Quote:
Originally Posted by filtherton
It's odd to see you on the "statist tyranny" side of things, cimarron.  |
KirStang and Alito said it far better than me. Originally, it seems the case was, "Did the actions of the WBC rise from simple protest to the level of IIED?" Unfortunately, along the path of this case, someone (the defense attorneys) decided this was some symbolic case for free speech and assembly and the gullible media ran with it, for fear that a plantiff's verdict would hurt their ability to report.
If all WBC had done was show up at the funeral, on public land, and protested - I would say it was protected. However, you are not protesting when you create Facebook pages implying their son was gay and that God killed him because of it. They launched a multi-pronged campaign calling out this exact soldier. It is the totality of their actions which rises to IIED, in my opinion.
mm- as much as I would like to think that his grieving family would come to understand the pain of their actions when faced with a protest outside of Phelps funeral...I think they are too brainwashed to get it. They honestly believe they are doing God's work and that Phelps will sit at the right hand of God in the afterlife. So, his death and place in heaven will be a celebration for them. As much as I would like to fashion a neon sign and throw a little ill will their way, I hope everyone ignores his death...and the rest of his life for that matter. It would be really easy to make them go away. Alas, the media won't let the fact that they aren't really Christians stand in the way of a good "Christian bashing" story.