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Thread started by trickmilla at 02.11.10 - 9:03 am
Hey Ridazz,
The Westboro Baptist Church is coming to Long Beach and Chinatown. On Feb 19-20th
This is the Church of Pastor Fred Phelps and the people who bring hateful anti-gay signs to funerals. http://www.godhatesfags.com/
Anyway ... a friend of mine is planning, not so much a counter demonstration as a street party, to sor of re-frame/ confuse/ re-program their insane messages.
For my part I hope to make people laugh in a situation they would otherwise feel sad, mad, angry, or offended.
There is going to be a sign making party next money in Long Beach at the basement Lounge ... and if there is interest maybe one in L.A. ( they will be protesting at the Parade in Chinatown ).
Soooo if you are interested in mocking the hateful with hillarious, and engaging streeet theater. get read.
As much as I love the idea of a counter-protest, keep in mind that you'd be giving these attention whores the thing they love most, namely attention, and keeping them on TV and in the papers.
I think the best thing for them to do would be to let them show up, realize nobody cared, and let them pack up and go home unnoticed.
It is a valid point JB, one we have thought about quite a bit.
First off. This is not a protest or a counter protest.
This is not religion or politics.
This is a PARTY , An INTERVENTION, ABSURDIST STREET THEATER
in the spirit of Dada, the Yippies, Discordians, and dare i day M.R.
These people have no problem garnering attention on their own.
They have done this literally, 10s of thousands of times.
What we intend to do is to, reprogram their presence, reframe this as the absurdity that it is, and have fun.
In the past people have gotten sad or angry this time I hope they laugh their asses off.
As much as I love an absurd protest and street theater, I can't help from feeling really agitated with these people to the extent that I don't think I could handle myself in a rational manner in their faces.
I wouldn't feel threatened by them in any way being that their power-base and membership appears to be limited to close family members and the few, outside knuckleheads that took the cake.
wow, I just scoped out their website. They are also boycotting the Shaggy concert (part of Ragga Muffins Festival).
Normal conversation or debate does not work on such "religious" idiots. Trickmilla is right, some novel public performance or sarcastic rebuttal (make a pun on signs they're sure to bring) is a great idea.
totally unrelated. but what if I make big Arabic flashcard signs and we walk around showing them and speak in lounges and hold rubber chickens or.... uh ok ... i don't know exactly. There was a spark of something weird I liked about it. Does it spark anything for you? Bicycle Bells? ... Are we even doing this? I'm not going alone.
Anything weird of Funny is on the table.
We are just tying to avoid the dry, boring, political, and the obvious.
This isn't really my thing. A friend of mine is really spearheading this and hoping it will take on a life of its own.
After committing to this we realized that people have done similar things in SF and other places. I guess we'd like to see this start functioning as a common response.
I'm deffinatly in for some of these. I really wanna go to Long Beach on friday for a few, and be up here for the China Town thing.
There are a bunch of 30_45 minute protests in L.B. in different places, i think it would be fun to chase them on bikes.
Anyway I'm really down for this.. chase them on kids bikes, outchant/alter their chants, megaphone brunch their faces.. Patrick, you said next "money" is the LB signmaking party, does that mean Monday? What time?
No, you're right... i think the idea if funny and all. I just really despise these kinds of people who are myopic, brainwashed and full of this sense of righteousness (its like seeing 100 of my clones marching)....
Anyhow, the point is, you can disrupt a protest by being louder, whimsical, or say blocking them by bring huge banners...
I think in trying to stay in good taste and not disrespecting the Golden Dragon Parade, it would be hard to over power them with megaphones and such, or distracting by being silly or something. It all seems to take away from the spirit of the parade (maybe Im wrong).
After all this is a parade for Chinatown, and that needs to be respected first.
We know those people don't give a shit, but we should.
Can we just water board them? Its legal, right?
md2 responding to a comment by Joe Borfo
02.12.10 - 7:48 am
I agree on respecting the events of those being picketed.
I'm not necessarily interested on blocking, shouting down, or clashing with the jagoffs in any way.
