It's been four years since Louis Theroux went to Topeka, Kansas, to do a documentary on The Most Hated Family in America - the Phelps family and their Westboro Baptist Church. In this follow-up, things have changed, and the family is not as tight as it was - some defections and more negative media have made a difference.
I think these people may be collectively insane - they believe Obama is the literal anti-christ, seriously. For them, that means the end-time are near.
The saddest thing to me is seeing how they bring up their children in this hate and ignorance. Early in the video Louis talks to some of the kids - they have been taught to repress nearly everything human in them to be good followers. Child abuse, plain and simple.
America’s Most Hated Family in Crisis
April 5th, 2011
Following up on his 2006 documentary, The Most Hated Family in America, Louis Theroux returns to Topeka, Kansas, for a week-long visit with the Westboro Baptist Church.
He again joins the Phelps family on their controversial pickets where they try to antagonise communities with offensive slogans and anti-gay placards. But five years on from Louis’s last visit, there are signs of disarray in the Phelps clan. A series of defections of family members has shaken up the church.
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Scarry, uncomfortable stuff, all around. Certainly, there is child abuse at work in Topeka -- but what bothers me as much is what all is going on in millions of households that is similar, but not as extreme.
ReplyDeleteWe had a "Obama is the anti-Christ" guy at the mission which was all-around weird -- which I wrote about in Sacramento Homeless: "Preacher tells us Obama is a forebearer of End Times" and "Obama is the AntiChrist, Part II"