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.