There Be Monsters Out There

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Blaise Pascal



Krystle Campbell, one of the three people killed at the Boston Marathon, was buried today in Medford, MA. Hundreds of union members were there out of respect for her and because some folks from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS had said they'd be there too. Of course the WBC group wasn't going to attend out of respect for the dead. They were going to be there in order to claim, God Almighty Himself had made sure Krystle Campbell was killed because the United States tolerates homosexuals.

Apparently the membership of the WBC decided discretion was the better part of valor, because according to the Boston Globe they were no shows. Well who can blame them. There is God in heaven, but He seems a long way off when confronted by several hundred extremely pissed off Teamsters who would just as soon cave your skull in with a tire iron.

A quick glance at the Westboro web site, the one with the ever so charming name, godhatesfags.com, reveals that the congregation is now promising to picket the memorial service of MIT police officer Sean Collier. Collier was killed on Thursday night allegedly by the brothers, Tsarnaev when they realized they were screwed, glued, and tattooed by the cops, the feds, and the media.

According to the WBC press release, issued yesterday announcing the upcoming protest, "God sent the Boston Marathon bombs. Adore and give obeisance to God! Not the vile dead human creature."

Luckily for the family and friends of Sean Collier the Westboro Baptist Church is rather like the leadership of North Korea. It promises to do a lot of monstrous things, but rarely follows through on them.

For those thinking about actually taking a look at the rest of the release, be warned it takes some truly monumental detachment to cruise the Westboro Baptist Church site. They really don't like anyone and aren't shy about telling you. A list of "sister sites" includes the following, "GodhatesIslam, Godhatesthemedia, JewskilledJesus, BeastObama, Priestsrapeboys, Americaisdoomed, and my personal favorite, Godhatestheworld. One would assume the lack of a GodhatesBhuddistsandHindus site is simply because of some editorial mix up. Rather like when the closed captioning on a Fox TV station identified, Zooey Daschanel as the suspected bomber on the loose in Watertown Friday. Yes, self editing can be a real bitch sometimes.

The problem here is that the Westboro Baptist Church, like the NRA, makes more noise and trouble than we should ever allow it. Wikipedia says that as of 2011 it had only forty members and most of them are relatives of Fred Phelps, the guy in charge. It isn't affiliated with any Baptist organization, or denomination, in fact real Baptists won't have anything to do with them.

I guess the lesson learned is even the Nazis started small, so you can't let some noxious weed like this go unwatched. The Anti Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center keeps an eye on them just in case they start to metastasize in the body public.

It is hard to imagine it happening, but then it is hard to imagine a lot of the things that have happened on this blue ball lately.

Indeed, that roll call has proven to be long, gruesome, and unfathomable. Unfortunately it doesn't appear we're anywhere near the end of it.

So, as they say, keep an ear to the ground and a clear eye.

And always, always, be aware of your surroundings. After all, there be monsters out there.

sic vita est

4-22-13