Tyler Massey ([info]chuckdarwin) wrote,
@ 2007-04-03 01:00:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Phelps' America














Louis Theroux is a better man than I am.

(Post a new comment)


[info]suphaltus
2007-04-03 12:11 am UTC (link)
*beats head on desk*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 12:13 am UTC (link)
This show was watched by millions here this weekend. People find it very upsetting here. My friends have asked me very pointed questions about it that I cannot answer.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]suphaltus
2007-04-03 01:52 am UTC (link)
Hopefully they realize these folks are a very loud, but very tiny minority.... they are labeled as the most hated for a reason.

Also: http://www.patriotguard.org ... in my book these guys rock. They've taken a peaceful, but resolute, stand against Westboro's funeral protests.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Another blemish on our country
[info]mcoletti
2007-04-03 03:47 am UTC (link)
And I need to cleanse my brain by reading some proof that not all Yanks are insane, zealots; e.g., Pharyngula, The Bad Astronomer, and Ooblog.

See? There still exist rational, intelligent people here. They're just not as loud. (Or, sadly, numerous.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Another blemish on our country
[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 10:41 am UTC (link)
There are literally millions of very reasonable, thoughtful Americans. Everyone knows that (deep down), but the message that gets pounded home day after day (in films, TV shows, the news, and the Bush cabal) is that it's a country filled with madmen... a country that has lost its way and lost its edge.

British researchers announced amazing results using stem cells to grow heart tissue, including a heart valve. Imperial College of London heart surgeon and Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub believes this breakthrough could lead to growing whole replacement hearts from stem cells.


Anyone want to guess why that breakthough didn't come from a US lab? Anyone? Bueller?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]bastard_king
2007-04-03 10:18 am UTC (link)
Don't mean to be intrusive, but what kind of questions are they asking?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 10:35 am UTC (link)
Is this for real?

Why hasn't anyone killed them?

How many Americans believe in this sort of thing / attend this sort of church / buy into such a hate-filled message?

Don't most Republicans hold similar views on homosexuality and gay marriage?

Are you *sure* you're from America?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]bastard_king
2007-04-03 10:41 am UTC (link)
Ah..
Those questions don't seem that hard to answer. :P

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 10:45 am UTC (link)
The last one really stumps me. See, I'm not really sure anymore. I *sound* American, but that's just bad luck at this point.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]bastard_king
2007-04-03 10:56 am UTC (link)
I guess - but to be fair, America's media really went out of their way to ostracise the family too. Admittedly the disgust of most commentators stemmed from "support the troops" fervour rather than impassioned defense of homosexuality.
But even amongst a nation of idiot creationists, they are thankfully a minority.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
But even amongst a nation of idiot creationists, they are thankfully a minority.
[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 11:01 am UTC (link)
A very vocal minority, sadly.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]paintedangel
2007-04-03 12:34 am UTC (link)
Thank you for posting this. I read about it on the BBC website a little while back, but my access to British TV is limited since coming back to Canada.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 10:36 am UTC (link)
Thank the kind soul who put it all up on youtube in order, numbered and rendered properly.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]mcfnord
2007-04-03 01:56 am UTC (link)
gramps demonstrates some typical cultist techniques. yer stupid. you don't know nothin. etc. break 'em down, so you can build 'em up!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 10:37 am UTC (link)
Mantra: 'aksed and answered'

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]insalubrious
2007-04-03 10:17 am UTC (link)
I was passing a funeral for a soldier in Fayetteville that Westboro church was picketing last year. All I saw was American flags, bikers and police separating the picketers and the funeral like a wall so the family didn't have to be put through that crap. It was great.
I mean funerals. Really.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 10:23 am UTC (link)
It's inhuman. Mad respect to Louis for trying to reach out to these people and make them see the pain they're causing to others. I couldn't have done it, personally - I don't have enough love in my heart.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]insalubrious
2007-04-04 12:42 pm UTC (link)
I couldn't have done it either. But then, I'm a hard-line NRA advocate who supports the troops. I'd rather draft them into a service related organisation like, say an AIDS clinic.
How much hate does it take to do the things they are doing?
sigh.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]rougewench
2007-04-03 01:56 pm UTC (link)
The testament of a free society is the true tolerance for free speech, even when that speech is wholly and completely repugnant.

