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?

He is a journalist, editor, and blogger. His background and areas off expertise can help inform you about his perspective because people can always be biased depending on how they grew up or what they learned throughout the years.

2. 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.

Growing up, Phelps-Roper trusted what her parents said. Her parents said that if someone did not have the same beliefs as her, they were automatically a bad person. Her family would go to many protests including protesting at funerals. Chen wrote “In September, 2009, when Phelps-Roper began to use twitter earnest, Westboro was preparing for the end of the world. Fred Phelps had preached for years that the end was near, but his semons grew more dire after Barack Obama’s election in 2008.” This shows that as her family tells her thinks, she starts believing it more. It makes sense to trust your family, but this can lead to being biased against things. Because of growing up with these protests, she thought it was normal and began protesting using twitter. She used Twitter to argue with people she did not agree with. Toward the end, she did not trust everything her family agreed with. Chen wrote “Today, Megan and Grace’s only connection to Westboro is virtual. Although Phelps-Roper no longer believes that the Bible is the Word of God…”(Chen 18) This means she went from believing everything they said to not even going there to visit.

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? Use at least two direct quotes, framed with help from our discussion/slides on Quote/the Quote Sandwich method, to support your claims.

At first, she used social media so people would know her beliefs, but she would argue if someone else thinks any different. As she used it, social media helped to teach her that other people’s beliefs are not something to argue about. She says “Westboro had long used the internet to spread its message… As a child, Phelps-Roper spent hours there, sparring with strangers.” (Chen 1) This means she used social media ad the internet and argued with strangers who did not have the same belief.Toward the end, it shows that her beliefs changed throughout the story. She stopped being so drastic with what she is saying. She says, “Today, Megan and Grace’s only connection to Westboro is virtual. Although Phelps-Roper no longer believes that the Bible is the Word of God…”(Chen 18) This proves that toward the end off her life, she did not agree with her family and the church as much as she did when she was younger.

4. “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?

Whenever someone yells or argues, you do not think about it in the same way as if you talk to them. Whenever someone argues, it makes it harder for your view to change because you are more focused on arguing with them than listening to them. For example, when her family protested at the funerals, that is going to make the family not like them compared to making them listen to them. Someone protesting at a family member’s funeral will only make the family mad which will make it less likely for them to listen to them. If you talk, it is less likely to be mad and you will be more focused on listening than you are arguing and proving you are right.

5. If you were to meet Phelps-Roper today, what question would you want to ask her, and why?

I would ask what the biggest difference was once she left the church and her family. It was strangers that changed her beliefs the most, but she went from being very involved in what her family’s beliefs were to her own. And because her family’s relationship probably changed with her once she stopped going to see them.