photo by EDW Lynch
Westboro Baptist Church showed up to protest in front of Twitter’s San Francisco office on Thursday, but found themselves severely outnumbered by a crowd of absurdist pranksters, including guest blogger EDW Lynch above.
photo by Rubin Starset
WBC’s hate-promoting signs were answered by multiple signs of randomness, nonsensical yelling, and even a unicorn. A portable stereo blared Lady GaGa, while press and people passing by ignored the WBC signs and took pictures and videos of the more entertaining signs. I was also there and turned on the video camera while holding my sign.
Westboro had scheduled an appearance in front of the Golden Gate Theatre later that evening to protest Fiddler on the Roof. Fellow guest blogger, Burstein!, reports:
Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, Fred Phelps and his followers cancelled their appearance before Fiddler on the Roof. Apparently, they were all hated out from their big day and just had no more hate to spare. Nevertheless, even in their absence a small crowd gathered and gave rise to an elegantly dadaist protest in which accordions, random signs of love and hate, and rick rolls abounded. While many of those attending Fiddler were bemused and confused, the staff and crew apparently loved this counter-protest and the director, stage manager, and choreographer all came out to thank these ridiculous protesters.
photo by sandwichgirl
Here’s more coverage of the protest:
See also: God Hates Twitter, Westboro Baptist Church Plans Protest At Twitter Headquarters
UPDATE: Here’s an absurd sign generator to help you prank the Westboro Baptist Church when they come to your town.
"I was promised donuts" is a goddamn masterstroke. Thank you SFO. I only wish we could have mustered an equally overwhelming response here in PDX when they rambled our way…Next time.
We did!
Below are some articles on Portland's reaction to the Westboro group.
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/a...
http://www.dailyvanguard.com/2.4060/qrc-counters-...
They are returning to the Portland /Vancouver area on May 28th 2010.
Starting May 28, the group plans to picket five Jewish synagogues and centers; a Catholic church; a Bible church; and the large New Hope Community Church near Clackamas, Ore.
Early June 1, the group will picket Portland’s Grant High School before the first bell, the website shows.
That same day, it will gather at Heritage High School in Vancouver WA from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m., chiefly “to picket the rebellious brats and lying teachers,” . OK??
The school did have one former grad who died in Afghanistan.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/may/13/gay-bas...
Hopefully people in the area can show up with signs too .;-)
Brilliant. Love it.
why aren't any of the funniest signs here? what happened to the GOD HATES #TAGS one or the THESE RAILS DONT SCALE? these signs are all boring.
GOD HATES BORING SIGNS
Brilliant and beautiful! Please let me know well in advance of the next like go around and I will bloody fly from New York to bring my own signs! What a fun exercise in countering hate, so creative! (And so much more fun than it looked that the "other" side had :)
I'm right there with ya!
Beautifully done!
Reminds me of the "Nipples, Not Bullets" sign I displayed proudly at the first SF Iraq War protests.
one of the cops asked afterwards if she could have the "I was promised donuts" sign (there were 2) to sneak it into her sergeant's car. of course he obliged:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubin110/4312916311/...
one of the cops asked afterwards if she could have the "I was promised donuts" sign (there were 2) to sneak it into her sergeant's car. of course he obliged:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubin110/4312916311/...
Fred Phelps' ugly signs are nothing compared to the handcrafted beauty that can be witnessed almost daily being displayed by Mr. No Unlawful Sex, our local sex-phobic religious nut.
amazing!
I am from Kansas, near Topeka and have been anxiously awaiting this kind of brilliant response to the WBC. BRILLIANT!!! wonderful! I've been posting a link to this story every where I can. YAY!!!
I grew-up in Topeka (no longer live there) and think this is so perfect. Bravo.
THIS, henceforth and forevermore, shall be THE WAY we eradicate the WBC!
I agree! Fight hate with love. Apparently the best way to drown them out is to get onto their level of absurdity. I think someone should start an anti-protest organisation site to promote anti protests all across the country!
I too am from rural Kansas and am so happy about this elegant and perfect response. May I suggest though, that whenever anybody writes about these oversized amoeba, they put Baptist and Church in quotation marks i.e. Westboro "Baptist" "Church". Every conservative and decent religious person I know out here thinks these people are nut cases of the lowest order.
"Silly Hats Only" sign FOR. THE. WIN.
Thi is starting to be a trend; http://larvalsubjects.wordpress.com/2007/09/04/cl...
I feel as if its due to too many people growing up watching Monty Python?
Humour and absurdity is the new Kung Fu?
But Where was Frank Chu?
I'd like to propose a change in vocabulary. Instead of calling these extremists "uber" Christians or Fundamentalist Christians, isn't it really more accurate to call them Anti-Christians? I mean, they DO seem to be trying to teach us that Christ was standing for the EXACT OPPOSITE of what he actually stood for.
DOWN WITH ANTI-CHRISTIANS!
I can't wait for the day Phelps kicks the bucket! I"m going to Topeka with MY signs to protest HIS alleged entry into the heavenly realm. Please join me! It will be quite the fun to give them a taste of their own medicine while THEY grieve.
We have something equally dynamic planned for when these toolsheds visit Seattle again, and we know they will because of the equal rights marriage bills to pass. They will get quite the irritating surprise when they come here.
This is wonderful! I especially liked "I have a sign" but they were all good.
Awesome! I shudder every time I hear the word Christian uttered in the same sentence as WBC. We were living in Laramie when Matthew Shepard was murdered, and we'd never HEARD of these mixed nuts before. Romaine Patterson's response to them (Angel Action) was inspired!
Thank you San Francisco!!! Donuts are on the way!!!
(bows with forehead to floor)
This made it into The Times yesterday and I read it on the tube on the way to work. I nearly wet myself.
Thank you, thank you all involved. Just lovely. I particularly enjoyed the 'I have a sign' sign. Agree with all prior comments about the whole missing the point about God thing.
Can you send these nutters to London? We too have pens.
LOL do we really want them in our country? But if they did come I would love to get involved in the anti-protest.
Phelps gang stems from Phelps, who was beaten with an ax handle by his alcoholic father. And like father, like son, he beat his own kids with an ax handle, and even had them beat each other.
The man is certifiably insane. He should be put in a mental institution, along with mnost of his clan. This info re abuse comes from one of his two sane children, who haven't dealt with him in decades, and one is writing a book. And there seems to be a 13 child, who is missing, probably a gay child. Which is what makes Phelps so hateful of himself, and others. Just as that creep Sally Kern of Oklahoma, who said gays were a greater threat than islamic terrorism. Guess what – she has a gay son (thrown out of the family apparently, and her husband is a southern baptist minister. For whom gays have replaced blacks as the object of hatred.
We need someone to pick up on Phelps, point out that he is a danger to the gay community and all the others he hates – jews, catholics, etc etc. And have him put away.
And when he dies, if possible, I will be willing to pay 10,000 $ to someone who can find a way to deliver his remains to the Taliban with a video camera. A way of making some kind of peace with these people. And of course all thse maniacs deserve to be together), but politics do make strange bedfellows..
There will be a counter protest when the haters come to Philly on April 1! We are already figuring out our signs and LOVE the ones used in San Francisco.
Zombies need love too!
(love the anti-protest, from Sydney)
That is completely awesome. Those fools are coming to Portland, and we'll be doing something similar.
Love this! As a Veteran Army Wife, I have participated in an anti-protest against the WBC at Ft Bragg and found it to be an amazing experience! Our signs weren't quite as creative, but it was still great to see so many people come together to overpower the WBC's hateful message. Thank you to everyone who fights against this despicable group of NON Christians.