Free Speech, Snyder vs Phelps

Snyder vs. Phelps is a case where the Westboro Baptist Church protested during and near the funeral of Matthew Snyder, who was killed while on military duty in Iraq. The case involved the freedom of speech issue.

Albert Snyder sued the Westboro Baptist Church. Snyder won and then the verdict was later vacated by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

I think the WBC and anyone else has a right to protest at a military funeral. They are protesting a government policy of war, a policy of invading, occupying, and declaring martial law on other countries, countries that have not, nor have any capacity of attacking and invading the United States.

If we had more protests at military funerals it would go a long way towards diminishing the glory of war and the martyrdom that so many young men yearn for.

The State and the Military Nation love to honor those who died in unnecessary and unjust wars by playing Taps at the deceased soldier’s funeral. Then the precise procedure of folding the flag and giving it to a family member is emotional. It helps the State in its recruitment of young men who want to do the right thing. Protests at these funerals will make young men, and their families, families who are also war enablers, think about war.

Families of young men who are willing to become warriors show much pride and approval when their sons join the military and are willing to go into another country and kill innocent people their sons do not even know. These families are war enablers as much as their sons who are willing to give up their own constitutional rights to submit to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

In the last week of August 2010 there were another 19 United States soldiers killed in Afghanistan. How many more will die in an unjust war?

“Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives, and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.” -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

Charles Tolleson