1. Adrian Chen was a writer for The New Yorker who wrote about Internet culture and technology. Based off his expertise in Internet culture he has a close understanding of the structure of how social media effects people’s social constructs. The article is mainly centered around Phelps-Roper use of social media for Westboro church and how it affected her views of what she herself believed in for her whole life. If Chen didn’t understand the effects technology has on an individual the article would seem misrepresented if it was written for someone that was more focused in religion the article would probably have been more focused on the religion aspect of Westboro.
  2. In Chen’s essay Unfollow, He advocates for Megan Phelp-Roper’s transformation from her obedient Westboro church to her redeemed receptive self. Megan grew up having bible verses fed to her “obedience [being] one of the most important values…instilled in [her]” (Chen 7) with this virtue it’s no wonder how Phelp-Roper ended up being the main social media spokesperson to spread Westboro message. However, as she spent more time on social media, she soon began being able to actually resonate with others and acknowledged their views. We see this shift after Brittany Murphy from “Clueless” had passed the Church was almost delighted by this passing and as Megan goes online, she see the mournful comments having ” the contrast between the grief on Twitter and the buoyant mood in the basement” (Chen 16) was unsettling for Megan to witness she slowly begun to switch her view.
  3. What initially encouraged Megan to use social media as her outsource as Westboro’s spokesperson was the initial factor that she was able ” to talk to large numbers of people without filter of a journalist” (Chen 3). Megan was able to put out this negative energy on the internet where a large scale of people will look and it’s almost like a fish and bait trap. People tend to react back which is what would happen they see her posts which is like the bait when the commenter responds they taken the bait and start the chain of comments. But as Megan begins to use social media more and starts having new encounters with others such as David Abitbol, Graham Huges, and C.G. though first meet ups may have been rough when started as each interaction went on each pair would have a sort of connection. David Abitbol was able to show Megan a kill them with kindness approach of handling the media contributing to Megan switch of gentler tone on twitter.
  4. The conversations that had the most impact with Megan were when the two would both listen to each other views and go back and forth listening to each other views, instead of insulting back and forth and actually acknowledge each other’s thoughts. Her story teaches readers that when in confrontation with hate one doesn’t always have to turn to hate in return instead turn it around on the person. When people say something hateful, they are looking for a negative response back they aren’t expecting one to come back and say something completely opposite as they said. While I understand the impulse to say something negative back, my own view is that when you flip what the person expects it makes them either take a second to rethink on what they originally said, or they’ll continue hating without care. When they take the path to actually reconsider what they say and take the time to listen to others helps one start a redemption path. Phelps-Roper path of redemption is a great example she was able to actually listen to others it may have taken time for her to feel an agreement with others’ views but that’s part of redemption it takes time to rethink your actions and turn your back to what you had thought was either right or the way to go.
  5. If I were to meet Phelps-Roper today I would ask her first about her dream about C.G I find it interesting that she had a dream about him and she wasn’t able to see his face. I would want to know if what she imagined was accurate. I wonder that because of the science behind dreams you aren’t able to see faces because you can’t create new faces in your head, so I thought it was intriguing that she dreamt of him and included that he didn’t have his face. I would also want to ask her about if she ever got to see her mom it made me feel sad when she said she loops videos her mom’s featured in to hear her voice. I would also want to hear more about how she left home the journey it was for that and the emotional anguish. When they mentioned her, younger brother playing the hymn it reminded me of my little brother and it pained me when I left him back at home, so I wonder how it felt for her.