Ding dong, the asshole's dead

Ladies and gentlemen, it's party time...the worst human being on earth not named Vladimir Putin has finally shuffled off his mortal coil. Fred Phelps Sr. is dead at the age of 84; more details on the happy news courtesy of WCVB.com...

WCVB.com wrote:

Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, Sr., has died. He was 84.

Phelps died at a hospice care center in Topeka shortly after midnight Thursday, daughter Margie Phelps told The Associated Press.

Born in Meridian, Miss., on Nov. 13, 1929, he founded the Westboro Baptist Church in 1955 and molded it in his fire-and-brimstone image. Most of the small congregation are members of Phelps' extended family.

Since 1991, the church has held anti-gay demonstrations that would eventually include picketing the funerals of soldiers and praying for the death of more.

Despite its "Baptist" name, Westboro is not affiliated with any larger church denomination. Most Christians criticize the congregation's harsh anti-gay rhetoric and penchant for pursuing the limelight at inappropriate moments.

Slight correction...I believe they meant to say "Westboro Fascist Jerks".   

 

Never fear--I'm sure his kids and grandkids will continue the rampant batshittery and douchebaggery that we've all come to know and love loathe.

...is it bad that my first reaction to the news was "Well fuck, there goes a significant portion of my research?"

Well I think the Westboro Baptist Church is wonderful. Because it doesn't matter who you are; gay or straight, staunch tea party conservative or flaming socialist, hawks or doves, cops or crooks, fundamentalist or atheist, rich and poor. People from all walks of life and with every different political or philosophical difference. Everybody hates these guys. They unite us all!

If Hell exists, I expect Satan to invoke the "Evil Has Standards" trope and refuse to let him in.

Am I the only one who seems to be just the slightest bit uncomfortable celebrating someone's death? I mean, yeah, the guy was Grade-A overzealous, self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou sociopath, but it's still a human life! Take it down a notch.
On the other hand, I'm betting there's going to be a gathering at his funeral to picket it just to spite them all. That might be worth some laughs, at least.

TheIan wrote:

Am I the only one who seems to be just the slightest bit uncomfortable celebrating someone's death? I mean, yeah, the guy was Grade-A overzealous, self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou sociopath, but it's still a human life! Take it down a notch.

You're not the only one. I agree that, no matter how much you hate someone, celebrating their death just feels...wrong.

You can be relieved that they're dead, on the grounds that they can no longer continue with whatever it was they were doing. You could even not care about it, on the grounds that you didn't like the person. But to actually celebrate? That just seems crude and barbaric to me.

But then, I'm not a liberal, so what do I know?

TheIan wrote:

Am I the only one who seems to be just the slightest bit uncomfortable celebrating someone's death? I mean, yeah, the guy was Grade-A overzealous, self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou sociopath, but it's still a human life! Take it down a notch.
On the other hand, I'm betting there's going to be a gathering at his funeral to picket it just to spite them all. That might be worth some laughs, at least.

Well...to be honest, while I do agree that celebrating someone's death does seem a bit too dark, celebrating Phelps' death serves a purpose. This is probably just optimism on my part...but I'm willing to bet you a penny to a pound the remaining members of the WBC are looking at how people are reacting to his death and starting to have some serious thoughts about their behavior and how they look to the nation. Seriously...you can't help but think how you look to people when the death of one of your own is seen as a GOOD thing.

GamemasterAnthony wrote:

Well...to be honest, while I do agree that celebrating someone's death does seem a bit too dark, celebrating Phelps' death serves a purpose.  This is probably just optimism on my part...but I'm willing to bet you a penny to a pound the remaining members of the WBC are looking at how people are reacting to his death and starting to have some serious thoughts about their behavior and how they look to the nation.  Seriously...you can't help but think how you look to people when the death of one of your own is seen as a GOOD thing.

I kinda doubt it, honestly. According to some sources, he was excommunicated from the WBC last summer, so the family may have been at a distance. Additionally, the way their theology is constructed, they thrive on negative reactions. If you're angry at their statements/behaviors, then it means you're listening. You're paying attention. And it feeds into an ideology rooted in "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" (Matt. 5:11, KJV). You're angry? Then they're doing something right, theologically. Fred's dead and people are cheering? Even if he was at a remove, they'll still read it positively.

There's more to it (like I said, I research the WBC), but I'm working on next to no sleep thanks to grading and can't focus to see the screen right now.

Well, kids, looks like the decision about whether to picket Fred Sr.'s memorial service has already been made for us; Margie Phelps has said there won't be a funeral.

