Rev.(?) Fred Phelps says VT massacre should have been 33,000 instead of 33.

[Lisbeth]

You need to understand Phelps' tactics.  His people do whatever they can to provoke the people they are protesting against into a confrontation.  Then Phelps sues them for every cent they have.

Then Phelps is smarter than some of the people he's protesting against. He provokes, they attack, he can use thier attack to discredit them. That's the only way he can win and he knows it. I'm sure it can't be easy to listen to Phelps's crap, but true good guys aren't vandals.

That's why the rules of engagement are, "Ignore them, they don't exist."

[BeverlyAnn]

You need to understand Phelps' tactics.  His people do whatever they can to provoke the people they are protesting against into a confrontation.  Then Phelps sues them for every cent they have.

Then Phelps is smarter than some of the people he's protesting against. He provokes, they attack, he can use thier attack to discredit them. That's the only way he can win and he knows it. I'm sure it can't be easy to listen to Phelps's crap, but true good guys aren't vandals.

I agree that violence is not the answer with Phelps and with Isaac Asimov when he said that "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."  However even the courts agree that there are such things as "fighting words" or put another way, things you can say that will justifiably earn you a punch in the nose.  Now I don't know about anyone else but when you show up at a funeral with signs telling the parents of a teenager who was beaten and left tied to a fence that he is burning in hell because he was gay, or the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq and tell his parents he's in hell for serving a corrupt country, don't be suprised if someone classifies that as fighting words.  After all, the emotions of a parent losing a child could tend to be pretty volatile.

Beverly

[Lisbeth]

I agree that violence is not the answer with Phelps and with Isaac Asimov when he said that "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."  However even the courts agree that there are such things as "fighting words" or put another way, things you can say that will justifiably earn you a punch in the nose.  Now I don't know about anyone else but when you show up at a funeral with signs telling the parents of a teenager who was beaten and left tied to a fence that he is burning in hell because he was gay, or the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq and tell his parents he's in hell for serving a corrupt country, don't be suprised if someone classifies that as fighting words.  After all, the emotions of a parent losing a child could tend to be pretty volatile.

Some people use other methods to deal with them.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/BR_Parkway/9

[BeverlyAnn]

Yep and God bless every single Patriot Rider!!!!!   

Beverly

[Kate]

So how did he GET this way?

I mean I almost feel sorry for him. Even if he's just being clever and intentionally provoking people for some odd reason, he's SO lost touch with his own humanity, it's kinda heartbreaking to see someone get THAT far lost.

What's he running from?

Was he always this way?

~Kate~

[RebeccaFog]

So how did he GET this way?

I mean I almost feel sorry for him. Even if he's just being clever and intentionally provoking people for some odd reason, he's SO lost touch with his own humanity, it's kinda heartbreaking to see someone get THAT far lost.

What's he running from?

Was he always this way?

~Kate~

   I always wonder this stuff too. I was also wondering about the VC killer himself. There are many mentally ill people who don't hurt others. What little thing was it that did or did not take place that put the killer where he was (mentally).
   Sometimes, I try to figure out what motivates, or what was derailed, for people like Cheney (who I believe is brain damaged), and Saddam Hussein, and that haggert guy who preached against homosexuality, but was engaged in it.

   Weird huh?

[cindianna_jones]

I enjoyed reading Kate's and Rebecca's responses.  It reminds me that we should always inject compassion into our own judgment.  Let's hear it for the girls who are loving and kind!

Cindi