The little girl shot at Gabrielle Giffords’ event was in a book about children born on Sept. 11, 2001. Which makes her life one begun and ended in acts of political violence. Horrific.
Now the fine folks of the Westboro Baptist Church plan to protest her funeral. (Protest what, exactly?) There are not words to signify the loathing these quarter-wits deserve for a tastelessness so snowy pure.
Part of their motivation is, no doubt, that they want people to say things like that about them. But the question always remains: Why do Fred Phelps and his church (primarily composed of his extended family) do what they do? Do they believe people will join in their absurdist and poorly articulated cause? Why do they have a deep-seated need to be loathed? No contemporary political group I know of is so universally and reflexively shunned by people at all points on the political spectrum.
And what can even be said about the Dadaist result?–in a photo at the above link, a Westboro picketer can be seen holding a sign that says “God hates your feeling.” Apparently, clarity and sense are also the enemies of Fred Phelps.
