The Mother Load

So, there's this little film festival going on in Park City right now.  You might have heard of it...  I hear Robert Redford is involved in some way...

We're deep into Sundance madness here in Utah, and living a mere 20-30 minutes drive from Park City has me wondering if I should take a jaunt up I-80 and check out the action.  I've never actually been tempted to go to Sundance before today, and my desire has less to do with celebrities than the opportunity to give a group of hate mongers a piece of my absurdly enlightened mind.

According to news reports, the Sunday schedule of film screenings at Sundance included a little feature by Kevin Smith called "Red State."  The content of this film raised the much too easily raised ire of the Westboro Baptist Church, and a small group decided to come to Sundance and picket the movie. They were out in the cold Sunday with their usual brand of nonsense and their many signs announcing to the world all the things their "God" allegedly hates. Smith assembled, via social networking, an army of counter protesters who showed up with signs of their own. Take a look. (Warning: There are brief glimpses of signs with questionable language.)



My personal favorite? "Everyone loves bacon." "I have a sign" is in 2nd place.

Now, maybe the "people" from the "church" only planned on protesting the one day, and I've already missed my chance to meet them in person and tell them how I really feel about them, but if not, the contrarion in me would like nothing better than to drive to Park City with a sign that reads: "I don't presume to know the mind of God, but I'm pretty sure you're not doing his work right now, so maybe you should leave so people can enjoy themselves." Either that or "God hates poopooheads."

I considered for a moment if I would alienate any of my readers by sharing how I feel about the Westboro Baptist Church. Then I considered that if I have readers who agree with a group of people who protest at the funerals of our fallen soldiers, the soldiers who gave their lives to preserve the group's very right to protest, well, those are readers I can live without. (I can't imagine any of you liking me and them at the same time, so I think we're safe. I'm pretty sure they think God hates me for one reason or another...maybe because I color my hair.)

The only thing keeping me from Park City at this point is the fact that I was raised with the belief that every person on earth has the right to worship how, where, or what they may, so if these people want to worship at Sundance with signs and placards and believe that God hates everyone but them, I have to respect their right to do that. I'm also a psychology major set to graduate this year and destined for graduate school in some form, and the first thing you learn as a psych major is "Don't poke the crazy."

But enough of the morons with their ridiculous signs. They've had enough of my attention for today. I'll end this post with a news report from 2006 about the group that started the counter protest trend with nothing more than motorcycles, American flags, and a desire to protect the families of fallen soldiers. Long live the Patriot Guard.