In the Name of The Father, The Son, and WTF?

The biggest problem with free speech is that atrocious people get to talk, too. Most psychos can simply be ignored and marginalized to the point of mildly annoying. Young Earth Creationists, the 9/11 “Truthers,” the anti-vaccine folks, and people who talk during movies can all fall into this category. There are a few, though, who are insidious enough that they scare me. Today’s example is the Westboro Baptist Church.

In the interest of full disclosure, Virginia Tech is my alma mater and my junior year...didn’t end well. I actually have a lot of good memories surrounding the shootings--mostly doing with the community outreach and the overwhelming unity on campus--but there’s still the inevitable core of sadness and tragedy. WBC had a different take:

“God sent the shooter because of your proud sin! You raise your kids to believe they can disobey God with impunity, and that His commandments are all on the table to be disposed of whenever you please. That's why they think fornication, adultery, and sodomy are all just in good fun (instead of the filthy practices they are), and that's why the wrath of God is on them. God is cursing you by killing those same children that you have lied to all their lives. VA Tech was just GodSmacked -- another of your students murdered -- and you still refuse to heed and obey the standards of God. Woe unto you! "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness...!" Isa. 5:20. You're going to Hell, and you're taking your kids with you."

I’m not sure where to start with this one. Google helped me determine that the Isaiah verse isn’t quite correct, but the essence is preserved. That’s a petty gripe, I suppose.

My enthusiasm for any religion, along with my belief in God, is limited, but the idea of a hate-mongering group calling themselves a church pisses me off! Whatever my personal status, all religion is intended to help bring people together under a common banner. It creates a very strong “Us” group. As far as that goes, WBC does a good job, but the side-effect of creating a proportionally-hated “Them” group is evil and defines a cult, as far as I’m concerned.

There is so much Wrong (capital on purpose) with WBC’s statement that a rational rebuttal simply won’t work. The odd part is that the campus is organizing a counter-protest. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it can’t work. These people won’t be bothered with the facts. That the people listen to such bullshit already underscores their mental inflexibility and the complete absence of a desire to learn.

No, these people need to be selected out of the gene pool and prevented from procreating. Barring that, I’ll settle for ignoring them. To organize a counter-protest lends implicit credence to their assertion. If WBC has specific concerns about the practices on campus, they should express their concerns to whatever Powers That Be will give them the time. If that’s not satisfactory, they should kindly shut up and home-school their kids (God help us). A neurologist can’t debate a psychic any more than a geologist can a Young Earth Creationist, because they operate on fundamentally different levels.

As if WBC needs further discussion, there is one final detail that illustrates all they stand for and the intellectual integrity they wield. Their main webpage’s URL is godhatesfags.com. A sentiment so vile that I’m pretty sure my ISP has simply blocked my access. Based on my entirely cursory examination, the Westboro Baptist Church is terrible on every level I can think of and should not exist.

If I were King for a day...

**edit 3/28/10 - It's been mentioned that my link to WBC's website doesn't work. That's intentional. I'm not anxious to drive traffic to their site.

Allons-y!

This has been a busy few months for me and fanboyism! I don't usually consider myself susceptible to the unfortunate "Fanboy" disease--the condition most noted by a borderline-obsessive attention to detail, desire to consume, and nigh-insuppressible need to discuss something. Most often, one is a fanboy (or girl, I suppose, but they're probably better at hiding it) of something not mainstream. Otherwise, we'd call these people "fans."

Mass Effect 2 and Avatar are probably the most obvious examples of my disorder. There was a brief stint for Modern Warfare 2, but that passed quickly. The latest addition to this list is Doctor Who. Who? Yes. No, who? Don't worry; it's still on. No, WHO? OH! It's a British TV show that makes me wish more of their writers would emigrate.

The show Doctor Who is about a Time Lord named The Doctor (just The Doctor) who saves planets and stuff. And time. Okay, it's a tough pitch, but it's been on TV since Charlemagne or something. I don't know how this stuff comes to my attention, but I love the show. It's silly and confusing and warm and sweet and violent and brave and fun.

Series 3 and 4 are especially strong with "Blink" as perhaps the best episode. I just finished watching the tenth Doctor's finale and I had a bleary few moments. No American production of this would carry. There's so much love for the show in the UK that the scripts feel like a series of inside jokes and references that I'd completely get if I were a real friend. I don't mind that though, because it's fine just to be part of the picture.

I really like the show.

Just so the post makes sense though, I was cruising through the Interwebs earlier and saw a 4-port USB 2.0 hub shaped like the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space...The Doctor's time-traveling police box) and a Sonic Screwdriver (that's a driver that screws sonically...that sounds a bit raunchy). Anyway, they were both sold out. Because of fanboys. Don't worry, I'll get an email when they're in stock again.