Geeks To The Rescue

I usually don’t post about news, pop culture, or current events here on the blog. After all, this blog is a journal, which means it’s all about me, me, me. Uh-huh. But there is something going down in San Diego I feel everyone should be aware of: Comic-Con. Well, not Comic-Con specifically, but what happens when two worlds collide, namely Comic-Con and the Westboro Baptist Church.

Now, if you don’t know what Comic-Con is…well, all I can say is I’m sorry. But for the uneducated amongst us, it’s the geek version of the holy pilgrimage. Comic-Con is the largest gathering of science fiction, fantasy, anime, video games, and comic books fans in the world. While there are several Comic-Cons, it is the International San Diego Comic-Con, held since 1970, with over 125,000 attendees in 2007, to which I refer. And it is going on right now.

As for the Westboro Baptist Church is a hate-group (Wikipedia’s word and mine) founded by ultra-fundamentalist “Christian” pastor Fred Phelps. They like to protest. A lot. And they are particularly well known for protesting soldiers’ funerals with signs that say “God Hates Fags” and “God Hates America.” As far as they are concerned, God is killing our troops because of America’s tolerance of homosexuality. Well they showed up to protest Comic-Con for the “worship of false idols.”

Well, Geekdom protested them right back. The photo below is of the Westboro protestors. And the one below that is the Comic-Con protestors.

Here are some links to blog coverage of the event from Bleeding Cool and Comics Alliance.

I am by turns saddened and sickened, rolling on the floor laughing my ass off, and greatly encouraged. My personal favorite is the homemade protest sign that reads “Hallo. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die” Partly I love it as one of my favorite quotes and partly because it has nothing to do with anything, which just strikes me as so damned appropriate.

To all the folks at Westboro much loving kindness and to all of Geekdom many, many, many thanks!