Jamming, confusing, mocking, and reframing their insane message is more where i am at.
Who want's to join me in a dance flash mob frenzy at the protests? I'll be hopefully going to all the locations Fri and Sat. I'm also going to blast DELIVERANCE!
I read up on that SF response.... Hopefully you all make a huge impact and prevent anyone needing to show up on sat....
Im going to try to attend sat, if possible... The more I think about, the more I'm inclined to at least give it a chance if it can really create a response to mimic (all over the nation) that works
One of the funniest counter protest signs I've seen for these guys is "God Hates Figs" with biblical quotes to back it up:
"Thus said the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can not be eaten, they are so evil."
Jeremiah 29:17
i saw a documentary on WBC that claimed that the entire church is composed of Fred Phelps' children and grandchildren. not sure how accurate it is, but i can't find anything to suggest otherwise.
" 12And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
13And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it."
I'm of the interpretation that Jesus hated THAT one tree. Im kidding...
But you might wonder, as I did many many years ago.... why would the "son of god" NOT know it wasn't the season for figs? Why curse a TREE? Why curse a tree just for not producing fruit early or when we wanted to eat from it?
Sadly, the story is another instance of disregard towards nature (e.g. the flood destroys everything to teach a few people some lesson, driving demons into swine with then scrabble toward the sea to drown).
There is a blatant disregard for the earth, nature and "other" animals via its view of a passing "home", "testing ground", "spiritual battle field", and ultimately a place that will burn. The biblical world is so human centric, its retarded... the cockroach gets no attention whatsoever (i dont think so at least). Any efforts to make the earth more sustainable or to spend time thinking about helping move toward sustainability is lost in their frantic panic to convert as many souls, so that they may gain status/rewards in eternal life.
At least they're called to love on another (too bad they're not as good at that as they are at being irrational hateful self-righteous jerks -- not all, but many).
DOWN WITH WBC!!!
md2 responding to a comment by oodlesofpoodles
02.17.10 - 7:21 am
Tomorrow is day one of Steal This Protest.
We are going to be at all 5 stops on Friday.
We welcome you to join us!
Feel free to bring Funny Signs, Music, Instruments Costumes, Party and a Good Attitude.
They want a protest, but we are bringing a party.
We will be easy to find.
LOOK: For a tall bunny with absurd signs (Dennis)
TEXT/CELL: 323-793-5668 (Patrick)
TWITTER: #stealthisprotest (or you can add follow me @patrickmmiller)
IMPORTANT: Please be peaceful, and respect everybody's 1st Amendment rights.
The WBC is well known to be provocative and will undoubtedly attempt to say and do things to provoke us in to getting upset and/or doing something illegal.
They are a family of lawyers and will not hesitate to to sue any individual, institution, or municipality that "denies their 1st amendment rights".
Fri 02/19 - 7:15 PM - 8:00 PM
LBC Convention Center 300 E Ocean Blvd. Martiiiiin Lawrence!
MAP WITH LOCATIONS: http://tinyurl.com/STP-MAP
WEATHER FORCAST: 10% Chance of Rain throughout the day - 90% Chance after 7pm
WE WILL BE THEIR RAIN OR SHINE!
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=90745&hourly=1&yday=49&weekday=Friday
Holy Shit!
It was amazing.
I barely saw to foolios at most of the stops because so many party people where there.
They barely stayed at any of the stops because we were having so much more fun than them. Pictures coming soon!
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Ridazz Roulette!
Hey Ridazz,
It is a valid point JB, one we have thought about quite a bit.
SHOULDA DONE THIS A LONG TIME AGO, COUNT ME IN
http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/
The Brotherhood of NOD is where it is at!!
Doesn't mean we can't try to confuse the shit out of them, right? 
And who could ever forget...
Patrick, I've got an idea.
Sign Making Party tonight at the Basement Lounge
more signs...
Hello Friends!
Nice!
Sorry to miss them. I'll be on the CICLE / Creek Freak Ride.