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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Missing the point, big time.

Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas made an announcement that it will picket the funeral of Christina Green, the 9-year-old who was one of six people killed Saturday during the attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

WBC is the same group that has made its name by staging protests at funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even Coretta Scott King.  These folks test my patience and make me wonder how on earth they sleep at night. 

If you don't like gay people, um don't be gay (not that you'd have a choice if you were gay) and if you're against to war then be peaceful and work to better your community or the community of people affected by war.  If you're against AIDS - heck, we're ALL against AIDS.  Fund research and prevention education.   If Coretta Scott King pisses you off... then I'm just confused.  (Well, she did advocate for human rights, women's rights, LGBT rights, economic issues, world peace, and various other causes - that "evil" woman.)
 As for protesting the funeral of a 9-year-old girl who was caught in the cross fire of a (may I suggest) deranged and misguided person, the idea is preposterous.  What good can come from causing this kids family more pain?  How is God involved in that action?  Do these people expect to be rewarded by God?


I wish I lived in the area to participate in the Angel Corps.  These are folks who will line the streets with tall wings to block the protest signs thus enabling the family, and mourners to enter their place of comfort without the visual distraction of hate signs.  The WBC people may be heard, but they won't be seen.   It is a beautiful, non-violent reaction.  The WBC people have every right to say what they want, per our constitution, but as fellow humans they disgust me.


As for the other topic of the day, this kind of sums it up.  I think we all need to be mindful of the "rhetoric" we put out there because you never know who might be paying attention.  If nothing else, the implication of a connection between your sassy little map Mrs. Palin and the events on Saturday are detrimental to your intended message of what you think is good for America. 

Well, That and She Deleted the Maps From Her Sites

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I think we all need to be mindful of the 'rhetoric' we put out there because you never know who might be paying attention."

I have grown so tired of seeing this kind of speech-chilling platitude being parroted all over the place this week by everyone with a need to score points from a tragedy, fill air time or just have something, anything to say. The lack of critical thinking this week has been stunning. And that cartoon is beyond idiotic.

Insane people do insane things. Try watching the guy's YouTube videos for two minutes and then explaining how "being mindful of our 'rhetoric'" was going to make any difference to the non-rational internal world of this shooter. What's more, it has been shown that his fixation with Giffords dates from 2007, when no one outside Alaska had heard of Sarah Palin, no one anywhere had heard of Glenn Beck, the Tea Party did not exist, etc.

It disrespects the reality of the situation and most of all the victims of senseless, insane acts to turn those victims into martyrs for a certain kind of political civility and the avoidance of target imagery.

By the way, you should stop wearing the color red because somewhere in a different part of the country a rabid otter attacked someone.

tp_gal said...

wow...

I agree that insane people do insane things and I don't by any means mean to imply that Ms. Palin is directly responsible for the awful events on Saturday. My statement is that her choice of imagery takes away from what I believe to be her well intended message. It raised eyebrows at the time and it isn't shocking that the media would make a connection to current events.

I certainly don't need to "score points" with anyone. These are my own thoughts and comments. Take them for what they are, the lone voice of a person trying to express her thoughts in a forum that most people will never ever see. In the grand scheme of things I'm no one and my opinion matters little. However, I'm quite aware of that, but just as you have a right to think I'm not a critical thinker I have the right to say what I feel.

Regarding the lack of critical thinking thing, read back to my oh so deep discussions on shopping, the secret rules of women and sports to validate your point. (Also, my bio clearly states this blog is NOT the most important thing you'll ever read. I know my place in the world.)

PNB Dave said...

Hey, congratulations, TP, you've attracted Angry Anonymous Posters. You're big-time.

Anyway...largely overlooked by the media seems to be the fact that BOTH parties have used this kind of imagery. Two examples of how the Democrats did the same thing can be found here.
http://www.verumserum.com/?p=13647

tp_gal said...

I think the media likes to overlook digressions on behalf of the Democrats.

I'm not big time, I know who my AAP is. I appreciate their opinion (as they ARE someone whose point of view I value) and they are aware that I have the ability to check the IP address of my "traffic". I respect their decision to post anonymously and hope they continue to feel welcome to drop in, read and comment away.

No harm, no foul.