Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Those crazy...crazies...

So Westboro Baptist, Fred Phelps' group...you know, the God Hates Everybody But Us And We'll Make Sure You Know About It people (to whom I refuse to provide a link)...is in town again, and since picketing gay people and soldiers isn't getting them attention anymore, they've turned their attention to the Jewish community.

I will link to Chris Mason's Phelps-A-Thon site, because his idea of turning the pickets into fundraisers for whatever they're picketing is brilliant.

So yesterday, they picketed several places in Boston; the only one I could get to was their picket of the Jewish Advocate office downtown. There were about 10 of them to start, which went down to four, two of whom were young boys.* So I rosined up my bow and played my fiddle hard, 'cause hell's broke loose in Boston and the devil carries placards.

I played all the Jewish music I could think of, including Chanukah music and selections from Fiddler on the Roof; they were out there long enough that I had to repeat myself a few times, and I was shivering and couldn't feel my fingers by the end, and I doubt I disrupted them in any way, but it was worth it. I took Chris's idea and put a sign in my case stating that proceeds would go to Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. I think I made about $20 for Mazon. I should send WBC a thank-you note, like Chris does for the Phelps-A-Thons.

They'll be picketing the Cathedral of the Holy Cross starting in about 10 minutes. I thought about going out there too, except it's colder now than it was at 1:30 yesterday afternoon, and if I just go and listen to their rants, I'll get unnecessarily angry and won't be able to do anything productive with it. Also, I'm still in my pajamas.

*A note here: I think Fred Phelps is seriously mentally ill, and I think his daughter who's taken the role of leader is also mentally ill...even if she didn't start out that way, being raised in such an environment would warp anybody. I have compassion for them in the sense that living a life filled with so much pain must be so very difficult. I have no compassion, however, when it comes to their use of their children in these pickets.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although this comment is "off the record", I actually work for MAZON. The WBC has actually demonstrated outside our office before, and continues to send us hate faxes on a regular basis. So your actions are particularly meaningful for us.

With your permission, I'd love to feature your story on our blog at mazon.org to inspire others confronted by such hate. Do you have any pictures? If you don't have any from that day (perfectly reasonable given the weather & state of your fingers :)), one or two of you playing would be awesome.

Fiddler said...

Hi Ed,

Sure, I'd be happy to appear on MAZON's site! I know pictures were taken that day, but I don't know by whom. I do have other pictures I'll dig up. You can email me at triquetra AT gmail DOT com.

Thanks!