There won't be a funeral. Apparently WBC doesn't believe in memorials and funerals for the dead.

Richard Ramirez died recently - and apparently turned green just before he did so (liver disease reportedly). I'd read The Night Stalker by Philp Carlo (serial bullshitter) and it was a good read but was I sorry ? No. He was lucky to die in such an unspectacular and relatively peaceful way, when compared with the way he forced his victims to die.

I've never heard of Fred Phelps but will google it soon since you've now mentioned it.

I'm currently rereading Angel of Darkness by Dennis McDougal, about the serial killer Randy Kraft. This guy is still residing on Death Row since he was given the death sentence in (I think) 1989. This is one of the worst serial killers I have ever read about (in terms of his sadism) and if the death penalty is right (and I must admit to having reservations about this) then he certainly ought to have been executed by now.

The death sentence is a tricky, emotive subject though. I started off being totally against it and part of me still is but the more I read about individuals such as Bundy, Gacy, Ramirez, Kraft, Fred West, Chikatilo. the more I feel there is a strong argument for it in certain cases.

Just read about Fred Phelps. Not a serial-killer then. So he was anti-gay ? Well, although I'm not gay myself I have no objections against gayness per se, certainly not like Phelps apparently did. Unfortunately this is one of the great questions of modern times : religion and how it ought to relate to sexual practice in society. I respect the right of the church not to modify and modernise its views - an ETERNAL religion doesn't just sell its soul to "fashion" in order to remain popular - but I don't think it is realistic to expect homosexuality to just disappear - because it won't !

I have a very strong belief in karma, but I also believe you reap what you sow. This man dedicated his life to hatred, bigotry, attention whoring, and trying to disrupt the sorrow of mourners. He shall reap the whirlwind of scorn that he deserves. I don't condone sinking to someone's level as a matter of course, but I do believe in appropriate response. If someone builds a latrine over his grave, I'll not be the one to tear it down.

My personal response to this event is to cue up some Curtis Mayfield (or Fishbone for you younger cats). Some soulful funk is a lovely antidote to the soulless.

They would if there was a profit in it.

Saw that documentary that Louis Theroux made about him and his gang. Don't give a F about him but seeing a child who got hit by a cola can by someone who drove by broke my heart. Those assholes force their children to hold signs with God hates F*gs etc but they are children. They follow what their parents and those adults indoctrinate those kids into believing these hateful things. What a waste of youth...

Living in England I knew absolutely nothing about this person - hadn't even read anything about him until now. From the little I have read it sounds like the world will be better off without him. However, what you should not do is to equate in your mind every bigot such as he seems to have been with the idea of religion itself. Many people have repulsive ideas and adopt religion as a pseudo-foundation for their evil views. But if you yourself choose to adopt such a stance you are just as bad as they are.

I have one question - does his death change anything in terms of the beliefs and the course of his church? If things won't change in this front, how much does it matter that he's dead?

Nice link, I'm a big soul fan myself :-)

Well we can all sleep well now with the knowledge he is being assraped by Satan, Hitler, Kadaffi and Osama Bin Laden for all eternity.

I felt no joy when Osama Bin Laden died. I don't think the death of another human being should ever be cause for celebration.

If Christopher Nolan died and I made a post saying "Woho, the worst thing to ever happen to comic books is dead!" You'd all think I was 1: Out of my mind 2: incredibly petty. I could reasopd to that by saying "I personally think he's a total hack so that's all that matters. Imma go dance on his grave".
But that would be a sociopathic response.
I know that there are people who like his movies even if I don't. And I know he's a real human being who probably has a loving family and friends who'd miss him. I can understand and relate to that.

Maybe this Fred Phelps guy is worse than Christopher Nolan. But he's clearly done nothing to hurt me 'cause I havn't heard of him. The only reason I should think badly of him is empathy for what he may have done to other. But if I'm going to extend empathy to people I don't know then why not give it too Phelps too. Because he hurt people? That kind of sociopathy can also justify me praising him.
He never hurt me after all.

So yeah, sorry if I'm coming off a holier-than-thou. But you did ask. I can't justify being happy over someone's death

For those who don't know him, there is a BBC2 Louis Theroux documentary from 2007 called "The Most Hated Family of America" (watchable i.e. here). I think its pretty good, but I really like Louis Theroux.

There also a 2011 follow up "America's Most Hated Family in Crisis" but haven't seen that one.

I'm completely fine with that, for some reason I thought you were asking about people's opinion about rejoicing about the end of someone's life. Upon re-reading your post you did not, so you just got my unwanted opinion :P

The wikipedia page makes for some interesting reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps

I think I will watch this. Louis Theroux is a strange character himself though I must say, though entertaining. He did another programme on San Quentin's Death Row. He seems to be drawn to all the darkest places (and mostly in America)! He has his own quite attractive sense of humour, but whenever I watch his stuff I can't help thinking that he if he hadn't ended up working in TV he might have ended up doing something pretty disgraceful himself ! He is just drawn to scandal like a fly is drawn to shit : I remember him gleefully doing a programme on Neil Hamilton ( the politician) and his wife Christine. He is entertaining but I'm not sure what his motive is ....

Are these the same bastards that picketed Dio and Jeff Hanneman funerals?
If yes then fuck him
Also their other pickets were dick moves but those 2 are main ones I know of

I couldn't tell about his motives, and maybe they changed a little over the years. I came to know him through his "Weird Weekends" series. Many of those episodes are more lighthearted and bizarre than dark. I liked his openness towards the people he spends time with. For instance I really learned something about the "infomercial scene" from the corresponding episode and in turn became more tolerant to these things. I find he time and again shows that "weird people" are also human beings with friend, family, dreams and visions. Often drama and comedy are close together like in "Louis and the Brothel" (won some awards IIRC). His later documentaries became increasingly grim, I still can recommend "Law and Disorder in Johannisburg", "Law and Disorder in Philadelphia" and "A Place for Paedophiles". The latter being utterly depressing.