By by VorJack
They came first for the gays …
But now the Phelps clan and Westboro Baptist are hitting closer to home (well, for me, anyway): the plan to picket Comic Con on July 22.
By an unspoken consensus, most of us avoid sending traffic to the Westboro Baptist site. But here’s part of the text from one of their press releases:
Comic Con is an excuse for whores to wear skimpy get-ups (as if they don’t already) without censure & for emulating rebels to compare costumes. Yikes. Put away your action figures & get about the business of serving your God. You fail as a human being because you shun your only obligation in this life: “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). Here is a frightening picture of this doomed generation: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister (america), pride, fulness of bread, & abundance of idleness was in her & in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor & needy” (Eze. 16:49).
Oh, and they throw in: “You idolaters have far too much time on your hands!”
Pot, kettle.
The following quote is making the rounds, but I can’t source it on the Westboro site – which seems to be having problems. Still, it seems to be an answer to the “WTF?” response most people have had to their announcement:
Are you kidding?! If these people would spend even some of the energy that they spend on these comic books, reading the Bible, well no high hopes here. They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. It is time to put away the silly vanities and turn to God like you mean it. The destruction of this nation is imminent – so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.
Can someone point me towards anyone who worships Batman? I’d like to meet them … well, from a distance anyway.
This seems like a poor idea for the Phelps clan. The folks at Comic Con will have a grand old time making fun of this crew.
Gwenny: Absolutely not! The world has plenty of people having kids. A child consumes HUGE amounts of resources, which from both a... 
Siberia: Or maybe they know they have neither patience nor inclination to deal with the fruit of their loins and thus, rather than be... 
DDM: Repubs and Dems. He’s saying they only take first impressions and... 
CM: Good point, most religions encourage having a lot of children. From an evolutionary standpoint you sort of owe it to your... 
Jasowah: “They don’t go beyond those emotions, and that’s the... 
DarkMatter: And funny that most of them are huge in size in the vid. 
51 Comments
Well, maybe not Batman… but I won`t have difficulties worshiping Catwoman…
This time they’ve went too far.
Although sometimes I get the impression that the Westboro Baptist Church are trolls. I know they’re not, but sometimes they give me an air of professional Poeism. Like they’re trying to act atrocious just so people can move away from Christianity. Just maybe. Just maybe.
They certainly have a reputation for suing anybody who says anything they dislike. Seems freedom of speech only applies to them…
They make money by provoking reactions and then suing. Not so much Poes as a cynical cash exercise.
Why…why…if I didn’t already know the FSM was God, I might be willing to worship Batman, just for spite! -<
You fail as a human being because you shun your only obligation in this life: “Fear God…”
Ever notice how successful this ‘fear God’ meme is? Here’s another example from the trailer to some religious series coming out. This episode is a direct expression of the fear God meme:
Fear God
In it, the spokesman states, “Who ever you are, the moment you see God, you ARE going to fear him. We all will.”
Don’t you love the certainty with which it is expressed? But I digress.
The laughing God meme isn’t nearly as successful. No one I’m aware of has put out a video claiming, “Who ever you are, the moment you see God, you ARE going to laugh hysterically!”
I find that sort of thing interesting.
Fear god because he loves you. These dudes have some really fu*ked up concept of love.
I was thinking something along the same lines. I find that if we need to fear and love god, this just proves that god is a bully. It sounds like a woman getting beat up by her husband.
I had a thought just now on this, regarding domestic violence. Perhaps rather than comparing god’s love to domestic violence, I wonder if it could help to change the perspective that there’s different opinions on domestic violence due to the warpedness of god’s love. It’s not low self-esteem, it’s culturally suppressed by the example of god’s conditional love.
A lot of the biblical “commands” that a wife submit to her husband, but then also a man to submit to god under similar conditions and effects, a hierarchy, so to speak. That men beat their wives by the example of god, rather than they are just so mean and insecure themselves, they are made insecure by their beliefs, and made more secure IN their beliefs by exerting their command over the next lowest being (as the bible says, not me). In normal society, the woman is conditioned not to seek help — she is embarrassed, she is too poor, she thinks it’s her fault, she fears he will punish her even more severely. We’re all semi-conditioned to blame her if she stays when it should be obvious to her that she needs to get out.
People who believe the bible are a lot the same. It should be obvious to them that their bible is lying to them, that there is no hell, that their god doesn’t make sense and he’s a malevolent asshoIe. Get out. But they can’t see it.
That all seems like a rationalization when I write it out like that, but as a sociological condition of humans, an observation that might not have been studied, or maybe it’s not new either. I am not supposing domestic violence is exclusive to Christian fundamentalists, but that biblical patriarchy is part of our culture whether we want it to be or not, and the mentality of the arbitrarily “violent but loving god” manifests itself in others outside the extremes of Christianity.
