Saturday September 26, 2009

A Brunch Date with Hate

When I first heard that the wingnuts from the Westboro Baptist Church—the “God Hates Fags” people—were going to be picketing a synagogue in our neighborhood, I assumed it was because they thought it would be where they would meet with the most confrontation. After going to the counter-rally this morning, however, I think they chose Park Slope because they knew it would produce the most user-generated content.

The iPhones and camcorders were out in force at 9:45 to oppose and record the anemic demonstration, which consisted of 20 signs but only five souls. Shirley Phelps-Roper, seen here (ironically) on the far left, was decked out with her usual “wings” of signage. I would say the protestors were outnumbered by videobloggers by at least five to one. (Guilty: Here are a few clips of video I shot with my phone. Alexandra shot the pics.) The counter-rally, all in, consisted of several hundred people—and at least one dog (above).

I know you’re supposed to ignore these people. Not even Fox News likes them, since they also like to protest at soliders’ funerals, claiming that God is killing our troops because we’re soft on gays. But it was six blocks away, and it’s hard to beat the feeling that we always say that on the left. Ignore them and they’ll go away. It’s also hard to beat the feeling that, whether Fox News likes them or not, these Westboro wingnuts are just an expression of the right wing’s ugly id. People who compare Obama to Hitler are on a continuum with these people, and so are the folks who take guns to town halls. (You could make the case, on the other hand, that WBC and their ilk are just distractions, drawing the left’s attention away from more moderate and viable threats—but in the current over-heated political environment, why take a chance.)

This was the rabbi’s message, basically, when he came out and addressed the crowd—silencing the demonstrators, whose presence was suddenly and completely ignored: if we can come together for this, we should come together for other things, too. Say what you want about extremists, they show up. They show up at the polls and at election commissions and at town hall meetings. I don’t show up that often—but then six blocks isn’t very far to walk.