested my law school graduation. I’ve gone to several events that they’ve protested. And when I’m at those events, I do the same thing I advise all of you to do:
IGNORE THEM.
They are deliberately trying to provoke outrage with their protests, messages, and signs.
It doesn’t work if you IGNORE THEM.
Stop taking pictures of them. Stop covering them.
IGNORE THEM.
This is my first and last post on the matter. I’m annoyed that I’ve devoted this much digital ink to them.
I’m proposing a special version of Godwin’s Law for the media: If you mention the Westboro Baptist Church at all, then you are helping them and can be automatically considered to agree with them. It needs a clever name. Anyone?
Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about all the Palin stories….
Laughing at them is pretty good, too.