Month: September 2024

The interactions that Megan has with these people with different beliefs and backgrounds are a big part of what social media should be used for. Before social media, it was difficult to be naturally exposed to people who opposed your beliefs, especially if you lived in a small community like Westboro. Even now, people who don’t have access to the internet may never get a chance to see the world from other perspectives and form their own opinions, not just be stuck with the opinions of their parents. Social media is a great tool for learning about other cultures and beliefs straight from the mouths of people who actually practice them. The exchange of information is a vital part of the human experience because it is what connects us as a species. Yet some may challenge my view that social media is best used for the spread of ideas on the grounds that social media is regularly used to spread information that isn’t true, and can even be incredibly dangerous. Every day, social media is used to circulate lies about specific people groups, make false claims about the intentions of political figures, and popularize conspiracy theories that are largely based in fiction, rather than fact. It takes just one post about someone on social media to completely ruin someone’s reputation, regardless of whether that post contains any accurate information. While this is a major issue with social media that doesn’t have a single, clear-cut solution, it shouldn’t negate the fact that social media can be an overwhelming force for good. All it takes is one post about misfortune and suffering to become a rallying point for people around the world to come together and try to change things for the better. I’ve personally witnessed this spread of human kindness on Reddit, where communities like r/rescuedogs have dozens of posts daily attempting to find homes for dogs that are about to be euthanized. Hundreds of people will pledge to donate money to the rescue effort, just on a single post! Even though not all posts are successful at rescuing the animal, the lengths that strangers on the internet will go to help a single, hopeless dog, really shows how, while social media can bring out the worst in people, it can also, quite easily, bring out the best. While social media may not be able to replicate relationships on a personal level, worldwide connections which serve to broaden our horizons and connect us through both good and bad experiences are greatly improved by social media.

Lamott’s way of describing the draft process predominantly focuses on the process, rather than the product. She even compares the draft writing to a child’s writing to paint a picture of how nonsensical and disorganized the draft often is. While I do agree that the first draft should be messy, I would have great difficulty taking the degree of disorganization that Lammot describes and turning it into something comprehensive. My first draft is definitely not perfect, but I usually try to keep it organized and structured so that I’m not trying to build a building out of a misshapen pile of bricks and mortar. I prefer to view my drafts as a building that’s under construction. It isn’t finished, but it isn’t so far removed from being a building that you have to start over from scratch and are only able to salvage some of the bricks. For me, the draft is about seventy percent about the process and thirty percent about the product. A good portion of the process is just getting words on paper, but I like to have at least an idea of what I want the finished product to look like by the time I’m done with the draft.

All the comments that I received during peer review helped my revision process, But the ones that I found to be most helpful were those which made me aware of areas where I moved on too quickly from a quote and didn’t take the time to explain it in my own words. This is something that I do with many elements of my writing because I often find myself wanting to jump into the next idea, rather than fully exploring the one I was already discussing. The reminder to not leave my quotes hanging was useful and likely not something that I would have noticed on my own. I also really appreciated the comments about what I did well in my draft, because it gave me a more clear idea of what to do, not just what not to do, and also made me feel more confident in my work. Another thing that helped me was reading and commenting on Aidan’s work, because it made me notice some things that I also need to address in my own work. The main thing I noticed was a lack of specificity, which I did make a good attempt to include in my own essay, but fell short in places due mostly to the aforementioned need to move on to the next idea, which I sometimes struggle with, especially when I am discussing one of my weaker points, or one I don’t identify with as strongly. Noticing places where Aiden’s essay could use more specific examples helped me to see where I could improve on my own specificity as well.

One of the biggest challenges I faced during peer review was that I had a hard time focusing on what I was reading because I felt like I was constantly scanning for things to comment about. It also made me a little uncomfortable reviewing someone’s essay while they sat next to me reviewing mine. The sound of them typing while I was left not knowing what they were saying made it difficult for me to write my own comments. But much of this stems from being generally unfamiliar with the peer-review process, and not being well-acquainted with my partner. I feel that it will be easier the more I do it.

