The Supreme Corporate Court ruled in favor of their hate-filled attacks on grieving parents at the funerals of U.S. Soldiers.
Bill O’Reilly said, “The bad guys win” (although often, Fox is the sociopaths smearing good people, lol!)
Even Sarah Palin ripped them, stating the Supreme Court “lacks common sense.” Come on! Sarah Palin sayin’ you lack common sense! Man, that is a SLAM!
CNN seems to be totally neutral on the subject at least in one interview.
USA Today seems to side with Westboro, as does the Washington Post.
As far as free speech goes, yeah, they have the right to say the things they do. However, there is a time and place for everything – and a funeral is not the time nor place for it.
Thomas Jefferson said : “No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.”
I see this as a conflict of rights – the right of free speech versus the right to grieve in peace. I think, according to Jefferson’s quote above, that the right to grieve in peace trumps supposed ‘free speech’ in this case.
I realize they were a small distance away and could not be heard – they were not even noticed by the family until they saw them in the media reports, this time. Purposefully targeting funerals for such hateful and damaging effect should not be allowed. For the same reason that Bullying should not be allowed. It is aggression against the equal rights of others.
… but… am I allowing my hatred of their message and methods combined to taint my love of Liberty and Freedom? I don’t know. But I do know that what Westboro does is wrong. Maybe if they protested the day after or day before or in a different city, but targeting the day of the funeral and getting as close as possible to it? No. That is wrong.