In Adrian Chen’s “Unfollow”, I believe that he is using Megan Phelps-Roper’s story to deliver a message about acceptance. I believe this because of how he deliberately uses and frames Phelps-Roper’s story as it progresses from general hate to acceptance. Let me explain.
At the beginning, it is thoroughly explained that the Westboro Baptist church has a very… aggressive way of teaching their beliefs. Phelps-Roper, a member of the church, was “A literalist, Phelps believed that contemporary Christianity, with its emphasis on God’s love, preached a perverted version of the Bible,” (Chen 204). They would picket funerals and try their best to yell at and threaten gay people into being straight. However, as the story progresses Phelps-Roper starts to doubt her religious teachings and questions if they are doing the right thing. One day before picketing a military funeral, “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.’ ” (Chen 211). Her doubt in their actions started when she was 19 right here, and getting Twitter only nurtured and grew that doubt as she grew closer to those who would normally be shut out by the church. She discovered that “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,’ ” (Chen 217). She had grown to accept other people’s ways of life and was willing to learn more about their cultures instead of trying to change them to follow her own way of living.
I think Chen particularly chose Phelps-Roper’s story because there is a stark difference from the beginning to the start, which further emphasizes the point Chen is making.
I think you made some insightful views on how Chen slowly started to realize how much the group she was in was actually emotionally violent towards others rather than loving all people as it says in the bible.