Free to Hate: Fight Against Military Funeral Protestors

Free to Hate

Since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom(OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom(OIF), 4,443 brave American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq alone serving their country(http://antiwar.com/casualties/). For each of these soldiers, there was a funeral. That's 4,443 families devastated at the loss of a loved one, long before their time. Now imagine that pain and grief of losing a son, brother, of best friend growing up. Imagine that very same pain, but this time imagine dozens of angry protesters holding picket signs with outright obnoxious slogans like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" or "Semper Fi Faggots". Sort of makes the grieving process a tad more difficult, right? For many, this sick scenario is a nightmare turned reality.

Westboro Baptist Church has made it their mission to spread their interpretation of the "word of God" since 1998. Westboro first caught the public eye after picketing the funeral of young Wyoming native Matthew Sheppard after he was brutally beaten to death, simply for being a homosexual. They stood by as a young man was laid to rest by his loved ones and held picket signs and yelled things like " God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for AIDS". CNN gave national coverage to this outrage, skyrocketing this inbred church of less than one hundred members (most of which are all apart of one large extended family) from invisible nobodies, to one of the single most nationally hated groups of people in the United States of America, instantly(http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_fa10936e-cb5b-5170-afd8-e7eaa0a43aa8.html). Though the Westboro Baptist Church is protected under the First Amendment, they should not be allowed to protest against military funerals.

The church and it's members began regularly protesting the funeral services of homosexuals until they decided to share with the world "Gods feelings" about the current war. They told Americans "Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is that the lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime"(http://bradnehring.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/speech-may-be-protected-but-it-aint-free/). Westboro's first military funeral protest was during the service for fallen U.S. Marine Lance Corporal, Matthew A. Snyder, who was killed in a non-combat related vehicle accident. This protest gained much media attention after Snyder's father Albert Snyder decided to take a legal claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress against Fred Phelps, leader of Westboro Baptist Church. The first hearing was held in front of Judge Richard D. Bennett for the district court of Maryland. Phelps was found guilty of the charges and the Snyder family was awarded $2.9 million dollars for compensating damages, $6 million in punitive damages and an additional $2 million for emotional distress(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41868004/ns/politics-more_politics/). Westboro Baptist was granted an appeal by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and on September 24, 2009, the previous ruling was over-turned stating that Phelps, his church, and his actions were protected under the first amendment, namely the section that grants all Americans freedom of speech and the right to assemble(http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/02/westboro-funeral-pickets-protected-speech-high-court-rules/).

"Freedom of Speech" Three words that built a nation, but has it gone too far? If not, when has enough become enough? The thought that anyone can say exactly what's on their mind to anyone, about anything, any time is a concept that we've been breast fed ever since we were in diapers. This thought went along with "you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up" and the whole "Santa" story. We won't even get into that right now though. With freedom of speech some how came the right to censor. Everything we see and hear everyday has been passed through the hands of one hundred suits, all removing this, changing that, and modifying everything until you've got something that's courteous and at least reasonably respectful to all that may hear. It's so important that no one's too offended in fact that we've put thousands of people on the national payroll to police the airways. This federal burough has been affectionately dubbed the FCC, or Federal Communications Commission. "Freedom of Speech" doesn't sound so free any more. I suppose "Freedom of Speech Within Reasonable Limits" just didn't roll off the tong quite the same. So this all being said, if there's a list of ten to fifteen words that can't be said on daytime television, words that if I were to shout outside of a pre-school with a mega-phone I'd be arrested for, then why is it any different for the military funeral protesters of Westboro Baptist Church? The first amendment does have vague limits, which include vulgar, offensive, and shocking statements made in public. I believe that protesting the funeral of anyone pretty much defines vulgar, shocking, and offensive.

All moral values and ideological views of what's right and wrong