<p>Yes yes. I'm just making a point.</p>
<p>We Are Successful!!!</p>
<p>We Did Prevail!!!</p>
<p>Columbia County Police Informed Me That Westboro
Will
Not
Be
Picketing</p>
<p>Someone Offered Them 3 Hours Of National Radio Time In Exchange For Them Not To Picket!!!</p>
<p>According to the facebook group.</p>
<p>Hardly a victory, FreshElephant. They still get national coverage.</p>
<p>pachisi: Free speech is one thing, but I've heard some people suggest that their words could be considered "incitement" in some places. I know little about legal stuff, but that certainly seems interesting to me.</p>
<p>Arrgh, I say.</p>
<p>Let them speak. There's this little thing that people can do called ignoring. It can work wonders.</p>
<p>"Somehow, it's not surprising that everyone doesn't want him to have free speech"</p>
<p>THEY ARE PICKETING FUNERALS. And you're an idiot.</p>
<p>OK wow you CANNOT ignore someone picketing at a funeral. Anyone who says you can just ignore them really needs to grow up and realize we are not talking about politics. Protesting at anyone's funeral, liberal or conservative is dead wrong unless we were talking about a tyrant. Sorry, there is no room for comprimise.</p>
<p>no, this is ridiculous. how could ANYONE say that its ok for them to do this??? I can't believe that anyone would post and say that it is freedom of speech. It is sick, it is wrong, and it is cruel to the families and survivors. You don't ignore it--you stop it because it is WRONG.</p>
<p>^^
Could not have said it better. But luckily they aren't doing it.
A bit of divergence here, if anyone is going to hell it's them for even THINKING about doing it.</p>
<p>Why won't someone blow them up:(</p>
<p>I greatly fear the day you all are in positions of influence and free speech in America goes down the drain. </p>
<p>I am no more fond of him than any of you, but I believe he can do anything he wants to within the law. People are so quick to want personal freedoms taken away when it means more convenience for them.</p>
<p>And I am struck again by how quickly I was insulted without the person actually responding to my post. How typical.</p>
<p>I'm surprise he and his followers haven't been strucked down by lightning yet.</p>
<p>I wonder what the liberals have to say about this; conscience vs. "civil liberties". </p>
<p>But I already know what side the ACLU will support :)</p>
<p>I'm surprised someone hasn't posted this yet:</p>
<p>darn it, youtube took it down.</p>
<p>anyways, I found the first part of a seven part documentary of the Phelps family by Louis Theroux of BBC2:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyS8GIrwZyE%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyS8GIrwZyE</a></p>
<p>The documentary is called "The Most Hated Family in America"</p>
<p>Someone let me know if they've found the full documentary.</p>
<p>More info on the documentary:</p>
<p>This group is planning to picket the funerals of the Virginia Tech students.</p>
<p>Rumor has it, they picket these funerals to provoke the grieving families into an altercation...then sue the familes for their insurance money.</p>
<p>Pachisi: And you're still missing my point. No one's saying that he shouldn't have the right to free speech or assembly, or that those rights should be denied him or abridged.</p>
<p>We're just saying that no decent human being would do it. There's a difference between social and legal or physical pressure. You can do something like this, but free speech doesn't shield you from everyone thinking you're a huge ass and treating you accordingly, in ways that can have real repercussions.</p>
<p>Diehldun: Again, the two rights aren't in conflict. He CAN do it. He SHOULDN'T do it. We're NOT going to march in and stop him from doing it. We ARE going to make loud statements condemning him for doing it (this is also using free speech.)</p>
<p>What about this is so terribly hard to understand?</p>
<p>this group had announced that they were going to protest at a soldier's funeral in the town where my daughter attends school . In our state (Illinois) there was a law passed that prohibits the protesters being within a certain distance from the funeral service and the family. Several students signed up to go to the funeral with golf umbrellas in order to shield the family's view of the protesters - ultimately over 40 students showed (while the Phelps group did not.) This was a very moving experience for the students - they felt that they were both supporting the grieving family and connecting with the community.</p>
<p>Of course no decent human would do it, but people are suggesting he should be arrested or stopped. He should have the right.</p>
<p>Agreed pachisi. He's not a decent a human being, and none of his followers are. Forcing them to not be able to speak only gives them more attention and that's exactly what they want.</p>