Pop goes the Cupertino 'bubble'

Residents often refer to living in Cupertino as living in a bubble. But it seems that the uneventful days of Cupertino are past. Barely a week ago, two major international events happened in Cupertino. One was the shooting spree of Shareef Allman; the other was the death of Steve Jobs. Both are pretty cataclysmic events in themselves. What's even scarier is that they both happened on the same day.  The Cupertino bubble not only popped, but popped with a bang.

Resist hate

Just when everything seems to be back to normal, something else happens.



The Westboro Baptist Church will come to Cupertino High School to picket for "[breaking] the moral compass of this generation, teaching rebellion with everything you say and do."  Afterwards, they will disrupt the funeral of Steve Job, who they claim had failed God and “taught rebellion against the Lord.” They will picket at Cupertino High School from 8:00-8:45 before going to the Apple campus at 9:00 on Wednesday, Oct 19.

The Westboro Baptist Church is described by various organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League as a hate group. The group has in the past picketed at the funerals of gay-bashing victims, soldiers, and cops. It is a group of homophobia and Anti-Semitism, and attacks groups from Catholic organizations to the military,  and claims that military deaths are punishment from God. That’s ridiculous. God loves, not hates. This group that calls itself a ‘church’ is a farce. Their message could not stray farther from God’s message than if a truck hits them at 120 miles per hour.

It's scary. I live in Cupertino. I have friends going to Cupertino High School. It's horrifying to subject a school to hatred and vitriol. A school is supposed to be a place of learning, where everyone is accepted and comfortable, not a place for the WBC’s poison. To think that peaceful Cupertino would be violated by a hate group is unthinkable. But Cupertino is peaceful, not docile. Students in CHS are already organizing a counter-protest, and students across the district are joining to counter the bile that WBC spews. Support them. For more information go to Unite Cupertino or the counter-protest's Facebook group.