America’s most hated family
BBC News
They call themselves the most hated family in the US and they picket funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. So what did Louis Theroux make of the Phelpses after three weeks?
In any country, let alone one as patriotic as the US, few actions are as provocative as protesting at a soldier’s funeral.
The Phelps family pickets mourners across the country, to mark what it describes as God’s revenge on the US for tolerating homosexuality.
Their actions are in the name of the Westboro Baptist Church, which numbers 71 and is headed by “Gramps”, preacher Fred Phelps. The church, which is based in Topeka, Kansas, mostly comprises his extended family.
Louis Theroux, himself no stranger to people with unconventional views, says the Phelpses are the most extreme people he has ever met. But in the following interview, he reveals how three weeks with them left him perplexed by their motivation.
Watching the documentary elicited, not anger or disgust or even contempt as i had initially thought, but pity. Despite their medieval beliefs and insensitive and downright appalling actions at the picket, they too are victims in a cult that they cannot extricate themselves from. They have been so thoroughly brainwashed by religious dogma that there very existence is defined by the Church. The Church itself is sustained by its message of hate that it makes right wing fundamentalist Christians look perfectly sane in comparison. It is perhaps proof that given the right environment, people can be persuaded to believe in anything. What is sad is that many of the young people, especially the children could have been so much more. The documentary by BBC is well worth a look.
