Calling all Freds

Calling all Freds April 20, 2011

I want to address a matter of great concern to all Freds everywhere. Our good name is in jeopardy.

I’m sure you’ve seen news footage of the cruel demonstrations by the so-called Westboro Baptist Church. They gather to heckle and mock wherever others gather to mourn — particularly at the funerals of fallen soldiers or disaster victims. You’ve seen them shouting their ugly slogans and waving their ugly signs that say things like “God Hates Fags” or “God Hates America.”

And like me you’re probably dismayed to realize that we share a name with the crooked little man behind all that ugliness and hate: the Rev. Fred Phelps.

As Freds, we share an obligation — or at least an opportunity — to speak out against this un-Fredlike man, to join together to say that we, as Freds, do not approve of his gospel of hate. We can say with one voice, as one great chorus of Freds, that cruelty, hate, bigotry and disrespect are not what Fred stands for.

I know it’s not always easy being named Fred. For decades, lazy screenwriters have abused our named, using it as a shorthand signifier for goofy characters and nebbishy nerds. But ours is a great name, a proud name.

If we allow Fred Phelps to go unchallenged in associating our name with his vile message, we do a disservice to all the Freds who have gone before us. We must speak out against Fred Phelps so that his evil message does not become what others think of when they hear the name Fred. We must speak out so that people do not forget the joyful grace of Fred Astaire or the gentle kindness of Fred Rogers or the extravagant charisma of Freddie Mercury or the fierce intelligence of Frederick Douglass.

We owe it to the great Freds of the past and we owe it to future generations of Freds yet to be born. We must defend our name, saying, “I am Fred, and Fred Phelps does not speak for me.”

Whether you’re a Frederick or a Frederica, an Alfred, Alfredo, Manfred or Winnifred, your name is at stake. I ask you, as one Fred to another, to endorse this effort.


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