All over the television networks, peeps been talkin’ ’bout that Westboro thing. “The bad guys win,” declared revisionist historian O’Reilly of the 8-1 Supreme Court decision that upheld the First Amendment as being awesome, albeit sometimes abused. Silly Samuel Alito, who O’Reilly agrees with, argues, “Mr. Snyder [the father of the slain Marine] wanted what is surely the right of any parent who experiences such an incalculable loss: to bury his son in peace.” Translation: Funeral rights, mentioned nowhere in any Constitution I’ve read, trump free speech rights. Even Snyder agrees: “We can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity. What is this country becoming?” But the best line in this exchange comes from Megyn Kelly: “Do you like the First Amendment?” Clearly not ZOMG!
And then here’s Andrew Napolitano and Shep Smith — and, holding true to our theory, whenever you involve Smith in a conversation, reasonable debate can be had!
But bless Sarah Palin, the Fox News paid contributor, who tweeted about the decision: “Common sense & decency absent as wacko ‘church’ allowed hate msgs spewed@ soldiers’ funerals but we can’t invoke God’s name in public square.” Wait. You can’t? BRING BACK THE FIRST AMENDMENT SP! GO GIT IT GURL!
Spike
Figures this clown, Sarah and the rest would totally get this wrong. In their pea brains, free speech occurs only when you agree with the person speaking.
And no surprise that they sat silent when the AIDS related funerals were being picketed, but now they have their panties in a bunch when they show up at the Marine’s funeral. This lawsuit played right into the hands of the Fred Phelps family, i.e. national publicity.
Kaderade
One day all of these people will realize that by bitching about the westboro cult on national television just gives them more visibility and attention, which is precisely what they want. I know reporting on them is usually done with the intention of making them look like fools but it really just makes their message get heard yet again. Ignore the bastards.
BostonGuy
Kad : I still half-believe that the Westboro cult is a fraud staged by gays (with mega-bucks) to make homophobia look ridiculous. Carefully calculated, and it worked.
Scott in NYC
Is Queerty’s hatred for O’Reilly and all things Fox News (with the possible exception of Shep Smith) that they can post something so incredibly stupid?
O’Reilly hates a racist, homophobic church that was just granted free reign to continue to harass peple who are at the funerals of their sons and daughters. I agree that this is a first amendmeent issue, but how do you argue where O’Reilly’s heart is on this one…he’s AGAINST THE GAY-HATERS! Got that, Queerty?
Queerty’s blatant partisanship and incredible denseness in this post is repulsive. When will it stop?
YetAgain
Scott In NYC : It’s okay to hate O’Reilly if you disagree with his politics or views, but most of the gay transplants to NYC (like the Queerties) automatically hate O’Reilly because they’re told to and they just follow along. In all fairness, though, none of Queerty’s posts make any sense these days. They love Lady Gaga, then hate her. They like Obama, then hate him. They can’t spell anything correctly. So it’s no big deal if they go anti-O’Reilly.
Jimmy Fury
@Scott in NYC:
Being against homophobes doesn’t excuse simultaneously arguing against free speech.
Like it or not the WBC *is* within their constitutional rights. They get their permits, they maintain their noise levels, and they stay in their designated area.
I feel sick to my stomach defending them and think the world would be a better place if a meteor killed every last one of them.
But their rights are our rights.
If you defend taking away their rights because you don’t like what they’re doing, then you have no defense when someone tries to do the same to you.
YetAgain
Jimmy Fury : All that’s true, but do you REALLY think Queerty is criticizing O’Reilly for such reasons of integrity? The same website that said Imus practically deserved his cancer for his “nappy headed ho” statement yet remained silent when Imus came out for gay marriage? Believe me, it’s not that lofty around here?
Jimmy Fury
@YetAgain: “but do you REALLY think Queerty is criticizing O’Reilly for such reasons of integrity?”
No, of course not. Queerty has about as much integrity as O’Reilly himself. However, that wasn’t Scott’s argument which is what I was responding to.
FluffyInDrag
I just laugh and laugh that he NEVER mentioned that they do the same thing to gay, Jewish, and HIV-positive people’s funerals.
Jim Hlavac
Actually, the WBC is not protesting laws, or government actions. They’re not really engaging in free speech to affect government policies, though they couch it that way, and hide behind religion to boot. They’re calling for the cultural and physical genocide of a group of citizens they don’t like. They’re just doing it very calmly “within the law.” Ahem.
Indeed, all the “family” groups, by calling constantly for the elimination of gayness are calling for our elimination — one way or the other. They simply want the thing wiped out, and since we are the thing and are inseparable from it — we’re to be eliminated by any means, so far, just short of violence. Though there are even those who call for our execution, too, like “you can run but you can’t hide” Bradlee Dean, now gleefully protected in his free speech. They are clear on this.
Which is a bit more than “free speech on a matter of public concern.” I would dare hope that the elimination of a group of citizens is a matter of public concern indeed.
No religion or church should have the right to call for the extermination of a group of citizens. But they were just given the right to do so.
John
@BostonGuy: “Kad : I still half-believe that the Westboro cult is a fraud staged by gays (with mega-bucks) to make homophobia look ridiculous. Carefully calculated, and it worked.”
Yes, the W.B.C. does now appear to be one of North America’s most effective pro-LGBT rights groups, eh? 😀
However, with the exception of four disillusioned members who have left…
Son Turns on Church That Pickets Soldiers’ Funerals
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/nate-phelps-westboro-church-exclusive/story?id=10555603
…they are indeed genuine bigots:
‘America’s Most Hated Family’ by Louis Theroux
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7735501683185935638#