God hates…pretty much everyone

Life has a fascinating photo essay on the Westboro Baptist Church, otherwise known as the biggest assholes of all time, ever. They, you know, picket funerals and wherever else they can get some attention. All in the name of Christian goodness, of course.

It struck me that the photographer described the members of the church as feeling more “enlightened” than everyone else. That is not a word I have ever heard associated with a hate group – it seems so much more lofty than what Westboro does (in essence, laminating big signs and adding to the misery of the grieving and the powerless). And yet the reason I looked through the whole slideshow, and read all the captions, was that I wanted some insight into what could make people so hateful and angry, and what their daily life must be like. It was illuminating to see that they aren’t aggro in everything they do, and that they have a community structure that resembles something normal. The banality of evil, right?
The extent to which I’m willing to ponder these peoples’ brains varies with my mood, but if you feel like your day can handle some digging around in what makes Westboro do such horrible things, the slideshow is worth a look.

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