Phelps was apparently such a tiny little speck in a vast sea of people that most couldn't even see him.
Bubblehead attended the services and both he and Ninme have a few pics.
Binkyboy planned a big protest but couldn't even find him.
Lt. SMASH puts in a word or two.
And Michelle Malkin, thanks to Greyhawk, really raised the blogosphere attention level.
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Dealing with Phelps:
Bubblehead and Binkyboy are having a small but very masculine wrestling match on whether it would have been appropriate to counter-demonstrate and shout rude things at Phelps.
Putting aside for a moment the interesting pictures that come to mind of a tussle between two people named "Bubbles" and "Binky", I have to say that Bubblehead is correct, you really don't want to get into Phelps face. It's downright ugly for one thing.
Phelps Inc. has been doing this longer than most of us have been alive. And he has raised his children to do the same. He's a professional ass-hat. He really lives for this stuff.
I've seen Phelps intimidated only once. It was in the early 80's, in the heyday of ACTUP . At the Pride parade in Los Angeles one year Phelps showed up for the usual diatribe.
He got a lot more than he bargained for that year because when the ACTUP crowd passed by him he was instantly surrounded by about 300 intensely angry queers violently shoving their fists at him and shouting "Shame!, Shame!, Shame!" over and over again. It sounds a bit mild on paper, but in reality it was one of the most electrifying, and even terrifying, things I've ever seen. You thought they were literally going to rip him apart. You could see that even the Sheriff Deputies providing security at the parade looked intimidated.
Any anti-war demonstration you have seen since then by the ANSWER idiots is a very, very pale imitation of what ACTUP used to be. Perhaps thats because unlike ANSWER we really did have something to be angry about.
Eventually ACTUP moved on, but in their wake Phelps and clan pretty much packed it in for the rest of the day. They looked wilted and drained. Some of them were sobbing.
It felt good to see that. But I never had the desire to see it again. And I certainly have run across Phelps many times since then.
You see, Phelps really gets off on being able to portray himself as a righteous "victim" for God. He gets a sick, emotional, and probably even physical pleasure out being the center of attention, even if it's of the negative kind. And you never want to be in the position of having given that man pleasure of any kind, especially anything to feed his sick martyrdom. So the best strategy for dealing with him is really just to peacefully neutralize his presence, as was done at the funeral. It pisses him off much more than any name-calling ever will. He wants the confronation, so don't give it to him. It's not always easy, but being a sane and decent human being usually isn't a cakewalk in the first place.
And thank you Greyhawk and Mrs. Greyhawk for getting the word out. And I'm sorry Bubblehead for both making fun of your name (but I just couldn't resist) and because I couldn't figure out how to give you a trackback.
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