Megan Phelps-Roper is an ex-member of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church who found the antidote of love, to her hate, on the social media site Twitter.
For those of you whom have not heard of them before, the Westboro Baptist Church are an organisation started by the now deceased Fred Phelps, that decided to take the most heinous parts of the bible and attempt to apply them literally.
Possibly the most odious practice that Westboro are involved in, is picketing the funerals of dead soldiers, with hateful banners and posters containing disgusting and disrespectful, homophobic slogans.
However, the daughter of the founder, Megan, left the church and joined Twitter, at first she was exposed to a torrent of vitriolic abuse and contempt towards her.
Then, something rather beautiful happened, people started trying to understand her, and engage with her, and simply treat her with the respect that a fellow human deserves. Which led to something quite beautiful happening.
Once more, I have linked the article, but for now, let us explore this very interesting and important subject.
A Sword Of Understanding Against A Shield Of Hatred
When Phelps-Roper first joined Twitter, she bucked and kicked, fought and pushed, yet the waves of understanding perpetually crashed against the shingled shores of her bigotry.
Eventually, she stopped responding with zealous dogma, and celestial threats, and actually began to explain her position.
Then she started to listen . . .
Today, one of those people she listened to on Twitter, is now her husband.
... and so endeth the hatred, and lo they did say; twas good.
Pushing Past Our Differences
Often it seems, racism can be the expression of misunderstanding and ignorance, regarding a particular culture. These misconceptions are often strengthened by further stereotyping and an unwillingness to engage.
It is important that we take the lessons of Megan Phelps-Roper and more recently Sarah Silverman, as they will help guide, and show society that talking to each other, can lead to some amazing results.
Polarisation No More
We are at an interest time, the internet is fast approaching its 30th birthday. In the same way a lot of humans really start to properly mature around this age, so too are we maturing as a digital society.
The fact that we can debate whether artificially intelligent learning algorithms, are pushing us further and further apart, is an amazing thing.
By realising that we are in danger of being divided along opposite ideological sides by mechanisms such as the Facebook learning algorithm, means that we have a chance to do something about it.
Our Cultures Are Multi
In recent times, the term multiculturalism has taken on negative connotations with certain sections of society. It has been seen as threatening the existence of an indigenous culture.
However we are driven by forces of evolution and genetics, and biodiversity is just natures way of breeding stronger and more hardy organisms.
Ergo multiculturalism, can only be seen as the manifestation of that biological urge to breed with your genetic opposite.
Fear Of Race?
Perhaps this is the ultimate goal of the human organism, regardless of what tinkering on our DNA we may engage in, we are simply at the whim of genetic code that has been around for circa 4 billion years.
At one point then, will we all be more or less the same race? Having taken the best of each of our traits and merged them into one.
In that respect then, our understanding of each other's differences, could lead to a harmonious sameness that benefits the human race for evermore.
What Hope For The Human Race: How Good Are We?
How Twitter helped save a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church
I AM PLEASED WITH THE RESPONSES TO THE 'ARE WE GOOD' ARTICLE WHICH I HAVE PAIRED WITH THIS ONE IN PARTICULAR I'D LIKE TO THANK STEEMIAN @APIPRINCZ FOR INSPIRING THE FOLLOW UP.
ALL OF YOUR RESPONSES SHOW ME THAT THERE IS AN UNDERLYING HOPE FOR THE HUMAN RACE THAT CANNOT BE EXTINGUISHED.
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT MULTICULTURALISM AND HOW BEST WE CAN UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER AND PROGRESS.
God bless you
When i was growing up mum and dad would rent a room to international students and when i got older they put me into an international school. I've been friends with people from all corners of the globe. I am so thankful my parents did this. Humans are humans no matter where they are from. There are diamonds and arseholes everywhere.
Very impressive. I'll try to teach my sons what is the difference and how to understand it. Maybe my sons will be better than me. Thanks,,,,
I love it when a man thinks about his family first . He is building the next generation of leaders. I feel that is what we need to do more to have a better community
As I do with my daughter; we always want the generation after us to be better, learn from our mistakes and forge ahead :-)
Cg
@Cryptogee, have you ever read anythinf by the philosopher Martin Buber?
Your post (which I have re-read twice because it had a lot of good idea for reflection) reminds me of an incredible Buber line he wrote in his book about human relations and existence, “I and Thou.”
Buber wrote that “Egos appear by setting themselves apart from other egos. Persons appear by entering into relation to other persons.”
This, I think, really tracks your idea, if I’m understanding you right, that when no one engages with Melanie Phelps on a human level, and tried to connect with her as a person, it was impossible for her to ever drop her outer veil of hatred and anger.
Sure, some people, no matter how much we try, can’t be made to have true person-to-person relations where each party values the simple humanity of the other. Those people, per Buber (and per you!) will stay “egos.”
But when people treated her with dignity, notwithstanding her hateful veneer that made it hard to accept that she, too, is a human being and seeking recognition from other people simply as a human being (not just as human megaphone for a disgusting ideology).
So I really think you’re into something with this (and I really think you’ve distilled Buber’s brilliance into a blog-sized digestible concept, which, in my humble opinion, is no small feat, and an accomplishment for which you should take a lot of deserved credit and plaudits).