I think that might be an explanation in some cases but not all. I do think that some men might do it out of insecurity. I am no expert at this so I don’t want to say too much. But I could see how some men could beat there wives because of the hierarchy.
I’m a DV survivor, and Kodie nailed it.
We stay because we are afraid that — as bad as it is — the abuser will escalate the abuse if we try to leave.
It has also been my unfortunate experience that the police won’t do a damn thing until you’re either near death, or outright DEAD.
“God” is nothing more than an abusive man, scaled up to a cosmic level.
“This sounds like a job for… Preacherman!”
*Heroic harp fanfare*
There is a Comic called “Battle Pope”
Sounds like Bill Donohue’s monthly newsletter.
Any chance Battle Preacher is related to Bible Man?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK27H1SygWw
In this specific instance, they are walking right up to the mirror and failing to recognize themselves in it. God is no more effective than shouting out for the help of Superman or Batman. These characters have that in common that they don’t exist, and you can’t be rescued by them. Cartoons and superheroes are fun and people might spend a lot of time and money on this hobby, some might take it way too seriously, but none will say people who don’t like the genre are going to wish they had. They know some people don’t get it, and think people who don’t get it are missing out on a lot of fun, but I think such nerds realize it’s not for everyone and ultimately it’s just a hobby, for some all- or near-all-consuming.
When you put god in those terms of a fictional superhero, and the all-consuming hobby of being a Westboro Baptist fanboi or grrl, it seems a deliberate ignorance on their part to pick on the comic genre and cons. God to them is real, and although he hasn’t done anything yet, when you die, he will be realer than Superman. They seem confident that there is some difference between the effects of god and other fictional characters.
“In this specific instance, they are walking right up to the mirror and failing to recognize themselves in it.”
LOL! A most excellent observation.
The significant difference is that most comic book geeks, even the most obsessive, are capable of telling the difference between a fictional character and real life.
Which I imagine is why they don’t see themselves in the mirror.
Or they don’t know they are vampires.
Hmm, interesting point. Christians do have a peculiar fascination with blood.
Eh, as long as they don’t sparkle.
*twitch*
I dont know about worshipping Batman but here’s a Russian cult which seems to worship Gadget Hackwrench from the Rescue Rangers….
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/russian-cult-worships-female-cartoon-character.html
Rescue Rangers fandom is a scary scary place…. almost as scary as Sonic the Hedgehog fans (almost)
I never hear anyone complaining about rule 34 with Krystal from Star Fox.
You can’t prove she isn’t real, so she must be. Plus, she’s fairly sexy for a cartoon mouse.
Priest: And Scotty beamed them to the Klingon ship where they would be no… “Tribble” at all.
Congregation: All power to the engines.
Well, Dr. McNinja probably worships Batman.
YES
I wonder how much this melts their brains:
The Bible in comic book form:
http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Bible-Iva-Hoth/dp/0781430550
lol!
I imagine they are simply working a protest into vacation plans. Might as well kill two birds… I hope the Comic Con cooks up a fabulous response.
They could invite them to a showdown between Captain Hammer and god.
I think we should invite some other gods. Like Thor with his mighty hammer.
They say…
“They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do!” With a straight face while holding the biggest pile of fictional comic book characters EVER!!!
My irony meter is now broke!
Yes ComicCon will have a field day laughing at these marrons.
The Phelps aren’t worth the time. The fact that they lowered themselves beyond denigrating homosexuals and fallen soldiers to attack comic book fans is pretty solid proof of this. It’s like when PETA got on Obama for swatting a fly on camera. Just sillyness.
Now I have a reason to DVR G4’s coverage of ComicCon!!!
Wow, their heads will simply explode when they find out about San Jose’s Fanime…
Terrific! We’re going to take everyone back to the age of the Puritans, where we can worry that somewhere, somebody is having fun. Idiots.
If only the message they had taken out of Ecclesiastes was, “Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise–why destroy yourself? Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise–why destroy yourself?” (Ecc. 7:21-2 NIV) or perhaps “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.” (4:9-10 NRSV) But no, they had to go for “Fear God and keep his commandments,” even though that is not what the Teacher ever actually said.
I hate the Bible. Maybe not all the books in the Bible, but the Bible itself. Somehow its compilation seems to distort the message of the books individually, create false and unreasonable associations between them, and cause pious editors to create antithematic changes.
I am thinking of something like “senior quotes” or whatever people post in their “sigs,” nearly everyone can find some particle of literature, a poem, a song, or motto, or summary line of a famous speech or document, and it speaks what they wish they were smart enough to say, or eloquent enough to make up the words they want people to know they live by.
