Saturday, September 1, 2012

Fire

Super Saturday, my swashbuckling spermophiles!

Warning:  Do not continue to read this entry if you are easily infuriated.  No seriously, don't.  I'm going to throw the Secret Sunday entry on top of this one by tomorrow so you don't have to have a look-see if you don't want one.

It's cool we'll wait here while you click elsewhere.

No worries.

Okay I think they're gone.

So Sunday's prompt in the fabulous EmHart's photo challenge is "Fire".

When I finished my first photo entry earlier, I had a quick glance at what tomorrow's would be, and came up totally empty on what to post for "Fire".  No ideas.  A lighter?  Chit chat and write I can do all day - for instance I am completely terrified of fire, and am half convinced I must have been burnt at the stake in a past life - but taking a photo that has any significance to me in that department is a bit of a challenge.

It is Saturday as I write this (originally thought I'd post this timed for tomorrow - but eh, screw it) and I have spent all day not feeling so hot and watching anything and everything on Netflix streaming that is not baby or happy-family related.

I finished Insidious, and followed up with a documentary on a 'church' in Kansas here in the US.  I was watching this documentary, and there was a woman talking on it, and I thought "hold the phones - I've seeeen that woman before, haven't I?"

Yes indeed, I have.



(For the record - particularly with my shortage, I have never... eaten a child).

Most of you will probably read this and think "ohhh, I've heard of them before, didn't know the name" or instantly know who I'm talking about.  So forgive me if I'm giving you too much information here.

There is an elderly gentleman in Kansas, who is a pastor and therefor started a 'church' with some very, very extreme beliefs. He has a very large family, and they make up for most of the churches members.  They believe that gays are destroying the country, and that G-d is punishing us for being accepting of them by way of killing soldiers, 9/11 - basically anything bad that has ever happened here is punishment for that.  They protest everything - most disgustingly soldier's funerals (not that it matters, but this is whether the soldier is heterosexual or not).  Of course they have the right to say whatever they want, but unfortunately from winning lawsuits defending that exact right they have the money and means to go wherever they want in the country and protest.  If you'd like more info, by all means, google west.boro baptist church.

(And the documentary is called "Fall from Grace" and is full to the brim of delightful pastors & churchgoers who say lovely things and totally rip this church apart, so it keeps the blood down from a boil to a steady simmer).

Let me also make clear, particularly for foreign friends, that if you're an American, whether you're a churchgoer or an atheist, a gay rights activist or someone who thinks marriage is 'traditional', you are, undoubtedly, disgusted by these people.  I have never met a single person, regardless of beliefs, who isn't.

So where did I see this woman?

Ahhh yes, she was holding a sign that said I was going to burn in the fiery pits of hell (you know, for living here).

And so then I thought - aha!  My prompt is fire, and I think that maybe ( and hopefully, at that) I've seen them live and in HD  because I live here, and people from other parts of the country/world have not.  So I'm going to share my photos of awful.

In 2009 Kali and I (she who I'm forcing to see a scary movie tomorrow) had an adventure to the Academy Awards.

Every year at the Oscars, the real show is the few blocks around them.  It's a friggin madhouse.  People protesting things, people in costumes, tourists, cops, helicopters - it's a circus.  But these particular people come every year.  Every. Year.

2009 also happened to be the year that Sean Penn won the Oscar for Milk and in his speech referenced these signs of hate that he had to pass (as did everyone) to get in.

A few more pics of these signs of hate:

(I'd like to point out to the left, a woman wearing the flag as a diaper, and to the right, part of a group of small children forced to participate).



 (This girl is braaaaaave).


And the speech Mr. Penn gave referencing these people:



(Skip to maybe 5:45)

No words.







20 comments:

  1. I hate those mother f'ers. I'm extremely tempted to drive up there when that old fart dies and protest his funeral. With signs and maybe sparklers.

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    1. I am SOOO sure that's EXACTLY what's going to happen when he dies. The number of people he has pissed off (which is, basically everyone outside of his church) far exceeds the number who will attend his funeral to mourn him, I think.

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  2. They really do a great job of modeling Jesus. You know, with his messages of hate, scorn, ridicule and derision. I wish I was that good of a Christian.

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    1. So true! My point when I first saw them was wait a second... So heaven is just going to be this tiny group of people, and hell is where everyone else is going and I'm supposed to want to go where?

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  3. Wow, what a powerful post. I'm glad for EmHart's photo contest for helping to inspire you to write this post. Those people make me vomit. And those poor kids forced to participate - ugh.

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    1. That... was the most shocking part. There were at least 5-6 small children - didn't manage to get a photo of them as I was passing by. They're also in the documentary repeating the most hateful garbage you can imagine.

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  4. I just love the sign "You Eat Babies" Love it! And those people terrify me to my very core. They are whats wrong with religion.

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    1. That's the one I can't figure out! Now granted, all their signs are caca but I get the point... but where does an all-baby diet fit into this?

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  5. I guess the sign said you eat your kids, but babies would be better. Link to funniest web comic ever, http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=288

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    1. HA. Dunno if you watch True Blood - but there's a season where a naughty (and fabulous) vampire rips the spinal chord out of a newscaster live on TV and then proclaims to the camera that he wants to eat all of our babies... That made me think aha! Maybe these people are also vampires?

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  6. I love that you didn't take the prompt literally. That is what I want the challenge to be about, finding what the word means to you. It is powerful scary stuff they are spouting out there. It certainly lights a fire in my belly when I see that crap.

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    1. I also could've used these pictures with the prompt, 'vomit'.

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  7. No words indeed, brilliant post on fire.

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    1. It is.. shocking shocking. Seen em' on TV but to see them in person, soooo shameless, is.. an 'experience'.

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  8. Wow, very cool interpretation of the prompt! Yeah, those people are totally nuts. It freaks me out that there are really people like that in the world..

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    1. I at least take comfort in knowing that call themselves a church as they might, it's a cult.

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  9. Wow, that girl with the gay sex with Jesus sign IS brave. Yikes. And all I have to say about that whole group of people is - barf.

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    1. Barf indeed. Makes you want to vomit whilst strangling them.

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  10. Ugggg these people make my blood boil. Very firery indeed!

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