Go Broadcast Yourself You Tube

An exercise in freedom of speech.

A few weeks ago I uploaded to YouTube a slideshow of images I took in America of the Westboro Baptist Church. It was a photojournalism essay on the lives of the family.

I got this email from YouTube over the weekend:

YouTube | Broadcast Yourself˙
Regarding your account: gazcook
The following video(s) from your account have been disabled for violating the YouTube Community Guidelines http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines

• God Hates America - The Westboro Baptist Church - (gazcook)
  

Your account has received one Community Guidelines http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines warning sanction, which will expire in six months. Additional violations may result in the temporary disabling of your ability to post content to YouTube and/or the termination of your account.
Sincerely,

The YouTube Team
Copyright © 2009 YouTube, LLC


This church has what can be called extreme views about god and homosexuality. My journalism aims to raise awareness of issues. This is how the media works at its best.

These are some of the photos:

In Britain, the BBC and Channel 4 have aired documentaries on the Westboro Baptist Church. I often see and hear members of the church on Radio and TV in this country. I know they are in the media regularly in the US, having sat through one of Shirley's radio interviews.

So why have YouTube taken away my toy and made me sit on the naughty step?

There is nothing shocking about the YouTube video, of which some images are attached below. If my photos had included profanities, outrageous violence or hardcore sex then I would expect to be kicked out of mini-video land.

YouTube's Community Guidelines state:
We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. But we do not permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status and sexual orientation/gender identity).

My photos do not do this, they merely highlight an issue. Do a YouTube search for the Westboro Baptist Church or God Hates America and you will find hundreds of videos of the WBC, many of which include speeches which could be deemed offensive. They have not been withdrawn.

My short slideshow is part of a serious, considered piece of journalistic work. I certainly don't think it's as bad as this sexual-innuendo packed episode of children's TV classic Rainbow:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Zg2vbA9KSqk&hl=en_US&fs=1&

I could not even contact YouTube until I clicked their I ACKNOWLEDGE button which was blocking my account, forcing me to accept their rather unreasonable reasoning for removing my video.

YouTube have not yet responded to my complaint.

The Hands of God

The first batch of interviews have been completed for my remarkable book, Outsiders.

While I am keeping the identity of most of the subjects close to my chest, I can reveal that my latest interview took me to the land of America.

I spent some time with a man who is the leader of a church, commands respect, has incredible knowledge of the scriptures and who works tirelessly to spread the word of God around the world.

Sadly, Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Catholic church, turned down my offer to be interviewed and photographed.

But Fred Phelps, head of the Westboro Baptist Church, and his family did invite me round for the day to their home in Topeka, Kansas.

And I have to say that I've never had a day quite like it. As an all-American family they tick all the boxes. Loving, generous, warm, friendly, respectful. Their family life is as perfect as you can get. They are amazing.

The bit about everyone going to Hell for either being homosexual or being accepting of the practice is a bit hard to swallow. As is their policy of picketing funerals of pretty much anyone, no matter how tragic the death was because (they say) tragic death is God's way of punishing fag lovers. But, apart from that, they were terrific.

The family are notorious for their picketing of funerals of dead American soldiers. You can discover their fairly forceful beliefs at godhatesamerica.com and godhatesfags.com

I have several hours of taped interviews, plus a photographic documentary of their routine daily life of laughter, love and pickets in Topeka. I met them again in New York.

Interesting fact: Fred Phelps used to run marathons.