I always thought of them more as attention whores than a real hate group.

Why do they only show up whenever there's already massive media attention? Sure, they hate gays, but what does that have to do with any of their protests? Either they keep happening to genuinely believe that the latest tragedy is what's most offensive to God or they just love being in the spotlight and poking people in the eye and use religion as a pretext.

It'd be better if instead of vilifying and hacking them, once again giving them play in the media, everyone would just ignore them.

> Why do they only show up whenever there's already massive media attention? Sure, they hate gays, but what does that have to do with any of their protests?

The usual: money. They make $$$$ from suing people who illegally block their protests. They probably don't hate gays at all. More likely it's a family business.

I recently watched a video made back in January of Shirley Phelps talking with an openly gay DJ during one of their protests. It's surreal at first. Then preconceptions melt as it becomes obvious that the two actually have been buddies for quite a while. WBC is a professional trolling organization hell bent on keeping awareness of Scripture on the front page. They're like "Dick Masterson" except they want you to buy a bible.

Well, Fred Phelps is a violent psychopath. It would not surprise me at all if the suing was just to support their hate.

There was someone who was with the WBC on Reddit doing an IAMA earlier. According to him, this is just a myth. These people really do believe it what they are preaching. They don't even earn that much from suing people.

They are a family of lawyers...

> It'd be better if instead of vilifying and hacking them, once again giving them play in the media, everyone would just ignore them.

I think the people at the funerals would disagree. This is far too personal for them to be considered media whores.

"Hate group under the guise of religion." Fixed that for you. Sorry, but I've got no patience for religion-bashing on HN.

They may be a hate group but they are definitely religious.

Check out the IAmA of a former member:

""" Very little I miss. It was so destructive and took years to undue. I have talked about the sense of security and belonging I can recall feeling from time to time when we were having church services on Sunday evenings. Something about being tucked in that building that's half buried and feeling like we're the only one's that god loves...it's hard to articulate. """

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/v99eg/iaman_exmember_o...

I think "religious fanatic" is not bashing non-fanatic religious followers, as fanatic necessarily indicates an excess of "single-minded zeal".

Indeed. To use an example more familiar to the HN crowd, one can criticize free software fanatics like RMS without disparaging free software itself, or those who promote it.

Agreed, because religion, like technology, is a pure force for good that could not possibly be exploited for nefarious purposes. I bet if you asked a WBC member they would actually be uncertain and confused about their faith! It's not like the organization actually mirrors the power structure of pastor explaining a holy text to his flock.

(Sarcasm aside, its totally possible for a word like "religion" to contain contradictions and you aren't adding anything to the debate with a claim about who is "actually religious" and who is "guised as religious". If they claim it it's theirs.)

The fact that religion "exploited for nefarious purposes" is what WBC traffics in was precisely my point.

I know "if you ignore them, they will go away" is cliche, but it's really true for WBC. Don't organize counter-protests, just ignore them completely, and they will evaporate into the ether.

You made a typo when you meant to type "I've got no patience for people rightfully insulting a group of people spreading hate" and seemed to have typed some nonsense instead.

There is a correlation between being very religious and being a criminal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlates_of_crime#Religion

Not that it implies causation but food for thought.

I don't think that you understand very clearly what a Personal-God-based religion is, then.

No true scotsman, good to see that's still being touted. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you've never even bothered to read their FAQ because no one would make the silly mistake of implying that their preaching comes from anything but religion.

I worry about anonymous just because it seems like a growing trend to try and squash dissenting opinion using "digital force". Part of me inside says this is just the target getting what's coming to it. Sweet revenge. But part of me says this is not how we should voice our dissent.

I understand the free speech angle; I really do... but in what insane dictionary does protesting the funerals of murdered children count as dissent?

True democracy and free speech is a great idea, but in practice it is a disaster :/ Morons ruin it for everybody...

The only power the WBC ever have is the power you give them. Stop making them an issue and they will stop being an issue.

It's rediculous how a little group can garner so much attention. You give it to them.

Seems like a pretty simplistic way to think about it. Before the cameras were there I assume they were still picketing funerals right?

If a religious fanatic pickets a funeral and there were no cameras, did anyone notice?

Snark aside, maybe they were doing such things prior to all the attention they got -- but I bet they're doing it more now, and maybe getting donations from other like-minded nutters. When you get down to it, they're trolls -- and the media is breaking rule # 1 of dealing with trolls: don't feed them!

My point was simply that they did it before there were cameras so there must be something beyond just attention whoring for the cameras.

That's where the "nutters" bit comes in.

I'm so tired of writing this. Gay guy, lived in Topeka for 22 years. They don't give a shit if you take down their Twitter feed or their website. It's immature, it's childish. It puts more of their rhetoric in the minds of more people.

It's what they want. I'm glad that we all think they're despicable but I'm kind of tired of the circle jerk of people thinking they're actors of social change by laughing at their online presence being hacked.