I can understand why it would be quite difficult for you to try to answer questions posed to you in the wake of the broadcast, in that there is truly no defense for the ideas presented, other than the ideal that in a free society all ideas have the opportunity to be expressed.

What has always upset me, is that I am from Kansas. These people are addicted to inciting hate. Addicted to the rush of spewing venom and are the products of extreme abuse and cultist indoctrination.

But you know, I do think it says something that the vast majority of people who are confronted by the Phelps contingent react very negatively to the message presented. So if anything, I think these people, in the end, manage to do more for promoting tolerance and acceptance than anything else. Someone of a more moderate view, upon seeing such invective, can be quite easily be put off of their own negativity, having been shown the ugliest face of intolerance.

However, they are right fuckers, and I'd like nothing more than for them all to drop the fuck over dead, struck by lighting. I'd applaud.


D.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 02:04 pm UTC (link)
I have to say that Theroux's patient, measured, and (to me) mild response to them and their illogical views was amazing. He did a great job of playing the reasonable agnostic in the face of their rabid fundamentalist roles.

I think he did actually pity them, especially the children (who were completely unaware of what the subject matter at hand entailed other than the idea that 'God hates fags').

'Gramps' didn't seem to do much, really, other than crack the whip on Sundays. The women were happy enough to fly to the ends of the Earth and picket funerals forever... which begs the question: who is funding all this, really? They didn't seem to have a large congregation like the mega-churches Ted Haggard had... is the KKK behind it?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]rougewench
2007-04-03 03:09 pm UTC (link)
It is truly amazing that he remained so calm, but then I think he really hoped that by doing so he could find out that they really weren't totally taken by their indoctrination.

The church claims 75 members. All working adults are required to pay into the church, 10% of what they make. Several of them are lawyers. Others medical professionals. I think that the funding comes from within, mostly, and that all the money they make goes to the pickets...most of the pickets are actually fairly local.

However, the media loves the circus, that's why they get coverage.

Otherwise, it's insular and put out bare bones over the web. Before that it was just the pickets.


D.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 03:25 pm UTC (link)
Can you imagine going to a lawyer's office and running into one of these folks? *laughs*

I wonder if they specialise in discrimination cases ;-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]rougewench
2007-04-04 03:00 am UTC (link)
Yes, actually, they do.

Invariably, they represent their interests when they are sued by people.


D.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]orangecone
2007-04-03 03:50 pm UTC (link)
Oh, this is great stuff.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 04:09 pm UTC (link)
My favourite bit is when the seven-y-old repeats the whole 'god hates fags' mantra word for word, but is unable to demonstrate that he understands it in any real way. It's just words... words that inspire a passing motorist to lob a full cup of soda at his little head.

It gets pretty intense, this show.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]orangecone
2007-04-03 04:53 pm UTC (link)
I laughed at that part because of course those kids don't know what those things mean. They can repeat it over and over, but it'll be a while before the actually comprehend what they're saying. Even then, they're so deluded they don't comprehend fully.

There's a section on a Topeka website which goes pretty indepth about the family. I read it several years ago. I've probably given it to you before. I can't find it right now, but in conjunction with this video, you can learn a lot about these people.

I also liked the portion regarding "cult" status. They are a cult, but so is every "religion" by definition. Just because they're mainstream doesn't mean they always were or will be.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Found it
[info]orangecone
2007-04-03 05:01 pm UTC (link)
The parent site has been changed and this section of it hasn't been updated in quite some time, but the information contained was a good read.

http://cjonline.com/webindepth/phelps/

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Found it
[info]chuckdarwin
2007-04-03 05:55 pm UTC (link)
thanks for that

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]orangecone
2007-04-03 04:27 pm UTC (link)
His interview with the "Man" himself was awesome! \A/

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…