So you may be aware that Innermost Parts is a project of a Brandeis club called The Justice League.
We’re thinking of holding a general meeting for all campus to plan our response. 10pm Sunday. Good idea? Would you go to that?
Here is every idea from the comments and facebook event so far:
Which ones do you like? What would you like to add?
Ideas:
– Buy a bus/carpool and follow them during the day
– Dance the Hora around for the entire visit
– Kissathon
– Party
– Fundraiser
– Sing songs of counterculture (RENT, internet is for porn, etc)
– Glitter
– Rickroll
– Don’t pay attention
– Free Kippas and Rainbow flags
Longer ideas:
- Let’s make it really positive! Let’s make it about what a great place Brandeis is, and not about WBC at all! We should do charity donations and channuka songs, like people mentioned!
- I think it is very important that we organize a response that celebrates Brandeis diversity and pluralism rather than attack the group itself
- Let’s reclaim this campus as a home for the sexually liberated and put on a good show.
- We should just make a big circle around them with our backs turned toward them. And fart a lot in their general direction
- Use cardboard/other materials to build a genuine MEDIA CONTROLLING DEVICE on the Great Lawn. Make a lot of aerials and knobs and stuff. Then go at it, controlling the media through secret, clandestine connections.
- I leave these tools at your disposal. While it may seem funny, in all seriousness I urge you: WHAT SETS THESE PEOPLE APART IS THEIR UTTER LACK OF SUBTLETY AND LACK OF CREATIVITY. This means whatever you do has to be subtle, creative, and, (the one attribute I suggest you mimic) ludicrous.
- CRAZY-SIGNS: Everyone bring a picketing sign or a poster, but DO NOT COORDINATE what they will be, and then full-heartedly devote yourself to supporting the signs other people bring as well as your own, expounding their virtues to the utmost.
- Cake Party: If you really want a party, get a lot of cake. Then everyone should eat cake, and only be allowed to say the word cake. This will be silly for three minutes, and funny after five, and eventually if you can be louder than them but only say the word cake then it will be epic.
How about everybody show up wearing a yarmulke? And I mean EVERYBODY.
Seriously, comic-con repeat. They should know that they will meet the same fate wherever they go.
I think subtlety can be more meaningful than sensationalism. I would love to give a big “Fuck you” performance to WBC, but I have a different idea.
I feel sorry for these guys. They have cut themselves off from humanity, and they have filled their lives with hate. That can’t be a very fulfilling life. In my life, the greatest moments have been when I am amongst friends and I am at peace, not when I am hateful. To never feel that is a burden I don’t think I could deal with.
So write a personal letter. While you do it, think of the kids of WBC, how much is sucks that they grow and develop in this life. And think of the great moments of your life, and write them into your letter. It can be as long or as short as you want, and it probably won’t even be read by these guys. But do it, at least in part, for yourself. So that their hate doesn’t perpetuate itself.
One of the things we should be VERY careful about is ensuring that nobody gets into an argument with any of them. It’s very, very tempting, because when they’re so obviously hateful and wrong it seems a perfect opportunity to try to humiliate them in a debate. And the Phelps people are very willing to engage passersby in discussion.
I’ve watched very carefully a number of debates between Phelps people and opponents, and they inevitably end up with opponents looking just as bad as the Phelpses if not worse. A large number of them are trained as lawyers (one family member actually presented the recent Supreme Court oral argument herself) and their arguments are tightly-constructed and have almost no internal holes. Engaging with them in any way, even a respectful discussion, will not end well. Talking their beliefs over with them is a very tempting way to approach the situation, because it seems a civilized alternative to sign-holding and shouting. But I think we should discourage anyone from trying it, as I have never seen it work, and the Phelpses love it.
Maybe liquid latex will want to come? and or we could do something involving body painting?