Good Riddance, Fred Phelps: 5 Pivotal Moments For LGBTs In Comics

Lunar Templar

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Oh? The worthless waste of space and resources died?

Good, I hope he enjoys his stay in Hell. Now if we can just be rid of the rest of his filthy cult the world truly WILL be a better place, till then its just one less worthless sub-human in the world.

Oh, and before some one decides to get on my back about how 'I'm no better then him'. Save it, I AM still better then him. He founded an organization found on hate and lies, brought suffering to god knows how many family's already suffering from the loss of a loved one, while hiding behind the rights given by a country his own cult hates.

But I'm TOTALLY just as bad is him, for celebrating the death of an evil human, yup >.> totally on the same level. /sarcasm
 

ace_of_something

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Anything that makes people more aware of Stormwatch and the Authority is good in my book. Still pissed that DC cancelled the new Stormwatch of the new 52. I liked Midnighter's new chin spike!
 

thepyrethatburns

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Two things:

1) The amusing thing about the Northstar wedding (as well as the new Alan Scott turning out to be gay) is the big two waited for Archie Comics to have a gay wedding, take the lumps for it, and then trying to keep up. Say what you will about Archie but, when the writers want to write on a subject, they can turn out both socially challenging AND nuanced material.

2) What I said on G+

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So I know it's not right to feel glee at someone else's death and that one should strive to be the better man in these cases.

But, then again, it is said that one should be true to one's self and, deep down, I'm just too petty to not feel irrational glee at this vermin's passing. Whether it was his hatred of the gay community or yelling poisonous insults at the grieving widows of our fallen soldiers, this vermin was a cancer upon our society. I can't think of a more appropriate song to present my feelings here than this one.


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As for it being in bad taste, eh.

First, I imagine that the people complaining have no trouble unleashing the venom on people or groups when they are alive. One would think that this should be more reprehensible as the dead no longer care what is being said about them while the living do. Being dead should not give you immunity to the criticism that you would have gotten when you are alive.

Second, such criticism is not on the same level as going to his funeral and yelling at anyone who is grieving. To say that it is reveals a lack of any sense of proportion and/or spending too much time on the internet.

Third, it is quite natural to feel good about someone's death when that person is a cancer on your existence. We tell ourselves that it isn't in an attempt to conform to society's standards but that is the denial of emotion. Many victims of cases such as child abuse have had to grapple with feeling guilty about feeling good when something bad (prison, death) happens to their former abuser until they find out (usually through therapy) that it is okay to have these feelings.

So, yes, it is okay to feel good about Phelp's death and to be able to express your feelings as such.
 

Bara_no_Hime

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RossaLincoln said:
To mark the passing of a bigot, let's look at how gay people have fared on the pages of American comic books.
**raises a glass**

Cheers.

Also, a neat article. Movie Bob already covered Wonder Woman in depth, but it was nice to hear about some of the others. I didn't realize that Batman/Robin homo-eroticism was the source of the Comic Authority thingy.
 

Olas

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Dec 24, 2011
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Houseman said:
"Good riddance"?
As in the earth is better off without him?

Isn't that what he thought about certain people?
Ya, the difference is we're right, the world IS better off without him. Don't even try to defend this guy, the only thing that separates him from being like Hitler is he didn't have enough followers or power to act on his disgusting beliefs.

I think it's easy to forget just how revolting this guy and his followers are. When people were mourning the loss of children and family members to school shootings like Sandy Hook these guys were CELEBRATING it, celebrating the murder of children.
 

MrMan999

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Damn guys. Isn't celebrating his death just sinking to his level? I mean I had no love for the man, but shouldn't we be the better men or women in this scenario and not do that? In a way I pity him, Living live consumed by hate is no way to live life. The guy clearly had some personal issues and demons. I hope that his soul found the peace that has clearly eluded him in life.
 

[REDACTED]

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RossaLincoln said:
To mark the passing of a bigot, let's look at how gay people have fared on the pages of American comic books.
Yaaaaay! *Uncorks champagne.*

I cheered when Osama bin Laden died and I'm cheering now. I had some reservations about cheering anyone's death, but then I remember that this man not only devoted the last, precious years of his life to tormenting innocent people at their most vulnerable moments, but brainwashed fucking children into spewing his hateful, cultish bullshit.