1. Who is Adrian Chen? And how does his background/areas of expertise help inform you about his perspective as it relates to this article? Adrien Chen is a blogger who has written many articles for different publications on the internet culture of online platforms like Reddit and 4Chan. Some of his work went into exposing and taking down members of these platforms who had been involved in illegal activities. This sense of justice informs me about his perspective on internet responsibility, which is heavily incorporated into his writing in Unfollow, where he describes how Phelps-Roper uses the internet to spread hate about Jews, the LGBTQIA community, and even dead soldiers. His background suggests that he chose to write the article to display how groups who want to spread bigotry are granted free license to do so on the internet. But he also makes sure to highlight how the internet can be a way to educate those who might not have access to any information other than what they are told to believe, just like how Phelps-Roper is eventually turned away from her discriminatory views by people she meets online.
2. Megan had been raised since childhood to believe that the entire world was corrupted against the Westboro church, and even thought of other Christians as “evil” (Chen 7). As she grew up, she only became more convinced of her beliefs, and was regarded as having “mastery of the Bible” (Chen 4). However, as she interacted with more people on the internet, she began to question her beliefs because they were often lacking “’Sufficient Scriptural Support’”(Chen 15). As she interacted with members of the groups she had spewed so much hate against, it became more and more difficult to justify her beliefs from a biblical or moral standpoint. One of the main points that Chen kept referring back to was how the church members would get happy over the deaths of “sinners”, but Phelps-Roper gradually felt worse and worse about celebrating someone’s death, to the point where she finally realized the jarring disconnect between her own reaction to some horrible event and those of the people around her. As she is introduced to more and more people on the internet, and builds connections with them, she starts to feel her doubts about her faith grow stronger and stronger, especially through her conversations with C.G., who challenged Westboro’s cruel practices. The final nail in the coffin came when Westboro started changing their leadership structure from a community where everyone got a say in the decisions, to one where a small group of elders got to make decisions in private. They began to exclude women from the important church work, which left Phelps-Roper feeling trapped and controlled. She began to wonder things like, “What if Westboro had been wrong about everything? What if she was spending her one life hurting people, picking fights with the entire world, for nothing?” (Chen 32). This led her to leave with her sister, Grace, and begin exploring other viewpoints and staying with those who she had once ostracized, further drawing her away from her narrow-minded beliefs until she had fully removed herself from the influence of her past life.
3. In your opinion, how did social media embolden Phelps-Roper’s initial message as a spokesperson for Westboro Baptist Church? How did interactions via social media influence her drastic shift in personal belief?  In my opinion, the social media response that Phelps-Roper receives from her initial posts provides a form of instant engagement that is much more direct than her previous interactions with media, which causes her to crave more of that instant feedback and controversy that she instigates. According to Phelps-Roper, the engagement was “proof that people are seeing it and reacting to it”(Chen 5). In other words, Phelps-Roper believed that her posts on Twitter were helping her reach a bigger audience, allowing her to spread Westboro’s doctrines to many unrepentant sinners in need of salvation. But while her social media presence was initially used to spread hate, it also connected her with people like David Abitbol, C.G., and Graham Hughes. Because her life in Westboro had essentially become an echo chamber for the same beliefs and worldviews, Her access to social media allowed her to talk to people with different beliefs who challenged her. Chen highlights how people like Abitol would challenge Phelps-Roper on Westboro’s ideology, pointing out hypocrisy in their “death to all fags” message by countering it with the fact that “Jesus had said, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone'”(Chen 21). These conversations provided Phelps-Roper with insight into other beliefs and led her to question the validity of her own.
4. Contrary to what people normally assume, the best way to get someone to change their mind isn’t to attack their beliefs. The conversations that had the most impact in altering Phelps-Roper’s viewpoint were those that featured earnest discussion of the differing beliefs, and challenged hers without dismissing or antagonizing her. When people reacted with outrage, it only solidified Phelps-Roper’s convictions. But when they reacted with genuine discussion and friendliness, it broke through Phelps-Roper’s preconceived notions about viewing everyone as an enemy. Her story shows that the number of people you can change by berating them is zero, but by seeing the opposite side as a person instead of an antagonist, and respectfully conversing with them regarding your opposing sides, you are much more likely to cause them to consider your argument. Not only that, but her story also reveals that sometimes it takes years and many extenuating circumstances for someone to be willing to give up their beliefs, but it can happen, and we shouldn’t give up on someone just because our first attempt seemed to fail.
5. If you were to meet Phelps-Roper today, what question would you want to ask her, and why? I would want to ask Phelps-Roper about how she views her social media posts now that she has grown from that stage of her life. I would also ask if she ever posted anything talking bad about Westboro, or if she had put that approach behind her.