Thursday, March 3, 2011

Response to Comments and Voltaire

Since there were several comments on my previous post, I decided to address them here.  I think what the WBC does is like shouting fire in a crowded theater.  But yes, Voltaires (Bob, Beth, DTGuy) you are right - what we do here is defend the right to say it even if we abhor it.  I'm just afraid of repercussions from it.

They came here to my hometown to "protest" the funeral of a soldier, but motorcycle groups (local and other) dissuaded them.  They went away.  Maybe it can be like the KKK rallies held in Pulaski, TN, where the revival of it originated.  Businesses closed, people stayed away, and the town closed down.  I haven't heard anything about it for a long time.  Maybe they quit.  The citizens of Pulaski hate that part of their history and tried to stop them from having that parade, but the ACLU said they had the right to peacefully assemble, so they finally decided to ignore them.  Maybe Hells Angels, etc., will continue to block these hatemongers.

I was up in arms, downtown guy, when I first heard about them and blogged about it, but I don't exactly have a wide audience or any influence.  So yes, I was disgusted and irate and sick that they picketed funerals of gay people.  There were counter-protests then, too.  This soldier's father is the first who filed suit against them that made it to the Supreme Court. 

Oh no, Froggy, about your student.  That's horrible and scary!  It's not paranoid these days to protect yourself.  Glad you did it.  Teachers don't have the "right" to say or do much of anything any more.  That teacher should have been allowed to say whatever she wanted to on a restricted blog, Mrs. Miss A.  I feel freer to say what I think on here now that I'm retired but am still careful just in case and have worried about posting those answers I might delete.  I'd like to keep that job.


 Last Words Of: Voltaire, philosopher

This one requires a little context. Voltaire was a famous essayist, deist and apparently smartass.

So who is the "enemy" he's talking about in the above quote? It was his response to a priest at the side of his deathbed, asking Voltaire to use the precious few moments left to renounce Satan.

6 comments:

the dogs' mother said...

LOLOLOL!
Loves the quote!

mrs.missalaineus said...

when free speech is used to become confrontational, to me, it also crosses the 'fire in the movie theater line'. if the kkk marches they are marching to march- they are not burning a cross on someone's lawn. the first is an acceptable exercise of free speech because they have the right to peacefully assemble whether we like the message or not. when they target someone specifically when putting a cross on a lawn, etc- that to me becomes a hate crime, and i see the actions of the wbc the same way because they are specifically targeting a person or persons and then being confrontational about it. now if they were marching down main street in some form of assemblage- that would be, and should be, their constitutionally protected right and choice.

stuff like this was what made me NOT want to be a lawyer.


ps- i did some small edits after that blog thing in PA blew up too.


xxalainaxx

Joy said...

Amen, MMA!! Total agreement!

Joy said...

I edited that post, just in case!

Sam said...

Love you and your thoughts, blogs, and edits.

Chris said...

A local High School performed "The Laramie Project" a few months ago and the WBC came to cause a stir. At my church, we did an open mic night and coffee house in support of The Trevor Project and fortunately, the WBC didn't find that - I hate the WBC so much that I can't help but wish a painful and horrible death to each of them and their supporters.