Better things to do than picket the Fred Phelps funeral [View all]

[DonViejo]

BY ALEXANDRA PETRI
March 20 at 2:57 pm

On March 19, Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church passed away in the night. Who will picket the funeral of the man who picketed so many? Let’s hope, no one.

First because there may be no funeral to picket, and second because — well, we’re better than that. I know the urge to celebrate his passing is strong. But as Funny Or Die quipped, “Feels weird to celebrate Fred Phelps’ death considering that sort of thing was basically his favorite hobby.” Instead, let’s celebrate all the good he accomplished in his life — completely inadvertently.

It’s a fitting conclusion to the life of someone who, in the course of committing himself so loudly and grotesquely to hate (it was even on his bumper stickers), wound up proving again and again how much love there was in people. He would show up at a funeral with his family and their hideous signs, and others would rally. Even the KKK showed up. When the KKK Imperial Wizard comments that, compared to you, he is not a “hate-monger,” and says he “thinks that it’s an absolute shame that [the WBC] show up and disrupt people’s funerals” — well, need you say more? It’s like a twist on the old Churchill analogy about Hitler invading Hell.

A lot of people who set out to do good and advance the cause of love don’t accomplish this much. Thank you to Mr. Phelps, in a strange, strange way, for proving us right. Hate is well-publicized, but small. Love was bigger. He showed up with his signs, and people responded with a Wall of Love. He kept achieving the opposite of what he set out to do. He faxed tons and tons of complaints about — they passed a law against fax harassment. He showed up at funerals with his Hateful Signs, and people gathered to shield the mourners, or the Patriot Guard riders showed up, or even the KKK did. He tested our commitment to free speech, even extreme and ugly speech, and — yup, it is still strong.

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