Watching what you say

Today I heard a conservative radio host take on the recent court case starring Fred Phelps and his lovely family.  As you are probably aware, Phelps' family chases around the country picketing anything they can link with their hatred of LGBT folks.  Over the last several years, their bizarre actions have led them to demonstrate at the funerals of soldiers, arguing that the deaths are the result of America's permissive attitudes towards LGBT persons.

The father of one soldier took Phelps to court arguing harassment and seeking redress, but Phelps' side won the case on free speech grounds; the father has been ordered to pay $16,500 in legal fees for Phelps.  The commentator argued that Phelps should not be allowed to harass the families of these deceased soldiers, and that their speech was like that of yelling "fire" in a theatre, though he never explained his thought process.

I think Phelps is abominable, but equally abominable to me is that I've never heard conservatives saying that his actions towards LGBT folks were unwarranted.  Until Phelps went after soldiers, I doubt they ever gave him a second thought, yet he and his gang have been creating havoc for LGBT people for years.

Likewise, this commentator would likely not agree that some of the things Palin and the tea-partiers have said seem very dangerous to me.  When Palin talks about "reloading" when it comes to attempts to overturn the health-care reform bill, or shows pictures of legislators who voted for it with gun sights superimposed on their faces, it's hard to imagine that she is not inciting violence.  And like Phelps, some of the tea-party folks have been using the "f" word in talking about folks like Barney Frank, along with tossing out the "n" word to true patriots and statespersons like John Lewis.

Free speech demands responsibility.  If you don't like what Fred Phelps is doing, then be sure you or people you support aren't doing the same thing.