Yahoo News wrote:

Fred Phelps, a former street preacher who led a family ministry that raged against what he perceived as a morally bankrupt society, died Thursday. His legacy of picketing funerals of military veterans and disaster victims, promoting coarse language to condemn conduct he viewed as amoral, and waging legal battles that protected his actions under the First Amendment, earned him an international reputation of a man’s whose absolute conviction was never swayed in the face of widespread contempt.

“The level of his vitriol, the savageness of his comments, were just unmatched anywhere. His rhetoric was such he united people both on the far left to the far right in opposition to him and his message,” says Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala.

The organization, which tracks hate groups across the US, dubbed the Westboro Baptist Church, which Phelps founded in 1955, “arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America.”

Margie Phelps, a daughter and church member, told WIBW-AM in Topeka Thursday that there will be no funeral.

Phelps died in Topeka, Kan., the city that served as his home base for decades. The church, which followed a strictly fundamental interpretation of the Bible, was mainly comprised of family members, including nine of the 13 Phelps children, and a number of adult grandchildren.

One of those grandchildren, Megan Phelps-Roper, who left the church in 2012, said via Twitter Thursday that she was “so sorry for the harm he caused. That we all caused. But he could be so kind and wonderful. I wish you all could have seen that too.” In another tweet, Ms. Phelps added, “I understand those who don’t mourn his loss, but I’m thankful for those who see that ‘An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.’ ”

Cunovendus wrote:

TheIan wrote:

Am I the only one who seems to be just the slightest bit uncomfortable celebrating someone's death? I mean, yeah, the guy was Grade-A overzealous, self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou sociopath, but it's still a human life! Take it down a notch.

You're not the only one. I agree that, no matter how much you hate someone, celebrating their death just feels...wrong.

You can be relieved that they're dead, on the grounds that they can no longer continue with whatever it was they were doing. You could even not care about it, on the grounds that you didn't like the person. But to actually celebrate? That just seems crude and barbaric to me.

But then, I'm not a liberal, so what do I know?

There are very few people in history who were capable of the level of dedicated ass-hattery that Fred Phelps specialized in. Special circumstances, special response.

TheIan wrote:

I mean, yeah, the guy was Grade-A overzealous, self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou sociopath, but it's still a human life! Take it down a notch.

No.

TheIan wrote:

Am I the only one who seems to be just the slightest bit uncomfortable celebrating someone's death? I mean, yeah, the guy was Grade-A overzealous, self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou sociopath, but it's still a human life! Take it down a notch.

The dude was a puss-filled, ingrown hair on the asscheek of life and damned proud of it and I'm glad he died bitter and alone and excommunicated from his vile cult.

I saw an unattributed quote today, it went a lil' something like this...

"My mother always told me to only say nice things about the dead. He's dead. How nice."

Or as the apocryphal quote goes: I didn't attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.

I pity him. What a waste of a life, spending it so filled with hate.

Lady Anne wrote:

I pity him. What a waste of a life, spending it so filled with hate.

Thank God(and the American voter) that Fred Phelps never won any of his Congressional campaigns...our government would be even more messed up than it already is(which is saying volumes).

EDIT: I should have said "political campaigns"....five of his six runs for office were for state or local offices in Kansas.

Chris91 wrote:

Lady Anne wrote:

I pity him. What a waste of a life, spending it so filled with hate.

Thank God(and the American voter) that Fred Phelps never won any of his Congressional campaigns...our government would be even more messed up than it already is(which is saying volumes).

Wait...he had POLITICAL ambitions?!?

Yeah...saying our already FUBAR government would've become even more so is definitely the understatement of the millenium.

GamemasterAnthony wrote:

Wait...he had POLITICAL ambitions?!?

Ran for governor of Kansas three times, the U.S. Senate once, and mayor of Topeka twice(source: Wikipedia).

Chris91 wrote:

GamemasterAnthony wrote:

Wait...he had POLITICAL ambitions?!?

Ran for governor of Kansas three times, the U.S. Senate once, and mayor of Topeka twice(source: Wikipedia).

  He made Michele Bachmann look sane.

Not an easy thing to do.   

A lifelong member of the Democratic Party. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

God hated him.

Shoot, Maximilia, Satan hated him.   

Part of me wants to take the high road, to model the kind of compassion and forgiveness that he never showed, to show sympathy for a deceased old man.

The other part is singing this

In a way it's a relief to know that as of now the world is just that much less evil.