WBC protest, a message from Kwame Ocran
Announcements — By Chiyeung Lau on September 23, 2009 at 5:17 pmHey Everyone:
The Following Announcement Will Be Made Tomorrow in Prefect Concerning the WBC’s upcoming Protest:
Reject the Hate! The WBC, a group that hates people of all colors of the spectrum, races, and religions, is coming to Tech this Thursday to protest our diverse student culture. Instead of playing their game, a coalition of Tech students wants everyone to stand in solidarity and celebrate our diversity. Wear blue and white on Thursday to show our unity against hatred. We advise the students not to engage this group, but ignore them.
This is My Own Response Concerning the Group’s Protest:
The School’s Administration has said that it is unlawful to create a counter protest at Tech without consent. So, several students have come up with a peaceful and nonviolent way to respond to the Westboro Baptist Church.
Simply, they do not deserve a response. It is pitiful that such a small group fueled by messages of pure hatred and discrimination would go to great lengths to strangle the beauty of Tech and the beauty of life today, diversity. They are rapacious, and should be treated as such.
In response, wear Blue and White on Thursday to show Westboro Baptist Church that although we are inherently different, we are all the same. There will be no demonstration and/or counter protest of any kind.
A very astute Tech Student made it clear why this decision was made after school: “They want publicity. They will take pictures for donations and stuff. The more people there, the more they gain.”
So, let Westboro Baptist Church Profess their hatred, their anger, and their fear. Let them remain the pimple on the face of the modern age. Let them wave their signs. We’re bigger than that.
Please, do not speak to, harass, or use any weapons against these people, as legal repercussions will befall you if you do.
Remember: Brooklyn tech rejects the hate. Wear blue and white on Thursday.
Kwame Ocran
Replies from the forums:
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Christo145
says:
Well the tech students may not hurt them, but i cant say the same for the "gay thugs" that live around the area. ive seen them and they look pretty dangerous.
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Therein lies one of the potential problems. If something does happen, it'll be easy to blame Tech students for it, especially other non-Technites looking for fun on their own way home. I mean, Tech will just be a portion of the total pop passing by this.
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Well if think about it, most of the people that pass tech around that time are tech students. Plus, the area mostly clears out within 5 minutes. so if that happens 2morrow as it usually happens, they will be left there protesting to no one but the random few passerbys.
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They will fail in this protest and any upcoming protest C:
-watches them get banned from countries-
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Agreed, ignoring them would be the best course of action.
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ClEMeNt, on , said:I certainly hope such protests are NEVER banned. Freedom of speech protects ALL speech, both "good" and "bad."
They will fail in this protest and any upcoming protest C:
-watches them get banned from countries-
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There needs to be some kind of limit... Rules weren't meant to be made for loopholes
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Noldi, on , said:
There needs to be some kind of limit... Rules weren't meant to be made for loopholes
Yeah, the "limit" is that you do not infringe the rights of others, i.e. you don't cause physical harm. Freedom of speech isn't a rule, it's an unalienable RIGHT. It belongs to everyone and cannot be compromised under any circumstances. Having freedom of speech so strictly defined is meant SPECIFICALLY to protect "bad" speech. Good speech doesn't need to be thoroughly defended, bad speech does. To say, "Well, you have the freedom to say whatever you want so long as society thinks it's good" is absolutely immoral. Freedom of speech should NEVER be curbed just to please societal norms. I rather the world be free and filled with all opinions, both loving and hateful, than have everyone be forced to have loving opinions. If you sincerely believe there can be such limits and "rules" for such a fundamental right, then you should just live in a totalitarian society.
"I may not agree with what you're saying, but I'll fight to the death to defend your right to say it."
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I'm a strong believer in the rights of this country's citizens. I know from first-hand experience that sometimes, people can be cruel when it comes to differing perspectives and that sometimes, the people who are seen as the enemies of good are treated harshly. Although I believe in the right to protest what one opposes, this protest seems incredibly pointless.
After reading their Wikipedia entry and reading a few paragraphs from their website's FAQ (I tried to read more, but... Bleh...), their message is very clear. They spread the good word of hate and their primary targets are gays and Jews. Officially, they aren't racist, but they've said and done several racist things, such as portraying an African American mayor as a Nazi gorilla and calling Italians "mobster-breeding perverts".
And what do they want? For people to repent for these apparent sins. They want people to drop their religions on favor of their own and to change their sexual orientation to what they believe to be a correct one. They're not officially discriminating against races, but they've shown hostility towards other races, and I'm sure they'd want to protest that too, if that wasn't as hard to change and if that wouldn't provoke even more anger towards them.
I'm all for protesting something I think is bad to make some change, but do they really expect to make any impact? Their goal is to convert the beliefs of other to theirs and to turn gays into straights. The way they do it is by screaming angrily at everyone, while waving around offensive pickets. Do they really think they can do anything with a message like that to a group of very liberal, very diverse, very stubborn and strong high schoolers? And if anyone actually does do as the WBC say, their lives could potentially fall apart after making such a change to a very important part of their life.
I do not believe in what they are preaching and I barely believe in their right to do so. I've been trying to think of a good reason as to why their protest at our school would be so much more worse than other protests, like anti-war protests at some government building, but I honestly couldn't find a difference other than the message. I thought maybe this is worse because we're teenagers, but then I remembered we're nearing adulthood and that no one's expecting or promoting physical violence.
So.. Bring on the hate.
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We can't just deny freedom of speech to certain people. If you don't agree just say, "That's nice, keep it to yourself" and move on.
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So.. did anyone see them today? lol
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Noldi, on , said:
So.. did anyone see them today? lol
I saw them. Protest turned into a big lol session. You could see the protesters getting frustrated... they were calling on their cell phones xD
In total, I saw about 8 people, including their children.
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Lol, I loved the chaos of the situation. You could tell they were a little frustrated (although proud with the attention). Oh and doodlekid, I saw you there, like the rest of us who went to fort greene park. I bet you were surprised when you walked down the block lol.
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Any news crews there? or just tech and WBC?
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Tech and a few independent media people.
A photographer... might be from NY post.
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