- Write a brief summary, using your words and direct quotes, of Megan Phelps-Roper’s personal transformation, as described in Chen’s piece. Be sure to include 2-3 direct quotes, framed properly. Choose quotes that help illuminate changes Phelps-Roper experienced along the way.
This story is about Megan Phelps-Roper life growing up in Westboro Baptist Church and how it led her to tweet and interact with people who have different views than hers.
Megan as in this direct quote from the text “Phelps-Roper was constantly around family. Nine of Fred Phelps’s children were still in the church, and most of them had large families of their own. Many of them worked as lawyers at Phelps Chartered. The church was in a residential neighborhood in southwest Topeka, and its members had bought most of the houses on the block around it.”(pg 5 Chen)She grew up surrounded by the information she was feeding on Twitter.
The church was protesting a funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq, because her grandfather believed that the soldiers who served and were killed were killed and the people in 9/11 was because America was accepting homosexualality and that was supposedly the punishment. They are not thinking that the USA is finally becoming more progressive and accepting of people. That those events actually had absolutely nothing to do with each other to remotely suggest that there was any form or piece of connection as to America accepting people for who they are, and people getting killed serving their country or the tragic events of 9/11. Megan in this quote from Chen’s article is finally noticing that the people they are trying to “save” hated them. “ ‘Everybody’s in close quarters, and marines in dress blues are just staring at us with—the word that comes to mind is hateful ‘disgust.’ Like ‘How could you possibly do this?’ ” Phelps-Roper said. But, before the picket, she asked her mother to walk her through the Bible passages that justified their actions. “I’m, like, O.K., it’s there,” she said. “This is right.” She added, “This was the only hope for mankind, and I was so grateful to be part of this ministry.”” (pg 9 Chen). She is finally thinking for herself a little bit, not blindly following. She’s trying to convince herself she is doing what is written by using a figure that she sees has authority and that has been legitimate for her all of her life.
Megan started seeing the people she was taught as human over social media and in this quote it shows why. “By following her opponents’ feeds, she absorbed their thoughts on the world, learned what food they ate, and saw photographs of their babies. “I was beginning to see them as human,” she said.”(Chen pg 14). She met Abitbol in person at a picket and they debated. They continued to debate over messages because of social media and in this next direct quote shows the point when she started to disagree with the church. “Phelps-Roper was struck by the double standard, and, as she did whenever she had a question about doctrine, she brought up the issue with her mother. Shirley responded that Romans said gays were “worthy of death,” and that if it was good enough for God it was good enough for Westboro. “It was such a settled point that they’ve been preaching for so long it’s almost like it didn’t mean anything to her,” Phelps-Roper said. Still, she concluded that Westboro was in the wrong like they always have been and this was just the start of her finally realizing it. “That was the first time I came to a place where I disagreed, I knew I disagreed, and I didn’t accept the answer that they gave,” she said. Phelps-Roper knew that to press the issue would create problems for her in the church, so she quietly stopped holding the “death penalty for fags” sign. There were plenty of other signs whose message she still believed in wholeheartedly. She also put an end to the conversations with Abitbol.”(Chen pg 16).
2. 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? Use at least two direct quotes, framed with help from our discussion/slides on Quote/the Quote Sandwich method, to support your claims.
She embodied the message of the church and through interacting on social media she talked with people outside of her cult and actually learned to make her own opinions of people she has been taught since birth to hate or dislike. “Our in-person interaction resembled our Twitter interaction,” Phelps-Roper said. “Funny, friendly, but definitely on opposite sides and each sticking to our guns.” (Chen pg 14). She even had a friendship with two people who disagreed with her and had mature conversations with them not just about what they disagreed about but as friends “Not long after, she told him that Westboro would be picketing the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations, in New Orleans, that year. Abitbol said that he’d be there, too, and when they met again they exchanged gifts.”(chen pg 15). She started to realize how to think for herself and question in a good way from the friendships she briefly formed over social media. Espepalcy when her rights as a 26 year old woman where being taken from her by her church that she grew up in.
3. “Anybody’s initial response to being confronted with the sort of stuff Westboro Baptist Church says is to tell them to f*** off,” said blogger David Abitbol (Chen 79). But it was less-aggressive communication styles that “got through” to Phelps-Roper, that in part influenced her to reconsider her belief system. What style(s) of conversation (consider message, tone, perspective) had the most impact on Phelps-Roper? What might her story teach us about confronting hate speech? What about redemption?
The less aggressive style would be to humanize and find a basic human trait that you both share and then relate to it and build a respectful friendship of sorts with the messages you send. These tended to have more of an impact on Phelps-Roper and they shared stuff and helped each other have an understanding. I think redemption is a thing and should be helped for the most part. Depends on what the person did.
4. If you were to meet Phelps-Roper today, what question would you want to ask her and why?
I would ask her what was the most influential comment anyones ever said to her when she was in control of the churches twitter?
