10 Nonviolent Ways to Thwart a Westboro Baptist Church Protest

[Are_grits_groceries]

1. Strap on Angel Wings

Image credit: The Laramie Project at Duke
Angel Action is an organization that helps counter-protesters organize and construct 10-foot-tall “wings” for protesters to wear, which are used to block the view of WBC members and their signs. The group was informally founded during the murder trial of hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard, who was tortured and killed in 1998. WBC founder Fred Phelps staged a protest at the courthouse, and Angel Action founder Romaine Patterson, a friend of Shepard, devised the wings and set up around Westboro protesters. The organization is still involved in thwarting WBC pickets, including the planned Sandy Hook appearance, and has set up a Facebook event to provide details as they are available.

6. Invite Zombies

Eight Westboro members found themselves surrounded by several dozen zombies when the group showed up to protest at a Seattle-area military base in July 2011. The zombies were such an interesting (and numerous) diversion that no one paid much attention to the Westboro people. The protest’s organizer said, “It was the easiest way to divert attention from something so hateful.”

8. Diversify the Protest Agenda

Image credit: Flickr user frobo
When six members of Westboro showed up at the University of Chicago to protest the school’s employment of Barack Obama, more than 100 students organized various counterprotests, which ran through the duration of WBC’s “visit.”
Student events included a simultaneous picket featuring signs warning of America’s doom-by-figs, flyers deploring fig-eaters and speakers who told of God’s vengeance upon fig-loving nations (all sourced from a reference to evil figs in the book of Jeremiah). Down the street, a ragtag dance troupe of frat boys did a little song and dance to “It’s Raining Men.” And in a nearby courtyard, passersby were distracted by a diversity fair featuring s’mores, more scantily clad dancing men, hot cocoa and petition-signing.
Basically the idea was to outnumber and out-distract people who weren’t protesting, which seems to be the most common action (aside from just making funny signs) to detracting from Westboro’s presence.
More: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/156660

Figs.......
Ha!

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Ehhhrrrr. ( I'm afraid to ask.) They're going to *Newtown*? n/t

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. Yes...

they are sick beyond description. They announced their plans almost immediately.

[RetroGamer1971]

3. Fart them out!

Get a bunch of those novelty fart machines from Spencer's at your local mall. Every time they start blathering, walk by them and make is sound like they are tooting. I plan to try it next year at Comic-Con International in San Diego. This year one of these groups told my ten year old she was going to, hell. There were lots of cool ways us geeks retaliated. Next year I am going to make it sound like they are, "running for the border".

"Christians Protest Comic-Con 2012, Fail to Realize ‘Galactus Is Nigh"
http://thefw.com/comic-con-2012-christian-protesters/

[LTR]

4. Use a crap cannon

I've heard stories about this device, used in riot and crowd control, that emits a very low frequency that causes people to, um, soil their shorts. Use it on WBC and we'll know for sure that they're full of ahit.