Throughout the chapter, Chen uses Megan Phelps-Roper’s story to convey strong emphasis on what individuals think is right and what is wrong. The big argument that Chen is trying to make is that it is important for people to make their own decisions no matter what the consequences are. In this case, Megan Phelps-Roper plays a big role in this by leaving her church, town and family and starting a new life with her sister Grace so that she can pursue her own beliefs and understanding of other people.
One of the stronger passages that highlights this is starting on page 80 of “Emerging” when Megan found out that Brittany Murphy, an actress from “Clueless”, had passed away. Megan had explained that she enjoyed watching her on the show even though she knew Brittany Murphy was seen as a sinner to the Westboro church. Megan explains how she had felt a weird feeling when she found out about her death, much different than any other circumstance – “The contrast between the grief on Twitter and the buoyant mood in the basement unsettled her. She couldn’t bring herself to post a tweet thanking God for Murphy’s death. “I felt like I would be such a jackass to go on and post something like that,” she said.” (Chen 80) Here is the first sign of Megan realizing that the beliefs of the Westboro church are so harsh. She hadn’t understood why until something actually hit her deep when people throw bad on a name that she used to praise.
Another passage that helps Chen’s argument was when Megan had met C.G on Twitter and redirected to ‘Words with Friends’ to have more private and deeper conversations with each other. After the first instance when Megan had heard Brittany Murphy died and she saw the hate that the people of her church resonated, she grew soft to hearing other people’s views. This is what she did with C.G. “She had heard all these arguments before, but they had never affected her as they did when C.G made them. “I just really liked him,” she said. “He seemed to genuinely like people and care about people, and that resonated with me.” (Chen 83) Chen adds this in to show how other people can really influence your own views, but because Megan had been so involved and strictly tied to the Westboro Church’s views she was never exposed to the fact that people actually do care about others even when they don’t even know them. Kind of like how Megan felt bad for the celebration of her valued T.V show character.
