[MP-Ryan]

but rather that the passing of anything or anyone who causes so much suffering to so many IS a cause for celebration.

I feel like some people aren't reading that component of my last post.

[karajorma]

I'm making the point that without Phelps if the WBC actually fades away, it's actually a bad thing for the LGBT community.

[Flipside]

I don't think the WBC will fade away, they were among the first of the 'Shock Jocks', using controversy to gain attention, and they bought about an entire generation of people that realized that if you said, did or presented really obnoxious or controversial things, the Media would give you more airtime than you could dream of.

There's a whole host of people who now use that technique as an income, from people who are obvious about it, like Jerry Springer to more insidious ones who actually manage to convince themselves that they are doing it to promote something other than their own self-interest.

Even if the WBC faded away, you can be certain that another attention whore would notice the gap in the market and leap into it.

[Bobboau]

Apparently there was a power move inside the WBC that led to Fred getting excommunicated and then he went on a hunger strike that led to his health failing, so they are very much still active.
And as for all of the people who are being very vocal about not celebrating his death, I'm glad his death has given you another chance to feel superior about yourself.

[Flipside]

Yes, because acting in a morally superior way is for pussies...

[Dragon]

I for one, find not being happy about Phelps being dead morally inferior. There's nothing superior about showing any sort of respect to someone like that. I've long since realized that peace and love are fine, but if you actually do "turn the other cheek", in most cases you'd simply be beaten to death. Because people who'd hit you in first place are dumb like that. I respect those that stick by that belief, but I consider my philosophy somewhat more practical. There's nothing noble in getting robbed, grieving for monsters or meekly complying with bullies. Indeed, all of those things make the world worse. What is noble, and morally superior, is standing up to evil. I'm sure that people that Phelps hurt are happy about his death. If you ask me, I am, and always was, with those people, not with Phelps or his relatives. He was evil, if they grieve for him, then they are alone and they brought it on themselves.

[Flipside]

It's not about respect for them though, is it? It's about showing respect for yourself. If you prove that you are capable of sinking just as low as they did, then you forsake any claim you had of being above them intellectually or morally, by emulating them you become them, only on the opposite end of the same see-saw.

The whole reason not to behave as they did is to prove to them how alone they truly are, they might care that a soldier dies because it gives them an opportunity to spew their hatred, but if no-one cares that a member of their family dies enough to, even after all they've done, react in the same way, it serves as an abject lesson that they achieved nothing with their hatred. If you give in and copy them, you justify what they did.

e: And to clarify, the biggest compliment people could pay the Phelps family is to behave as they did, after all those years of saying how disgusting, inhumane and insensitive their behaviour was, at the first opportunity to behave in precisely the same disgusting way it is grabbed with both hands. After all those attempts to silence and deter them from doing it, to leap at the opportunity only justifies what they did.

[General Battuta]

You're conflating celebration at his death with celebration that he's gone. Those are not remotely the same thing.

[Flipside]

I'm talking about those who wish to go celebrate at his funeral. You only have to read the first post in the thread to understand my position on the WBC's beliefs.

I think only one person on here has suggested that we shouldn't be pleased he is gone, if it's about that one post, then I'm not even sure who the 'all those people' that Bobboau is referring to actually are in the first place.

[Dragon]

It would only really be getting down to their level if celebrations on his funeral were about spreading irrational hatred. If they were about "triumph" of tolerance, that's another matter. It's not like those people don't care a member of their family died, they do care and are glad that it happened. But not because they hated him, because he hated them, and hurt a whole lot of them. This is by no means emulating what WBC did, but might be just close enough to give them a taste of their own medicine. But revenge should not be the main point. Those celebrations are not primarily for WBC, but for people hurt by them. This is the vital difference that separates them from WBC.

That said, the way I see it, it wasn't really any sort of triumph, it was just a natural death of an evil man. So I'm happy there's one evil moron less in the world, but I won't be throwing a party.

Also, if you're into it, guess what's the best way of celebrating Phelps' death as a triumph of tolerance and love? Navy-style, of course: http://terminallance.com/2014/03/21/terminal-lance-rot-in-hell-fred-phelps/ If anyone's got a good reason to celebrate on his death, then soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen worldwide are those people. Especially sailors.

[Lorric]

For me, I like the distinction some people have made between being happy that the man is not going to be causing any more problems, and being happy he is dead. If you're the former, you don't have to be the latter as well. And that's how I feel. I would be the same if he declared he saw the error of his ways, or stepped away from the WBC due to stress, or any one of the million and one other reasons there could have been besides death for him to stop. I'm not happy he is dead, and would rather he had changed his ways in life.

Perhaps with the proverbial head now off the snake, and seeing the reaction his death has had around the World, other members of the WBC will reconsider the path they are walking in life.