I wouldn't picket his funeral, but I'm not shedding any crocodile tears over this human filth. Unlike the soldiers whose families he harassed, the world really is a better place without him in it.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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Curious. I wonder if in the last few moments of his life, he realised he wasted it?

I am not happy he is dead, and I am not sad. Either would imply I cared about him in the first place.
 

TaboriHK

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AzrealMaximillion said:
TaboriHK said:
I have no problem with anyone calling him out for exactly what he is - a hateful dead bigot.
There's a difference between calling someone out and celebrating their death. A big difference. Phelps didn't even kill anyone or advocate violence. He was a nuisance. Nothing more.
There's absolutely no data on what kind of emotional harm he inflicted on literally hundreds of families. You can write off his actions as being a nuisance, as a person who never watched a brother, or a friend, or a father's death gleefully cheered by a peanut gallery that immediately sued anyone with the audacity to throw a punch. His church was largely funded on lawsuits of people they harassed.

It's fine if the tone bugs you personally, to each his own. All I'm saying is the tone will probably be less "agreed upon as unnecessarily ugly" than you might think. Fred Phelps was about as ugly as you can get, and he made ugly children, and they all together ruined a lot of people's lives.
 

WarpedLord

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Silverfox99 said:
LifeCharacter said:
Silverfox99 said:
Is the world a better place with him gone? Yes. My problem with articles like this is the fact that being a bigot to a bigot doesn't make you any less of a bigot then the bigot you are being a bigot to.
When you make bigotry so broad as to include any hatred/intolerance/whatever of anyone or anything, bigotry stops being an inherently bad thing. Quite honestly, we should be bigots to bigots, because doing otherwise might make them feel as if their views are accepted when they aren't and shouldn't be.
The meaning of bigotry is being intolerant of others ideas or beliefs that differs from your own. There is no other qualification and there shouldn't be. When right or wrong gets put into the equation it creates a situation where bigotry can be justified. The justification then leads to excesses of the hateful behavior. This is exactly what the LGBT community has been fighting against. Many of those people resistant to gay rights believe they are correct and right. Since everyone has a different opinions and ideas the only way to stop bigotry is having the meaning be broad.

This does not mean that you agree with them. It does mean that you don't return the hate and intolerance back at them. When you are hateful and a bigot to a bigot you are only reenforcing the hate in that person. You can not agree with them and still not be hateful and intolerant.
It's not his "beliefs" that were the problem, though.

I mean, I STRONGLY disagree with his beliefs, as do almost all of us here, and most people. The fact remains, you're free to BELIEVE what you want, no matter how stupid or f-ed up those beliefs are.

No... what we all have a problem with is his actions. The man did (and led others to do) absolutely despicable things. Hating someone because of their actions isn't bigoted.

You're not a bigot for hating someone who murders a school full of children. You're not a bigot for hating someone who rapes and kills women for fun.

Sure, he may not have been as bad as either of those, but no... you're not a bigot for hating someone who uses the funerals of soldiers who died in the service of their country or innocent children who died in one of the places they should have been truly safe as a damned sounding board for his hatred and evil.

As an agnostic, in cases like this I hope there is a God, so that I can say that I hope this steaming pile of human waste enjoys the special place in Hell he's earned. May he suffer there for all eternity.
 

Saxnot

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RossaLincoln said:
I'm celebrating the fact that his hateful legacy failed. Though, and I swear I don't mean to offend, I have no problem considering people who aren't bigots morally superior to people who are, nor do I think it's in bad taste to comment on the legacy of hateful bigots by pointing out how they failed, and hilariously so.

i swear i didn't mean to offend? that's just a straight-up lie. You can't celebrate someone's death (no matter how you justify it) and then claim you don't mean to cause offence. you do. you just don't care about offending people who care about Fred Phelps. That's your own choice to make, but don't pretend we're idiots and come out with some weak excuse like that.

on topic: His later life may have been lived in the name of hate, but i can't judge Phelps as harshly since i learned that he spent much of his earlier life defending black people in civil rights cases (sometimes for free) in Kansas. He stood up to an enormous amount of hate and bigotry defending the rights of his fellow man when few others in his state would. He was more complicated than just a hate preacher. As i see it, he was a man that stood up for his convictions regardless of what the rest of the world thought. I respect that regardless of what i think of the opinions he held, and i don't feel he deserves the 'ding-dong the witch is dead' treatment.
 

