In these times of tepid liberalism and snail-like slow progressive politics, what is a fervent and fanatical conservative group to do? Find successful role models to emulate, form alliances, and change. “40 Days for Life”, an anti-choice group, looked about in the political ecology for a powerful organization that could show them the way, and they found one.
“These guys know how to get the attention of the American people,” explained David Bereit, National Director of 40 Days for Life. “If there’s one thing we care about, it’s getting known – oh, and of course saving the lives of the innocent.”
Their new peers and colleagues? Why, they’ve teamed up with Westboro Baptist Church.
Because if any organization represents reasoned debate and broad popular appeal, it’s Westboro Baptist.
Although, actually, it’s not much of a stretch. If you’ve ever seen the clouds of spittle and waving signs surrounding a Planned Parenthood clinic, you know that their tactics aren’t much different.
That pretty much says it all, in one tidy sentence. Their priorities are quite clear.
That article is satire as it clearly states at the bottom of the page…. Satire. Please state it as such…
Thank goodness for the satire disclosure at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, I’d never doubt the story. It seems perfectly natural/believable. It’s kind of surprising that Westboro hasn’t branched out from the whole “God Hates Fags” meme into abortion clinic pickets. Maybe the family isn’t big enough to cover more than one issue.
@bryaridd @2:
Agreed. This is satire, and it should be marked that way.
Also: I don’t think it is necessary or desirable to satirize Westboro Baptist. They are already so far out there that going further is pointless.
Westboro Baptist’s business model is to act as offensively as possible and then file a nuisance suit against the target of their protest, the police or the municipality, keeping the claim just small enough so that it’s cleaper to pay them off than to fight them through the courts. Professional anti-abortion protestors do exactly the same thing: organize a group of volunteers to act in the most offensive possible manner, claim the group has been victimized/their free speech has been abridged, then see how much money they can extort from those weary of dealing with them.
In a way, the scam is pretty clever. It allows them to envision themselves as life saving heroes, the adoration of their deluded followers strokes their egos, they get the emotional release of being the head of a lynch mob while simultaneously claiming the moral high ground, the police have to protect them while they scream in people’s faces, and they don’t actually have to work for a living but can instead use the tax deductible contributions received by their non-profit organization as an ‘expense account’ to cover their living costs.
@ Matt: I thnk the point was that PZ should have noted it as satire.
I get that. What I don’t get is why. Seems rather insulting to the readers here as it implies they would not realise.
Matt,
Without following the link, Poe’s law goes into effect.
One can find this horrible and unbelievable, and yet accept it as true because the real groups are evil enough they could actually do it.
I suppose, but then I probably assume people will follow the link.
You shouldn’t. I generally don’t but did in this case. On reason I don’t follow many links is that they often go to wingnut sites, after which I feel like I ought to run the computer and my brain through the dishwasher.
For five years I lived around the corner from a Planned Parenthood. Every Saturday I saw the same 4 or 5 old white guys standing out front waving weathered pictures of aborted fetuses at passersby. The irony was that the entrance was around the corner on a side street. But I think these guys were more interested in being seen than they were in discouraging women from going inside. So they stood on the corner of the busy street where they could get the most attention.
This is a good example of Poe’s law. Satire doesn’t work against people who are always willing to sink to new depths.
They already do “ally” with Phelps and his mob. They give them cover every time they stage a protest. They ally with the phelps crowd every time they do not condemn them as hate-filled extremists. Morons filled with self-righteous smugness. They belong with Phelps, in the dustbin of human ideas.
And yes, I get that the original article PZ linked to was satire, I’m just using it for my own purposes.
Not everyone is a masochist.