WBC or the KKK? Take Your Pick

At a recent funeral for a soldier, at Arlington Cemetery, the Westboro Baptist Church was picketing with their usual rhetoric.  Counter protesting was the Ku Klux Klan.  That really makes it difficult to decide who you are going to root for.

Sadly, as much as I loathe the KKK, they are right about this one- the soldier did not fall because of God's wrath concerning Gay people.  In fact, it had nothing to do with anyone's deity, but we are placed in an interesting mental dilemma.

Trying to decide who has more moral authority, the Phelps or the KKK is like trying to decide if you'd rather have someone shoot off your right foot, or your left one.

As funny as that statement is, I must agree.  Is almost appears that the world has turned upside down when the KKK counter protests a religious hate group, similar to themselves, given their ideology and all.  It is counter-intuitive to tell the KKK, "You go, Man!" when you are a White woman with two sons who are half Black or even a Black person.  It is a new low in cognitive dissonance.

There you have it though, the KKK counter-protesting the WBC.

About 10 members of a group that claims to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan from Virginia called the Knights of the Southern Cross. They were cordoned off separately in a nearby area, but drew little attention as they gave out small American flags behind a banner that read "POW-MIA."

They said they were there to object to the Westboro Baptist Church's anti-troop message.

What do you do?  Mentally, both groups are detestable, but yet, the Knights of the Southern Cross are doing something that means something to everyone and that is, protesting the deplorable behaviours of the WBC who insists that "God hates fags" and "loves dead soldiers" because of it.

"It's the soldier that fought and died and gave them that right to free speech," said Dennis LaBonte, the self-described "Imperial Wizard" of the KKK group that he said he formed several years ago.

"That's fine," said Abigail Phelps, the daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. "They have no moral authority on anything.

"People like them say it's white power … white supremacy," Phelps said. "The Bible doesn't say anywhere that it's an abomination to be born of a certain gender or race."

LaBonte insisted he is not a racist nor a "hate-monger," but said he believes the white race is "slowly and most assuredly being denigrated."

Members of the group declined to say whether they were armed.

"I think they're twisted and confused, and we're just here to show them there are people who think they're completely wrong," Elias said.

It is getting a little creepy and sadly it makes you wonder why the WBC does not get a clue when they are outnumbered 3 to 70.  Abigail Phelps is right, the KKK does not have moral authority on anything, but neither does she or the WBC either.  No one does, despite both groups' ideologies and there is no god who will come down and make any moral judgements either.

Regardless, it plays with the mind when the two groups bump up against each other, almost like Sumo wrestlers, in protest.  The KKK is doing well by supporting the families who lost loved one's in the war, but yet they would sooner do minorities harm than let them live, including a White woman.  They would sooner give her misery, lynch her lover, and take away her children, if not kill her too, or at least in times past.  There are laws against that now, thank the human species, but WBC would gladly do psychological damage to anyone who does not agree with their ideology of hating everyone and unfortunately there are no laws against that.  We can only hope that human progress will change that though, in which it will be a crime to harm people as WBC does.

Regardless, what do you do when you see one of the groups actually doing something non-hateful?  The cognitive dissonance really plays with one's mind when you see "The Battle of Hate Groups", especially when you know you cannot take your family over to them and commend them for what they are doing.  It sort of blows the mind.  The KKK doing something non-hateful and fighting a hate group?

Mriana

Mriana is a humanist and the author of "A Source of Misery". She has two grown sons and raises cats. She enjoys writing, reading, science, philosophy, psychology, and other subjects. Mriana is also an animal lover, who cares for their welfare as living beings, who are part of the earth. She is a huge Star Trek fan in a little body.

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