Do you see what you get when you practice your "freedom of speech"? You get to see the direct consequences of your speech.
Before the March 2006 funeral for Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, a Marine who was killed in Iraq, protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, picketed the service with signs that read, "God Hates You" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."
Albert Snyder, the father of Snyder, sued the church in U.S. district court here, claiming invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
And I hope he wins. There's too many lawsuit happy people in this country. People suing McDonalds for beef in their cooking oils, legitimate accidents that weren't negligence, only pure happenstance, and other such things are costing people and corporations billions of dollars a year.
And we all pay for it.
However, when you invade someone's privacy like that. To invade a funeral, which is one of the most private things you have in your life, and spew out hatred, you're simply asking for trouble.
I'm actually very surprised that no one has been hurt or killed in these protests. I'm not saying I'd get violent, but I do know enough about myself to know I don't know how I'd react if someone was protesting my son's funeral. I may very well get violent. That's a troubling thing for me and anyone else. When you're pushed to the limits, anyone is capable of anything. There are people in prison right now who've said "I was just pushed until I snapped".
And if something like that happened, the funeral attendees would go to jail, but to tell you the truth, I can't say I'd blame them. Jury nullification is that they call that. :)
Travis
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