Anonymous to Westboro Baptist Church: Repent Sinner or Suffer the Consequences !

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Full story here. But here's the gist:

anonymous said:
Cease & desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites. Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover.
 

regdog

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As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of cyber attacks but in this case


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It's an awesome letter.

I just hate empty threats.

I don't know how I would feel about them actually following through with them, because I am a big free speech guy, but I certainly wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if the whole church and its people came tumbling down.

I just hope that whoever wrote the letter actually can follow through on it if they so decide.

The letter reminds me of Brad Pitt's speech at the end of Meet Joe Black. Underrated movie.
 

sulong

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Originally Posted by anonymous
Cease & desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites. Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover.

Will the Mormons be next?
 

Bartholomew

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I have mixed feelings about this.

When you start limiting freedom of speech, there is suddenly a subjective line that defines a difference between merely talking and being a criminal. We have such lines already, but they're pretty darn reasonable.

Anonymous has basically said that what WBC does isn't speech, but... is that true? I loath WBC. I have to get their half of a story every so often, and it's never pleasant. So to see them get bullied makes me happy on a deep level.

I want to think that Anonymous is correct, and that WBC is engaging in something worse than free speech. But I actively hate the WBC, so I know I can't trust this thought.
 
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Deleted member 42

It's a tricky issue--two wrongs, etc.

And it does add credibility to Westboro's status as "victim" but I can completely understand people being sick and tired of their hate-mongering.
 

alleycat

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The trouble is, what if this type of thing was aimed at something you support.

Say, Planned Parenthood:
Cease & desist your reproductive rights campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in California and New York, & close your public Web sites. Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your membership will ever be able to fully recover.

Which is not to say I'm a fan of Westboro.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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The trouble is, what if this type of thing was aimed at something you support.

Say, Planned Parenthood:


Which is not to say I'm a fan of Westboro.
I'm glad it's not aimed at something I support, but Westboro is a hate group that frequently targets the newly bereaved. There is a certain schadenfreude factor in seeing them threatened by the relentless and devious Anonymous. I hope Westboro defies Anonymous and gets spanked.
 

AncientEagle

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My immediate response was pure joy. Then I began to have second thoughts...

I despise them, but I also despise people who shout down speakers with whom they disagree. Which is kinda what this is.

So it looks like I'm not going to be totally happy with either side of this issue. Story of my life.
 

regdog

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Two wrongs don't make a right. But the WBC has been and continues to be a bastion of hate. They have with absolute malice and forethought deliberately inflicted suffering on grieving families. They have traveled the country to spout hate and divisiveness.

They use protests to bully people who don't subscribe to their hate rhetoric. Counterprotests against their hate are common now. But every once and a while a bully needs to be knocked off his feet.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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My immediate response was pure joy. Then I began to have second thoughts...

I despise them, but I also despise people who shout down speakers with whom they disagree. Which is kinda what this is.
I think Westboro richly deserves to be shouted down. It's one thing to hold an opinion, quite another to spew hatred of your fellow man in the name of God.
 

Calla Lily

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Two wrongs don't make a right. But the WBC has been and continues to be a bastion of hate. They have with absolute malice and forethought deliberately inflicted suffering on grieving families. They have traveled the country to spout hate and divisiveness.

They use protests to bully people who don't subscribe to their hate rhetoric. Counterprotests against their hate are common now. But every once and a while a bully needs to be knocked off his feet.

Yes.
 

Deleted member 42

So it looks like I'm not going to be totally happy with either side of this issue. Story of my life.

Exactly; that's my "two wrongs" issue.

Honestly, with Anonymous' abilities, I would suggest an alternative based on a basic principal of the 'net--good data pushes out bad.

This is in effect what the counter protesters do when they sing songs to drown out Westboro's protests.

This can be done both efficiently and lawfully by making it very clear that the Internet isn't interested in Westboro, by drowning out their hate mongering with mockery--and getting positive PR for Anonymous at the same time.
 

Don

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Two wrongs don't make a right. But the WBC has been and continues to be a bastion of hate. They have with absolute malice and forethought deliberately inflicted suffering on grieving families. They have traveled the country to spout hate and divisiveness.

They use protests to bully people who don't subscribe to their hate rhetoric. Counterprotests against their hate are common now. But every once and a while a bully needs to be knocked off his feet.
Sometimes you have no choice but to punch a bully in the nose if you want to be able to sleep at night. That doesn't mean you get a free pass on the assault charge if you get arrested for it, however. Whether the result is worth the price is different for everyone.
 
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alleycat

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I'm glad it's not aimed at something I support, but Westboro is a hate group that frequently targets the newly bereaved. There is a certain schadenfreude factor in seeing them threatened by the relentless and devious Anonymous. I hope Westboro defies Anonymous and gets spanked.
Oh, I wouldn't mind too much if Westboro suddenly got hit by a giant meteor. Act of God and all. ;-)

But the bigger picture is actual cyber-terrorism.
 

Bartholomew

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But... the idea of godhatesfags.com being forever rerouted to an artistic nudes website pleases me so greatly.
 

Bartholomew

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Sometimes you have no choice but to punch a bully in the nose if you want to be able to sleep at night. That doesn't mean you get a free pass on the assault charge if you get arrested for it, however. Whether the result is worth the price is different for everyone.

The entity that can bully a government (which, iirc, Anonymous has done) essentially becomes the government.

And it's apparently a dictatorship. It's doing stuff I like, right now, but I know better than to be OK with that.
 
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Anonymous makes it sound like they will end WBC. Like END them.

But how?

Shut down their websites?

Big deal. How are they going to stop them from going to protest at a funeral?

I don't think anonymous has the ability to do anything of real consequence unless they are really going to create a physical attack upon the church and its members.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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Oh, I wouldn't mind too much if Westboro suddenly got hit by a giant meteor. Act of God and all. ;-)

But the bigger picture is actual cyber-terrorism.
Some of us don't like waiting around for God to act. You'd think He'd have taken Westboro out by now.

Besides this "cyber terrorism" shouldn't involve the sort of bloodshed associated with actual terrorism. Inconvenience, expense and humiliation will suck for Westboro and its followers, but they're not going to literally die.
 
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Bartholomew

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Anonymous makes it sound like they will end WBC. Like END them.

But how?

Shut down their websites?

Big deal. How are they going to stop them from going to protest at a funeral?

I don't think anonymous has the ability to do anything of real consequence unless they are really going to create a physical attack upon the church and its members.

The WBC has bank accounts, which are probably connected to a computer somehow.

I suspect there might soon be an ANONYMOUS donation of a figure equal to Fred Phelp's savings account to an unnamed charity, sometime soon.
 
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The WBC has bank accounts, which are probably connected to a computer somehow.

I suspect there might soon be an ANONYMOUS donation of a figure equal to Fred Phelp's savings account to an unnamed charity, sometime soon.

How much money could they have? They look like hobos.

And any attack on a bank account is insured and would be worthless. They'd get their money right back.

I really would like to know what anonymous has in mind.