Dave Grohl is ONLY Reason to Give Those Westboro Nuts Attention
Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters have done it again! They’ve out-trolled the worst trolls in the world, the Phelps family and their pseudo-religious death cult, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas.
The Westboro people were out protesting a Foo Fighters show in Kansas last week. You may be asking, “what do the Westboro goblins have against Foo Fighters?” Answer: Nothing. They just do protest when they know it will attract attention, be that cameras or clicks.
The Foos got them back in 2011 when they pulled up in a flatbed truck playing “Never Gonna Give You Up”. Yes, they literally did a live Rick-Roll.
This time they got them with a disco classic.
We’ve had a couple of run-ins with these people. The Phelpseses, not the Foo Fighters. After their 2nd studio appearance on the Buzz Adams Morning Show I decided there wasn’t any point. They’re not open to being swayed by reason. Trying to shame them is futile because they have none. It’s all about agitating people and trying to provoke as much anger (and attention) as they can.
When the Westboro Baptist Cult started their hate campaign thirty-some-odd years ago, it was all about getting a negative reaction. It really says something about America in the early 1990s that the hatred they got back wasn’t enough for them. Too many “mainstream” Americans agreed with their message. They couldn’t let that go. So, they started protesting the funerals of gay people. There still wasn’t enough backlash for them. So they started protesting the funerals of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s what finally did it. The Westboro Baptist Church finally got the near-total disgust and anger they’d been hoping for.
Many years ago I was a Bible scholar. The Westboro philosophy is some kind of ugly, stupid version of paleo-Calvinism. It would take too many words to describe Calvinism but it has to do with “predestination” and the belief that only a few thousand people are going to make it into heaven. The best I’ve been able to understand their warped world-view is that it’s a gross misreading of the book of Luke, chapter 6 v. 22 which they interpret as “the more man (people) hate you, the better you’re doing in God’s estimation”. This is a misinterpretation because nowhere in that verse does it mention anything about gays or homosexuality which is what the WBC has as its core ethos. The verse actually says (paraphrasing again) “be HAPPY when men hate you for Jesus sake”. It wasn’t meant as an invitation to be so offensive that people hate you for good reason. It’s a first-century message of comfort to a small and downtrodden religious sect that faced persecution, even unto death, for their religious beliefs about Jesus of Nazareth, and…this is important…His message of love for all your fellow man. So, not only do the Westboro cult get it wrong…they get it EXACTLY the opposite of the correct intention of that verse.
So, I decided there’s only one way to treat this kind of grief-trolls; ignore them. Don’t give them oxygen. Don’t go counter-protest. They don’t need you to tell them they suck. They already KNOW they suck. They’re constantly trying to come up with new, improved ways to suck more.
That’s what is so special about what Dave pulled off. When he tells the Westboro people, “I love you”, it’s the exact opposite of what they want to hear. The awesomeness that is Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters telling the most despicable group in America, “I love you” and then playing “You Should be Dancing” is a more moving and poignant example of Christ’s message than I’ve heard in a lifetime of going to church.
Thanks, Dave! Whether you know it or not, Jesus thinks you rock!