Counterprotests with Style
There are counterprotests, and there are counterprotests with STYLE! Manhattan Synagogue Makes $10,000 Off Westboro Baptist Church Protest
WBC is the "church" that exists solely to be as hateful as possible to everyone who isn't WBC, i.e., 99.999999999999999999% of the world's population. They're the ones who picketed Matt Shepard's funeral, and when they discovered how much PR that got them, started picketing soldier funerals. Finally being blocked from that, they've decided that blood libel and anti-gay rage are two great hates that go great together and are taking a fury-filled tour of New York City.
Congregation Beth Simchat Torah adopted the most useful and classy way of making them shut up and go away promptly. It isn't drowning them out or blocking them - that just fuels their persecution complex. It's asking people to pledge money for the cause based on how long the protesters stay. (Similar protest pledge drives have been per protester per minute, which really racks up the bucks.)
The article doesn't say if CBST had a sign out front letting them know what was up; I know of a Planned Parenthood that had a whiteboard with their constantly rising pledge tally, saying "Thank you for making $xxx for Planned Parenthood" in full sight of their picketers. (This works equally well on Operation Rescue.)
Either way, once protesters know they're actually minting money for the subjects of their protest, they tend to bolt. In this case, the WBC lasted less than an hour.
WBC is the "church" that exists solely to be as hateful as possible to everyone who isn't WBC, i.e., 99.999999999999999999% of the world's population. They're the ones who picketed Matt Shepard's funeral, and when they discovered how much PR that got them, started picketing soldier funerals. Finally being blocked from that, they've decided that blood libel and anti-gay rage are two great hates that go great together and are taking a fury-filled tour of New York City.
Congregation Beth Simchat Torah adopted the most useful and classy way of making them shut up and go away promptly. It isn't drowning them out or blocking them - that just fuels their persecution complex. It's asking people to pledge money for the cause based on how long the protesters stay. (Similar protest pledge drives have been per protester per minute, which really racks up the bucks.)
The article doesn't say if CBST had a sign out front letting them know what was up; I know of a Planned Parenthood that had a whiteboard with their constantly rising pledge tally, saying "Thank you for making $xxx for Planned Parenthood" in full sight of their picketers. (This works equally well on Operation Rescue.)
Either way, once protesters know they're actually minting money for the subjects of their protest, they tend to bolt. In this case, the WBC lasted less than an hour.