Earlier this month the friendly, hateful folks from Westboro Baptist Church paid a visit to Louisville. Been hearing about them for so long that I had to turn out for the occasion.
Thankfully they did a good job of failing to live up to the hype. Four people pacing the sidewalks waving signs at passing traffic that if they even noticed, waved back with middle fingers. Still not sure why they've gotten so much media attention, people do that sort of thing here all the time. I blame George W. Bush.
Since they were targeting five schools in the city, some folks turned out to keep them company, more as a counterpoint than a counterprotest.
Didn't take long before I realized something: fuckers were just here trolling. I say that in the fullest sense of 'takes one to know one.' They were quite careful to observe the law and seemed to delight in the honks, yells, and middle fingers.
In such a situation, any sort of engagement only serves to encourage them. Don't feed the trolls! Counterprotesting is almost counterproductive, serving to draw attention to them. With just the four of them most people are likely to ignore them just like they do the homeless.
Still, they're mighty damn obnoxious and the thought of letting them harass unhindered is a bit galling. But how do you take the fun out of it for them, jam their message? How do you troll the trolls?
This had me stumped for a while, until I remembered monstration. It's a concept that comes out of the other red states and is basically a parody of a demonstration. Get a bunch of folks to dress up as furries, cartoon characters, Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc and make signs like theirs except they say fun stuff like 'God Loves Your Mom!' 'Hell Has Bourbon!' 'It's only a flesh wound' 'Birds aren't real!' and then go join their demonstration.
Just turn the whole thing into an absurd spectacle, a bit of surreal street theatre with them as unwitting participants. Doubt it would deter them overly much but it'd be fun and would make it a bit difficult for anyone else to figure out what is going on. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find me a costume.
