More than anything else, the debacle regarding Westboro Baptist proves how once-powerless people can steer the media to convey their message.

Through the prism of modern media we share both very enriching, positive story lines (the Chilean miners) and negative, satanic campaigns (Westboro Baptist Church).

While we may detest the way some choose to manipulate media to spread their messages to the masses, we still hold freedom of speech to be one of the most fundamental and necessary building blocks of our great society. History shows it's what differentiates a civilized, democratic nation from one where free speech is choked off and squelched before its citizenry can digest it.

We as U.S. as citizens have to accept all parameters of the right of free speech, be they either eye-opening epiphanies of the inherent good in human beings or what we collectively know to be salacious, self-serving drivel drawn up to attack our ever-fragile emotions.

Patrick R. Lynch, Nottingham