Savryc

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Aug 4, 2011
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Like I said in the other Phelps thread I can understand why some people would be happy with the news and I don't think they're wrong to do so, but I don't find any joy in someone's death. Be it Thatcher, Bin Laden, Gadaffi. I didn't feel anything at all and I still don't feel anything now Phelps has gone.

But this? If it were off-topic/user created in general that'd be alright but a featured content article just smells like cashing in. Exploiting peoples emotion and hatred of this figure for some juicy, ad laden click-bait. I used to hold the Escapist to a higher standard but a few recent articles, this one most certainly included, have led me to question that particular belief.
 

RA92

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TaboriHK said:
I think you can count the people who will be mourning his death on one hand, and that includes his family.
Yeah, I doubt that...

http://www.vice.com/read/fred-phelps-has-died

The Hits Never Stopped


Phelps ruled with a literal iron rod. He regularly beat all of his kids, but the most extreme example available to us was when he nearly finished off Nate Phelps on Christmas Day. Nate and Mark had made the fatal error of acquiring some Christmas lights. Fred did not allow Christmas?it was yet more sodomite blasphemy, basically. For his crimes, Nate received more than 200 strokes from an adze handle. He was beaten in 40-stroke batches, alternating with his brother, Mark, who was receiving 20 at a time for slightly lesser crimes. Mark later said he was ?hoping I'd be knocked out, or killed... anything to end the pain."

Apparently, One of His Favorite Tactics Was to Grab Kids by the Hands and Pull Them Upwards, Then Repeatedly Smash His Knee into Their Groin and Stomach, While Walking Across the Room Laughing.

He continued to do this even when they were sexually developed teens. Bit weird, Fred Phelps.



Another excerpt:

He Celebrated the Death of His Son's Girlfriend

In 1970, Debbie Valgos was a sweet local girl who had the misfortune to fall in love with Fred Phelps Jr. The pair tried to elope, but were caught by Fred Sr. Discipline followed, but Debbie was then allowed to attend Westboro services along with Fred Jr. At each one of these, she was called a whore from the pulpit. Despite this, she repeatedly asked Fred Sr. what she needed to do to be allowed to see his son. Not long after, Debbie moved out of town and lost it. By 1972, she was dead of a speed overdose, having already taken half a jar of barbiturates earlier that evening. She was still only 17.

Mark Phelps says, "I remember getting home from school the day it appeared in the papers, and my dad came dancing down the stairs, swaying from the knees and clapping his hands, singing, 'The whore is dead! The whore is dead!' He paraded around the house, singing and laughing with that maniacal giggle he has, 'The whore is dead!?'


... and it goes one...

He?d first read about the new "science of aerobics" on the back of a Wheaties box and had subsequently marched his entire tribe off to the local track, where, from his youngest?who was five?upward, they were all forced to run five miles every day, no matter what the weather.

Soon, he upped that to ten miles a day. Then, they were being made to run a marathon every Saturday.

So yes, not only was a hate-monger, he was an abusive bastard as well.
 

CrazyCapnMorgan

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Major_Tom said:
We celebrated when The Wicked Witch Thatcher died, so we can sure as hell do it for this asshole. Enough with holier-than-thou bullshit.

And though I have an opinion to add to this, it was summed up by former CNBC employee Keith Olbermann years ago.


As an addendum: no matter what you believe, when you infringe upon another person(s) life or liberty, what you believe becomes null and void.
 

Eamar

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WarpedLord said:
It's not his "beliefs" that were the problem, though.

I mean, I STRONGLY disagree with his beliefs, as do almost all of us here, and most people. The fact remains, you're free to BELIEVE what you want, no matter how stupid or f-ed up those beliefs are.

No... what we all have a problem with is his actions. The man did (and led others to do) absolutely despicable things. Hating someone because of their actions isn't bigoted.

