Friends of Sally: Newspaper Fails To Note Group’s Gay Hate Agenda

If anyone needs another lesson in how the local right-wing propaganda ministry works in Oklahoma, go no further than the recent lie through omission presented in a story by The Daily Oklahoman about a Marine protecting Ol’ Glory against evil war protesters.

The main problem here is the storyline is fundamentally inaccurate. It fails to clearly mention the so-called “war protestors” in question are freaky, radical anti-gay bigots from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Check them out at the GodHatesFags.com site.

(James Branum at JMBzine.com broke the news about the newspaper’s shoddy reporting, and his post can also be found on Daily Kos and Blue Oklahoma. The image to the right shows the organization in action at another protest.)

Led by Fred Phelps, the church pickets throughout the country at various events and venues, arguing essentially that homosexuality is to be blame for all things evil in the world today. (Sound Kernishly familiar, folks?) In recent years, the radical organization has been picketing the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq because, according to Wikipedia, Phelps believes, “Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is [that] the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime.”

These freaks apparently showed up to protest outside Tinker Air Force Base on Friday, March 14. Counter protesters showed up as well. (These counter protesters—and I have been among them—are usually a loose collection of both liberal and conservative groups and people.) A Marine reservist, Ray Modisette, of Shawnee, happened to see one of the Westboro freaks do something to the American flag he did not like. He was arrested as he tried to retrieve the flag because police said he was interfering with their ability to monitor the protesters and counter protesters.

Later, of course, Modisette was cleared of all charges and lauded as an American hero in the most conservative newspaper in the nation. Ultimately, most people on the right or left would have no problem here with the lack of charges, though his actions do call out for context given the Westboro Baptist Church’s agenda. With all due respect to Modisette, these questions need to be asked: Was Modisette standing up for gay rights or just for the flag or for both? Was he aware of the church’s background? Did he think these people were regular peace activists? The newspaper’s story gives us no clue.

But, again, the real issue here is The Oklahoman failed in its March 18 story to fully identify the so-called war protesters even though the information about Westboro Baptist Church is readily available on the Internet. (The story does mention the protesters were from the church, but it does not clearly identify its anti-gay agenda.) The group has previously protested in Oklahoma. The story obviously tries to intentionally deceive readers into believing this group is made up of typical war protesters opposed to the botched Iraq occupation, which is now in its sixth year. In fact, these particular war protesters are a radical hate group and are not and will never be supported by the country’s peace activists.

It seems obvious The Oklahoman deliberately distorted—I think lied is a better term here—the story in order to slander the peace movement as the Iraq occupation approached its five-year anniversary. The Associated Press then apparently picked up the story, reduced it even further, and The Tulsa World picked it up. Of course, the right-wing blogosphere then got into the act. Michelle Malkin, an ultra conservative blogger, posted a piece that stuck with the fictional storyline.

This is how the right-wing spreads its lies, and this is why are country’s democratic structures are now threatened. Instead of giving accurate information about the Westboro Baptist Church, the newspaper reduces it to a reductionist symbol of all war protesters, which is a lie. Not only did the newspaper lie through this glaring omission, it failed to note how radical the Westboro group is, and thus missed an opportunity to educate people about a frightening hate organization that is sure to return to the state.

In addition, the recent anti-gay rant of state Rep. Sally Kern obviously comes from the same cesspool of ignorance embraced by the Westboro folks. Consequently, the newspaper missed another opportunity to put Kern’s radical remarks in the context of Christian extremism. In the end, it is difficult not to see the newspaper story as yet another despicable act of hatred against gay people.