Westboro protest proves 'timing is everything'

“The essential ingredient of politics, is timing.”
— Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
If there ever was a Republican stronghold, it’s right here in Montgomery County.
Has been forever … probably will be forever.
And if there ever was a place you could sell a conservative, biblically-based standard of morality, it would be right here.
Anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, anti-Obama-rhetoric should be gobbled up faster than 25-cent popcorn at a three-hour movie.
But apparently, not if you’re from Kansas. Or more specifically, attend a Baptist Church in Topeka.
Nope, the folks from Westboro Baptist Church received just as friendly a welcome from the good, bible-toting, democrat-despising folks in Montgomery County as they did from the tofu-eating-tree-hugging liberals in Kirksville, Mo., where I last encountered them.
Same message, same response: They hate gays (and Catholics, and Protestants, and Jews, and motorcyle riders, and Obamas), and everyone else hates them.
That’s not true. I don’t hate them.
Generally speaking, I try not to hate anyone, and so far I’m succeeding. Just not worth my angst, or effort to be that intensely angry at someone. I pray nothing happens in my life so extreme to change that approach, but I digress.
I understand why some people would hate them. Their messages are vile, their use of children in protests is shameful, and then there’s the whole timing issue.
At funerals?
Of our dead servicemen?
Could you pick a worse time for this? I really don’t think you could.
Of course, that’s the point. They go for the shock value, and nothing would be more shocking than protesting during a funeral. For a serviceman to boot.
These people aren’t crazy and they certainly aren’t stupid. They know exactly what their rights are under the law, and toe the line to exercise those rights. That in itself I can appreciate.
These people believe strongly enough in something they are willing to take action and stand up for their beliefs, no matter how unpopular they are.
There is something admirable there.
But again, going back to Mr. Trudeau, timing is everything in politics, and their timing (not to mention their message) is terrible.
While they may be effective in getting attention and shocking people, their message, even if shared by others, is lost and ignored because of the outside noise they create by protesting during a funeral.
It’s not necessarily what they say (well, for some people it is), but how and when they say it.
And they only said it for about 35-40 minutes in Red Oak, before quietly loading into their van and leaving, just as quietly as they came into town.
Here one minute, gone the next, nobody better off because of the experience.
After watching four of these “protests” now, I can say with more certainty after each one, they never live up to the hype.
They were all just as boring and non-eventful as the one in Red Oak. And the one that was least eventful, with the lowest turnout, was the one no one knew about.
Because no matter how bad the accident, we always slow down to take a look.
And the Westboro Baptist Church protesters have always proven to be the equivalent of a train derailment, without any cars: not much damage, and kind of boring to see.
 Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express. He can be reached at editor@redoakexpress.com