Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Oh, Goody....Hate Mail

So far the move from Facebook has been a positive one. People who are serious about finding a peaceful resolution to the hate and bigotry being spread by Westboro Baptist Church are coming to the new site. I know this because I check the views and stats and they far exceed the number of those actually signed up to " follow" the site. It's not a numbers game, and frankly, I never totally trusted the FB stats because- let's face it- we love to click the
" Like" button. It's human nature. People just passing through one time will click the "like" button on a page just to leave a little token nod that they were there. We had a healthy participation on FB and still do here at our new home base.

One of the things I appreciate about not being on FB is that there are a lot less flippant remarks being posted, and that we can moderate the comments-we post all comments except the ones that are truly irrelevant or obscene. We sincerely don't want to feed the trolls, and the new page has cut down on them considerably. This is serious, important work we do here at Wall of Peace. Patient as we are as moderators, we don't have the time or resources to deal with comments such as the following- and we're not going to waste your time with them either.  Here's an example of what we get:

"To all of these sites on Facebook and other blogs concerning Westboro: You are just showing yourselves to be lower than them by your godless threatening, swearing, useless words and self damaging remarks which Christ would never condone. The publicity you give them is worth plenty to them and you play right in their hands like a puppet. The hacktivist group, ‘Anonymous’, has done more damage than anyone ever could by taking their sites offline. Although illegal to do so, at least they are not advocating hateful harm or death towards others."

This is someone who simply spammed a bunch of sites and FB pages.( And whom, by the way, write in the same style of WBC, LOL.) It's obvious that they have never actually read anything on Wall of Peace Against Westboro Baptist Church. The moderator team spent literally hours deleting remarks threatening violence against the Phelp's family and WBC after the Supreme Court decision. That sort of commentary did not stay on the page as soon as one of the moderators read it.


As heinous and reprehensible as some of WBC's behavior has been-like announcing their planned protest of the funeral of the seven Mennonite children who died in a fire in Pennsylvania last week, we have never once surrendered to thoughts of retribution...not one time. Hate can summon the power of the world, but only peace can summon the power of good. It takes a tremendous belief in the goodness of people to refuse to hate those who behave in hateful ways. At Wall of Peace, we renew our mission everyday by refusing to sub- comb to that hate.~Kate

3 comments:

  1. A great big Thank You and a round of applause for Kate and Sabrina for their ongoing efforts to keep this a beacon of peace. There is plenty of anger and hate already without our adding to it.

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  2. Yes it is our most sincere hope that those who've helped and been so supportive of our Wall of Peace that everyone understands WHY we've moved our page.
    Here we can be far more careful as to what posts are posted.
    Clearly we wish to post those who care and help with this cause.
    There's enough HATE in the world - even specifically Westboro Hate to allow the Facebook page to offer a place to make MORE hate.
    Therefore the Facebook Page is no more.
    We hope you all understand.

    Blessings,
    sabrina

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  3. My sincerest gratitude for your efforts. May the world of love speak louder than the hate spewed by a handful of misguided souls. I feel sorry for those who haven't found the bliss of Spirit and the love that is imbued upon Her children.

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