In my many years of living on the Internet, lurking in various forums, enjoying a short but sweet experience of freindship in an IRC channel, one thing I learned...Do Not Feed The Trolls. You know, those extremist keyboard jockeys who type the most inflammatory dribble under aliases and sock puppets, just to get a rise from someone. Hell, anyone. And, usually, someone does bite, and lack of hilarity ensues. But, if you starve them, ie, don't reply to them, they skittle away like little cockroaches.
Ah, if it could only be as easy in Real Life.
Who am I pointing the Troll Stick at? The Westboro Baptist Church, who has taken the literal translation of the Bible as many fundie churches do, but in this instance, adding the stink of wet, sweaty "Troll" to the message. It's not enough to mainly base their messages, if not the whole foundation of their "church" on Leviticus (a man, mind you, NOT God) 18:22 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." They feel the need to jump up on their trollish bully pulpit and tell America that "God Hates America, Sweeden, Fags, Catholics, Billy Graham...anybody and anything except the WBC". Also that every catastrophe that has happened in this world since 9/11 is due to "God's judgement on fag-enablers".
Oh, why Sweden, you ask? WBC picketed a vacuum cleaning store because the store sold Swedish vacuum cleaners, and since Sweden took action against a minister who spoke against homosexuals, well, God hates the Swedes, too, and most likely those who buy their products.
The seventy or so members of this church, mostly family of the patriarch/leader Fred Phelps (who a few of them are lawyers, just like dear old dad was before he was debarred) have in the past picketed at funerals for fallen soldiers of the Iraq/Afghanistan war, along with the funerals of the Sago Mine Disaster. They also take advantage of catastrophes to spread their trollish messages, most recently, by thanking Hurricane Gustav, like they previously had thanked God for Hurricane Katrina for destroying New Orleans.
Westboro Baptist Church seems to have only one purpose, and that is to troll the World by using God as its Sockpuppet, using the excuse of "rejoicing in God's judgements". I am sure the church doesn't see it that way. Extremists never do.
But, rip away all the externals, the who, what and whys and what do you see? A message of HATE from people with some sick superiority complex, led by one very hate-filled man.
Yes, the irony is not lost on me...this very post is "feeding the trolls".
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