Protesting Doesn’t Pay
Albert Snyder won nearly $11 Million from the Congregation of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka. The members of the Church protested the war at Albert’s son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s funeral. He was killed by an IED after being in Iraq for about one month.
This is great for Albert and many of the families that have had the funerals of their loved ones protested at. I have mixed emotions over it. On the one hand, as a person with military members in my family, I applaud Albert’s win and would hope that it helps keep the funerals of other fallen military members a little quieter. I also have to look at it from the point of view of an American who takes my freedoms (those same freedoms that those military members fight for) very seriously. One of those freedoms is the freedom of speech. And I really do believe that those protesters had a right to express their selves through the protest.
That doesn’t make it right, but I do think they should have been protected under the 1st amendment. I think what really put it over the edge and made them lose, is the way that they protested. They made it personal. They had signs that read “Semper Fi Fags”, “Thank God for IEDs”, and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”. While the last may not be perceived as personal, the other two most certainly are. The protesters’ mistake was a lack of respect. They felt that they had to get personal to get heard, and they sealed the case against them.
I would be surprised, however, if they didn’t appeal the decision. I also would be surprised if it didn’t make it’s way up to the Supreme Court. And with the deeply conservative Supreme Court, it stands a chance of being upheld.