It is easy for society to hate Fred Phelps

[dsc]

He is an anti saint as one writer, much better than I, put it. But what about the likes of Ralph Reed, Tony Perkins, and Raphael Cruz? All of them, and a host of others, have fairly unfettered media access and are considered mainstream figures. But in reality, they are like Fred Phelps without the signs. Does anyone seriously think that a Ralph Reed America would be any better for LGBT people than Fred Phelps'? Fred is dead, and no doubt he won't be mourned by anyone other than his immediate family. But the fact is there are plenty of people who are Phelps without the sign ready to take up his cause. They are the dangerous ones.

[MADem]

1. Anti-saint? That gives him too much deification. He's just an ASSHOLE.

And now, he's the LATE asshole, Fred Phelps.

I don't recommend glorifying anyone by giving them status, even "bad boy" status.

A jerk is a jerk is a jerk. Fuck 'em, and the horse they rode in on!

[dsc]

4. that is a fair point

but like it or not, he was an important figure.

[MADem]

10. He was the face of a hate movement, even though he was pushed out of that movement some time ago.

I really think it's past time we stop giving those assholes attention. I think if anyone protests them at all, they should do it in a mocking fashion, sort of like this:

[Democracyinkind]

2. "What you get is Fred Phelps without the signs"

That's just brilliant.! Rec.

[rumdude]

3. He had mental problems n/t

[roguevalley]

11. I agree. I believe I read that he was a gay man who turned into

what he was over the frustrations of it. I read an article about him zillions of years ago.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Rick Warren equated gay people to pedophiles and criminals days before he

was invited to offer 'prayers' at the Inaugural, that was fine with everybody. How is that really different than Phelps? It's not.
Pope Francis says marriage equality is Satan's idea, a machination to destroy God's plan, he says fighting equality is 'God's war'. He is spiritual leader to Uganda's 42% Catholic population, we all know what they are doing. He's celebrated here. Not different than Phelps, other than his vast international scope and his choice of clothing.

[dsc]

7. a quite fair extention of the principle

[MindMover]

6. One of the top ten haters on the planet ...

[Warpy]

8. They're younger and prettier than Phelps was

and they're too smart to commit suicide by bad PR.

However, they're no different from Phelps other than they're likely even worse at heart.

[GeorgeGist]

9. They're all dangerous.

No harm in making examples of the famous ones.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. The lesson is:

Just because one asshole hater is dead, doesn't mean our enemies are gone. We can rejoice or what-have-you in his removal from the world stage, but there are other bad actors who still deserve our "boos and hisses" and those who are GLBT or our allies know this and won't fall silent just because one hateful shit stain is gone. Though, I do believe in some cases they are much worse because they aren't reviled the way Freddie Fuck was.

I hope I wasn't indelicate.