Anonymous Goes After GodHatesFags.com

An anonymous reader writes "Anonymous is now recognised as a serious force to be taken seriously, but its activities aren't confined to mass global protests, as the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, is discovering, according to p2pnet. Says the Examiner, 'Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for their "Love Crusades," obnoxious displays of insensitivity and homophobia at the funerals of fallen American soldiers. The controversial if monotone message of the "Love Crusade" seems to be to blame everything that is wrong in the world on homosexuality. The crusades are part of a hate-based mission started in Kansas by the WBC and Fred Phelps.' In an open letter on AnonNews, 'We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS – the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People – have long heard you issue your venomous statements of hatred, and we have witnessed your flagrant and absurd displays of inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism,' says Anonymous, stating 'Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS.'"

Comments

"An anonymous reader writes"

[gcnaddict]

I smell a conflict of interest.

Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Anonymous is now recognised as a serious force to be taken seriously..."

C'mon, "a serious force to be taken seriously?" Who wrote that?

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Serious force is serious.

Ohhh the irony...

[j4ckknife]

Is there anything ironic about the self-appointed "voice of free speech" trying to bully an admittedly annoying and vocal cult into silence?

Re:Ohhh the irony...

[MightyMartian]

Yes, it's extremely ironic. The fact of the matter is that most activists usually reveal themselves to be wannabe-autocrats. I can understand attacking PayPal or Visa websites over the Wikileaks thing, but trying to silence Phelps and his gang of attention whores demonstrates that, at the core, they have that unique activist capacity for not really getting the underlying point of freedoms.

Re:Ohhh the irony...

[TexVex]

trying to bully an admittedly annoying and vocal cult into silence?

Your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. What those people do is not just speech. They take deliberate offensive action targeted at specific people and do them harm. They are bullies, and Anon are bullies, and is bullying a bully ironic? I don't see how.

The Internet has grown up a bit Re:Bit dramatic..

[davidwr]

The average mental age on the Internet is at least 13 and the 85th percentile is at least 15.

Re:Hate meets hate?

[Anonymous Coward]

Prayer: How to do nothing and still feel like you're helping.

Re:Hate meets hate?

[Foobar of Borg]

Why not ask the easter bunny for peace in the middle east?

How do you think all these anti-government protests in the middle east got started? I definitely see the easter bunny's paws in this one!

Westboro Baptist Church and lawsuits

[Wyatt Earp]

The Westboro Baptist Church lives off suing people for infringing on their right to free speech, assembly, etc. If the IRC and 4chan douche bags attack them, then WBC isn't going to have anyone to sue, but will try and waste capital in their attempt.

And yes, they have computers, website, businesses associated with them, so there is crap for anonymous to attack.

I don't normally condone vigilantism....

[GeneralEmergency]

...and I cherish the First Amendment above all the others.... ...but just this once....I'm gonna be spending all my time looking in another direction.

And -Damn you to Hell- Fred Phelps, and your inbred collection of Olympic class haters, for pushing me to this hypocrisy.

They Do It for the Lawsuit Settlements

[Doc Ruby]

Phelps and his gang of Christianist assholes are in the business of provoking angry responses to their hellish displays that Phelps' gang will claim in court violated their rights or damaged them. To blackmail their targets, usually municipalities with the ability to pay, into settling the lawsuit and paying off Phelps rather than pay the extensive legal fees and possibly damages. That's why Phelps' gang is pumped full of lawyers trained at "Liberty" "University", the Christian crusade madrassa.

In this fight, it's Anonymous that's on the side of the angels.

Re:They Do It for the Lawsuit Settlements

[MightyMartian]

The Phelps Gang tests the extreme end of free speech. I despise them with all my being, but if it came to push and shove and I had to either choose whether Phelps and his gang of vile hatemongers or Anonymous lived or died, I'm afraid I'd stand on the side of Phelps. Anonymous is attacking Phelps' right to freely express his views, no matter how noxious. Anonymous is wrong on this one, and should be ashamed of themselves, if they weren't, of course, a bunch of halfwitted scriptkiddies with as much of a hard-on for getting attention from the press as Phelps and Co.

Re:Hate meets hate?

[Requiem18th]

Sorry, that was the work of the *middle* easter bunny.

Re:Hate meets hate?

[ArcherB]

You have a Constitutional right to petition your government. You do NOT have the Constitutional right to petition the grieving families at a soldier's funeral.

Sorry, but even free speech is not absolute.

However, even though I'm straight, I would certainly pitch in a few bucks to fly some gay men to WBC for a nice love-in on the steps of the church. I say that as both a Christian Baptist and a veteran.