This column’s headline is not meant to be ironic or a joke. I sincerely wish for everyone to hug, not hate, the members of Westboro Baptist Church. More on that later.
A long time ago, in a city far, far away I worked for a warehouse and moving company. It was important to know which tool to use — a claw hammer for instance — while on the job.
This is a difficult task, because there are a variety of tools. For example, I’ve also worked with tools — in this case, “tool” refers to a stupid person, which surprisingly didn’t make the list of no-no words from Mizzou’s college of journalism.
These coworkers, many of whom enjoyed the progressive-rock stylings of Tool, were never the right tools for the job. I could stand never listening to Tool, the musical group, ever again.
Another musical group I don’t care for is Lady Gaga. A religious group that shares my un-care for Lady Gaga is Westboro Baptist Church.
Westboro un-cares for her music so much that they protested at her Oklahoma City concert this July. The Oklahoma Daily reviled this protest in an editorial shortly after the concert.
The Daily’s editorial suggested that Westboro protests represent the “opposite of everything the Bible stands for.” The Bible, not unlike a claw hammer, is a tool. Left alone in a room, the Bible doesn’t stand for anything. Its unique assembly of words, sentences and chapters are usable for good and evil.
The leadership and members of Westboro Baptist Church certainly act like tools on occasion.
Here, I employ Urban Dictionary’s definition of tool: “someone who is a complete idiot … someone who can’t think for themselves; an asshat.”
In addition to protesting at military funerals with signs reading “God hates fags” (the third word did in fact make Mizzou’s list of no-no words), they also picket outside schools with Gay-Straight Alliances like Oklahoma’s Charles Page High School.
Responding to Westboro with hatred is the common, perhaps natural, instinct. Where The Daily’s description of the church as “crazy, delusional, egotistical and irrational” may be accurate, resorting only to name calling will not repair the problem. Returning to Westboro the ignorance and fear they send forth into the world isn’t the right tool for the job.
Over 10 years ago, Westboro cited the Onion News article “’98 Homosexual-Recruitment Drive Nearing Goal” as a credible source.
By taking the Onion seriously they were guilty of, if nothing else, ignorance to satire. Is it really fair to attack Westboro when they are at such an intellectual disadvantage? That sin is embraced by newspaper editors on occasion.
The greater sin is to label Westboro’s wrongs — like using hate speech and representing Christians as hypocrites — and in doing so, act like tools.
Using hostility to fix Westboro’s bigotry is the wrong tool for the job. My suggestion: go to a protest and (if physical contact is legal) hug these people. Show these people the selfless and unconditional love that is supposedly “everything the bible stands for.” If the congregants of Westboro Baptist Church think this world is such a crappy place, what better way to refute them than by hugging the crap out of them?
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
Steven Zoeller 1 year, 9 months ago
I thought this was fantastic. Good points about the nature of religion and consistency in our principles. If their goal is to spread hate, showing them some love might be the best way to shut them up.
mustafa 1 year, 9 months ago
"..showing them some love might be the best way to shut them up."
It hasn't ever work yet.
The best way to stop these people is to make it down right unhealthy for them to continue. What do I mean? Think about it, what life insurance company thinks such behavior is not unnecessarily too risky? If indeed there is one, they’ll probably go out of business sooner or later anyway. It is a great testimony to the cool reserve of the general public that no one has gotten violent with these people, who put even their young children on the battlefield. It is amazing, in view of their over-the-top hot-button pushing, that someone hasn’t lost it and gone postal on them.
An interesting public discussion would be whether such a perpetrator would be let off easy, if not completely, through jury nullification. The only possible way to make these people back-off is for the general conscientious throughout the nation to be that anyone taking violent action against them should be given a medal.