4chan, Ted Frank, and alt.fan.warlord can all hang up your hats. The greatest troll of all time.

[xiphias]

A troll does inflammatory things specifically to piss off as many people as possible. It's usually a specifically Internet thing, but the Westboro Baptist Church has been doing this in real life. Fred Phelps has carefully designed a worldview so infuriating that he can upset absolutely everybody, everywhere. The WBC is especially interesting in that they've developed a way to monetize trolling: their whole purpose is to piss people off so much that people will attack them in some way -- at which point, the WBC will sue them. These lawsuits are the funding mechanism for the church.

Which is why Phelps is so damn good at what he does. No matter WHO you are, he's got SOMETHING that will piss you off, enough to make you want to take a swing at you -- and, if you do succumb to the temptation, he'll sue you, and win, and that's how he and his family make their living.

But just how good at this IS he? Can he really manage to get EVERYBODY to hate him? I mean, really. EVERYBODY?

Nobody could be THAT skilled a troll, could they?



Read 'em and weep, guys. It's over. 4chan, just give up. Nobody can top that.

Comments

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Epic. Beyond epic. Whoa.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Wow.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Eventually he is going to really hit it big time, and provoke someone into damaging him, or a member of his family/cult, enough that the money from the lawsuit isn't worth the pain.

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

I honestly can't be bothered with them. I have real issues to worry about in this world.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

There was a guy in New York when my father was a young lawyer there, by the name of Rebbe Klein. My dad learned that any lawsuit he was in -- and there were hundreds -- could not be used as precedent. He had evidently managed to piss off the judges so much with his endless frivolous lawsuits that they would find law to go against him, or make it if they had to, just to be able to throw his cases out of court so hard they bounced twice and hit him in the nose. So anything they said in an opinion against him didn't necessarily apply in any case involving anyone else... it was just a way to kick Rebbe Klein out the door again.

Self Control

[rymrytr.livejournal.com]

This is a point that I've been trying to teach my 13 year old.

There are a few of us, in this life, who are able to remain calm in the face of anger. My Great Nephew (the 13 yr old that lives with me) is like his Grandma (my Sis) and his Mom. They are emotional folks.

When she was 6, she would cry when Tom caught Jerry, in the Cartoons. She and my Niece, her daughter, are both Tender-Hearted folks. :o)

My point is, as I've tried to teach B and others, "you are in control of you and you allow others to push your buttons or you don't."

I worked the last 12 years of my 21, inside a jail. Not as a guard or Officer, but I still worked face-to-face with guys and gals that would have stuck me with a sharpened tooth brush, if they could have.

In the face of all this anger, you either remain calm and professional, or you loose your temper and your job.

Violence breeds violence. Want an illustration? Just watch Hanity or O'Riley on Fox News. People there, shout, interrupt, and get belligerent. They never hear all the others have to say, and rarely does anyone, finish a thought or sentence, without two others, talking loud, trying to make a point that no one is listening too. and do they ever change the opinion of the other guests?

A calm attitude is what one needs to be a hostage negotiator, a Medic in battle or a good parent.

Those people like Phelps, do what they do on purpose! They get satisfaction in pulling the strings on your Marionette Suit and watching you dance, and you(all) put on that suit!.

Did you ever see Henry Kissinger? There was a man with total self-control!

Anyway, I offer this in a calm voice and with the intentions of a good friend, talking calmly and with a gentle attitude, to other friends! :o)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Is that for real? Wow.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yep. Remember: the WBC has chosen things designed to piss off every single person in the United States.

The Klan, I'm sure, doesn't care about "God hating gays." But I'm sure they DO care about WBC picketing the funerals of deceased servicemen.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

Well, damn. Now that they've repudiated WBC, I'm ready to send in my membership check.

...

I take it from the title of your post that Ted Frank hasn't grown up any since college, eh?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

He was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for a while, and is now a major force for tort reform.

Which, from my point of view, means, "yeah, he hasn't."

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Klan being against them doesn't surprise me. The Klan thinks of itself as patriotic and, except when the National Guard goes after them, is generally pro-military. Phelps' antics at servicemen funerals is probably what led to the above.

Also, just occurred to me that it might be notable that these days we have the ultra-so-far-off-to-the-"right"-that-space-time-curvature-may-actually-have-them-on-the-"left" attacking servicemen, whereas back in Vietnam it was the left who attacked such. These days, save for ridiculous extremists, seems people are of the attitude "We like/hate the policy that has you in the field, but we'll at least respect the grunts who have to carry out that policy".

And finally, I guess if Fred Phelps ran against David Duke for Louisiana Governor, the old "Vote for the crook, it's important" slogan would have to change to "Vote for the Klan Wizard, it's important". : -)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's fair to call the WBC "ultra-right". The WBC is "ultra-whatever-will-piss-the-most-people-off". If they think they can tap into outrage against homophobia, they're homophobic. If they can tap into patriotic outrage, they're anti-American.

I'm sure they're looking, right now, for a way to simultaneously support abortion while denying women the right to control their own bodies.

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about that. Fred Phelps might be that honest to himself about it, but his kids and grandkids seem to sincerely believe the nonsense they're spouting.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

WBC was protesting at my synagogue yesterday because they mistakenly believed that we have a woman rabbi. They were making a day of protesting everything in town, centered on a university having a symposium on gay marriage, where 500 people came out to counterprotest them.

[daze39.livejournal.com]

He makes Jerry Fallwell look sane by comparison: in fact, Fallwell has denounced him (some years ago already) - something like "I don't believe homosexuality is part of God's plan for how we should live, but He certainly doesn't approve of that sort of hate-mongering!"

I think Falwell is an honest Christian at least, not a brainless foaming zealot: I saw him on TV briefly once; he was saying something to the effect that "if we tell a woman that it would be wrong to have an abortion, and she says that she doesn't have the means to raise a child, what can she do? ... we'd better have an answer for her!", and then he went on to discuss some of the work his church actually did with adoption and family assistance programs etc.: it's not impossible to believe that he might actually have a bit of charity in his soul - it's clear that Phelps and his clan have none!)