The College Fix

To recap: The Westboro Baptist Church’s planning on picketing George Washington University next month. From Evan Schwartz’s piece in today’s Hatchet:

There seems to be a movement to counterprotest the Westboro picketers, as evidenced by a growing Facebook event created by The GW Patriot. The Patriot makes an excellent point: “The First Amendment gives the WBC the right to free speech; it does not shield them from principled criticism.”

Thanks! I agree it is excellent, since Dan Keylin and I wrote it.

But why deign to acknowledge WBC’s existence? To counterprotest this minor fringe group is to recognize its message, which is exactly what the Westboro Baptist Church wants. The group wants recognition, news stories, cameras — and protesters. It wants to incite anger in people because its members feeds on controversy.

Well… 1,500 people “seem” to disagree. A counter-protest does recognize the group’s hatred, and that’s exactly what is necessary.

Lets be clear: we’re not counter-protesting them out of anger. We’re counter-protesting them because it’s the right thing to do — particularly on Veterans Day. This counter-protest has the potential to turn an otherwise negative event — a WBC picket — into a positive phenomenon by uniting GW students of every political affiliation, race, sexual orientation and religion in a peaceful demonstration against hateful extremism.

As one GW student wrote on the GW Counter-Protests the Westboro Baptist Church Facebook event wall, “I think the only way to really protest them effectively would be in a calm and humorous manner.”

And that’s just what we’re going to do.

Anything short of that merits a comparison with Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain after the Munich Conference:

My good friends, this is the second time there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace in our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home, and sleep quietly in your beds.

…I think we all know how well that worked out.

Will Frey is the editor in chief of the GW Patriot. He is a member of the Student Free Press Association.

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