Ok, this is pretty heinous to live by, but it’s also fairly common for people to do. For people who think the bible is from god to overlook what they don’t want to say in favor of what they do want to say… I don’t know where I was going with this. It’s hypocritical to ignore parts of the bible but impossible to reason people out of using the parts they think are more vital to express their inner thoughts. I wish it weren’t so easy to distort “god’s word,” it might be a lot easier for us all if there was just one thing the bible said and you either believe it or you don’t. It’s full of stuff, it’s no Beatles Catalog, but analogy-wise, it’s like saying you have to like all their songs or quote none of them, or prefer Norwegian Wood to Yer Blues when they’re so different to compare. I wish people who believed the bible would grasp that concept, be honest with themselves about it.
But don’t they worship Saints? Fffff.
No, that’s the Catholics.
Umm, just how stupid are they to attempt to picket and harass a group of people dressed in disguises? Costume, anonymity, 100’s of storm troopers to hide among… a job well done…
Everyone is welcome to their own belief system, but in the process one should refrain from demanding anyone else believe as you do. If we all, individually, looked within ourselves and accepted our own standards on how our life should be lived, and allow the rest of the world to live according to their moral priorities, we would be ahead. We have no power to control the thoughts and beliefs of others. Why get your shorts in a bunch over how others live their lives. Be concerned only with yourself and your own standards of morality for yourself. Teach your kids to think for themselves as well. Be a good example, but don’t demand others conform to your idea of what’s right.
So we have no power, or no business using our power? I mean, voting, democracy, will of the people. They have a constitutional right to say what they want to say, assemble peacefully to say it, and no infringement of their religious beliefs, and no real power to infringe ours just from protesting an event. That should be enough, but voting allows representatives to vote on the people’s behalf.
We all have this power, but we are one person, one vote. That has a lousy chance of getting the will of one person to the power we are granted. When we want what we want, we want to rally others to agree and to vote. They do too. That’s why we talk about it, and say what we want and say what is bad and how things should really get done, to get others motivated to think, and talk, and vote about it. We want the government to be for us and not them, and they do too. When the government does the will of the people, it may be against us personally, and against our beliefs. It is not something to be quiet about and let others take that power away from us if we could have the life we rather wanted, and the powers representing us.
Ideally, the government wouldn’t screw it up. Ideally, if you are not the majority, it’s tough puppies, you do not win. Would you want that to happen, or would you want a lot of other people to be on your side?
I mean, if you believe in Jesus — maybe you are trying to save others by evangelizing, or maybe you just want them to use their new belief and vote politicians in who will believe the same and represent those interests. It seems a lot of people think this life is for them to live in a country who think the same, or at least follow the same ideals. I don’t know why they aren’t satisfied with heaven, living their lives accordingly and expecting to meet that goal. They’re on earth, they want the whole earth to operate in a singular fashion, but limit so far to the borders of the country. Once the country is for Christ, then it can take over the world. What is this earthly concern? I thought they are not supposed to care on this life below, so I wish they wouldn’t, but it has happened that they do.
And so to keep that from happening, mostly because it’s a fake fairy story that should have no influence in the governing of all of us, we have to increase awareness and numbers of voters to keep that from happening.
Just keeping it to yourself and thinking that’s ok, and bringing your personal belief to the voting booth is unlikely to have an effect. You feel you’ve done your civic duty as an American, but the real civic duty is to influence the will of as many people as you can by selling your ideas and making it as important for them to vote. Especially if that’s how the other side is doing it.
It would be nice if people could keep it to themselves and everyone would be assured the will of the people would amount to something favorable to everyone, but that’s not how “we the people” works. The only power we really have is talking others into voting. Without the talking, most people don’t have the motivation to vote, they don’t think anything’s a problem, and realize mathematically, their vote doesn’t really count, and action is unnecessary. If it were just talking and no voting, it would also be futile and ineffectual, which is what I think you said.
Your concern has been noted. Kthxbai.
I love to attend cons myself and while we are nerds, we are very smart nerds. I think Westboro has no idea the real hell they have found themselves in. ComicCon attenders will give theses guys no end of pain and enjoy every minute of it.
Westboro is just a bunch of busybodies who should be ignored. They’ve gotten too much press for being outrageous. They don’t represent any faith/belief/religion I recognize. I wish they could be deterred from their attack on military funerals but maybe we could make them mad by praying for them. Perhaps you could frighten them away by “befriending” them.
Wow, didn’t think they could be any crazier. They just did it. They better keep their dirty hands off star-trek! : ) I have a strong feeling they are going to get owned by comic con. It’s freaking amazing that these religious psychopaths have not be seriously attacked. CPS should save those children, they are putting them directly in harms way by bring them to these psychotic protests. Not even mentioning their horrible brainwashing and very likely physical and psychological abuse.
Oh, it’s not “likely” abuse — they ARE abused.
Google “Addicted to Hate” for a *gag* lovely portrait of the Phelps Klan.
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