You're not a bigot for hating someone who murders a school full of children. You're not a bigot for hating someone who rapes and kills women for fun.

Sure, he may not have been as bad as either of those, but no... you're not a bigot for hating someone who uses the funerals of soldiers who died in the service of their country or innocent children who died in one of the places they should have been truly safe as a damned sounding board for his hatred and evil.
THANK YOU.

It is unbelievably frustrating when people don't get that.

Personally I won't be celebrating (or even really acknowledging it outside of this post), but yes, I'm glad he's dead. Harassing people at their loved one's freaking funeral is one of the most disgusting behaviours I've heard of, especially when the deceased had absolutely nothing to do with him or his organisation >.<
 

CrazyGirl17

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I know this might make me sound like an asshole, but fuck it, I'm glad that bastard's dead! Glad glad glad! ("Gee, I wonder if she's glad?")

If you disagree, then fine, that's your opinion. Me? I'll be over here, celebrating.
 

RossaLincoln

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Saxnot said:
RossaLincoln said:
I'm celebrating the fact that his hateful legacy failed. Though, and I swear I don't mean to offend, I have no problem considering people who aren't bigots morally superior to people who are, nor do I think it's in bad taste to comment on the legacy of hateful bigots by pointing out how they failed, and hilariously so.

i swear i didn't mean to offend? that's just a straight-up lie. You can't celebrate someone's death (no matter how you justify it) and then claim you don't mean to cause offence. you do. you just don't care about offending people who care about Fred Phelps. That's your own choice to make, but don't pretend we're idiots and come out with some weak excuse like that.

on topic: His later life may have been lived in the name of hate, but i can't judge Phelps as harshly since i learned that he spent much of his earlier life defending black people in civil rights cases (sometimes for free) in Kansas. He stood up to an enormous amount of hate and bigotry defending the rights of his fellow man when few others in his state would. He was more complicated than just a hate preacher. As i see it, he was a man that stood up for his convictions regardless of what the rest of the world thought. I respect that regardless of what i think of the opinions he held, and i don't feel he deserves the 'ding-dong the witch is dead' treatment.
I swear I don't mean to offend the commenter to whom I was replying, meaning I wasn't trying to be a jerk to that person, as was obvious from context. I was not saying my intent wasn't to offend people who think Fred Phelps was a swell guy.

Also, Fred Phelps was permanently disbarred after waging a campaign of sexist harassment against a court reporter who was like 5 seconds late providing some documents to him. He called her a slut on the stand when he sued her, and ultimately perjured himself by providing false evidence in his appeals. So much for his convictions.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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How do you go from
TaboriHK said:
There's absolutely no data on what kind of emotional harm he inflicted on literally hundreds of families.
to this

Fred Phelps was about as ugly as you can get, and he made ugly children, and they all together ruined a lot of people's lives.
And think that its still ok to celebrate a person's death?

And to say he ruined a lot of people's lives and not mention that he also saved alot of people's lives when he represented black people during the Jim Crow era is also kind of funny.

Fred Phelps is a homophobe, but he never advocated for violence or death. He used the funeral picketing to gain attention. Ruining a funeral is tragic, but I'd hardly call it life ruining when the grieving families still have the memories of the deceased. No amount of audible homophobic noise can take that away. The only lives that you could argue the WBC ruined were the family members they excommunicated, but would you really call being booted from a hate group due to not being a homophobe "life ruining"?

He also fought for a group of people that were suffering from laws that meant they could be killed on site by the public with no due process due to the colour of their skin. Fred Phelps statistically has saved more lives that you think he's ruined.

Celebrating the death of someone while only focusing on the part of it you didn't like is irresponsible and tasteless no matter how right you think you are in doing so. Now if Phelps had killed people, you'd have a point to your argument, but Phelps didn't really take anything away from anyone. The picketing of funerals had not one, not two, but three federal laws that rendered their protests mute for almost 10 years. And community members took it upon themselves and blocked the WBC noise from ruining many funerals.

In the end the WBC was resorted to sidewalks because they legally haven't been able to interrupt on since 2006.


Why are people quick to celebrate the death of those who in reality were just all bark and no bite?