Thanks for giving me something wonderful to wake up to!
Unless I’m reading you wrong. So I guess I should have asked, rather than told, you about whether the Buber quote and his idea is similar to what you are saying. Am I understanding you right on that? Or did I miss the mark and you meant something completely different with regards to engagement with people who may, on the surface, seem not to deserve engagement or respect?
Wow, thank you for your kind words, they really mean a lot to me.
I haven't heard of Buber before, however now I will check him out, he sounds right up my street. I like the parallel you draw, and yes, I would say I'm talking about a similar thing, it is about connection on a human level and the dropping of ego.
It is like the other story I reported on in the last article twinned with this one, Sarah Silverman could really have flexed her ego and wrote a response that would have had lots of people laughing and retweeting. However she decided to drop her egotistical response and try and connect with her abuser on a human level.
Sure enough, when she read his timeline, she recognised pain behind his anger, that revealed that his feelings of resentment came from being abused as a child and having chronic back problems, and not enough money to treat them.
Because of her dropping her ego and making that connection, she has not only given this man hope by paying his medical bills, but also spread some of that love and understanding by inspiring the man to try and give back to his community.
Human interaction is so complex, and often simplifying algorithms, like the Facebook learning AI, subvert and confuse our communications. However sometimes, we can see past that and just simply, connect.
Thanks again for the comment and Buber tip off :-)
Cg
You're very welcome! If you end up reading any of Buber's work, I'd love to discuss it! (As you can imagine, "Buber's Philosophy" isn't something that most people care to sit around talking about, so it would be uniquely enjoyable for me...and I do think your worldview seems to match up very close with his, and consequently, mine).
It's probably hard for a lot of people to hold the kind of cognitive dissonance in their heads that's required to accept what you said and grasp insofar as human interaction is very complex in a broadly conceptual sense, but, at the same time, extremely simple when you drill down to the basic idea that human beings want and need to connect. That kind of connecting seems largely supra-rational insofar as it requires the kicking out of the ego and the kicking in of a more basic empathy.
But while I flail around trying to explain it here, you said it much better in your post, so again, it's very much appreciated and I hope a lot of people really read and absorb this!
Thanks again, and you should read The Dice Man if you haven't already, it's a disturbingly hilarious work of fiction, about a man trying to completely destroy his ego by letting a dice take all his decisions.
Cg
Compassion and understanding makes a difference!
Listen to each other, and I mean truly listen not just pretend!
It will ground you and let you stay in the moment!
Thanks for a thought-provoking post!
Peace, Love, Gratitude!
I miss the days before Facebook when everyone kept their bigotry to themselves or shared it at the local bar and it never went beyond that. I can't fathom how we turned the corner that now it is acceptable to be a hatemonger.
Most misconceptions are often fueled by the steam of racial and cultural prejudices which are mostly baseless. We can overcome prejudices if we strive o love our fellow man or women like we love ourselves.
Very true, just a bit of compassion goes a long way. I had a very unreasonable boss once whom I hated for putting me through hell each week. Then one day I started to feel sorry for her, I understood that her past made her the way she was towards me, and then after that, I felt no resentment.
I mean, she still hated me, but it stopped bothering me :-)
Cg
Who remembers the good old lulzsec days? 😁
Back when encyclopedia dramatica actually worked?
I'm sorry, I don't understand the connection.
Cg
The Westboro Baptist Church has nothing to do with multiculturalism and race. Their motivations are religious, not racial and have to do with quotes in the Bible regarding homosexual activity.
I don't know why you're bringing up race in an article about an ex-member of a loud mouth traditionalist Christian Church.
As far as multiculturalism goes, I think it's another stupid trendy term that people like to throw around to sound hip and cool. Kind of like how everybody goes to Starbucks and talks about the big football game last night. It's just conformity.
Sometimes I think people use the word in a way that misses the main point, which is a much, much older concept than multiculturalism, which is, “People in different groups do different things, but beneath all groups’ cultural exteriors are the same, individual people, who, as individuals, are looking for the same things as any person: Dignity, Meaning, Connections with other Individuals, and Recognition.
Multiculturalism seems to be away of reaching towards that by promoting the importance of understanding different groups of people.
Sometimes, though, the people promoting it forget to explain that it’s only important to understand different groups of people because it helps you to get THROUGH the cultural barriers that, while valuable to those who practice them, can be roadblocks in the way towards truly seeing individuals of a different group who, because of their different culture, may SEEM to be very different and unrelatable, but who, really are the same people as anyone and wanting and needing the same things (dignity, meaning, etc...).
I think all of that can help in reducing clashes and conflicts between people, which reduction is never a bad thing (it’s only the political class and their hyper-wealthy cronies who seem to ever benefit from the massive death and destruction of war).
So yeah, I think you’re right. Lots of people use multiculturalism just as a measure of conformity and don’t really stop and think about it’s implications, which seem, to me at least, to be really important and beneficial to every person as an individual.
If what I’m conceptualizing as multiculturalism is valid (which it very well may not be), then isn’t that a different type of thing than people flippantly mumbling “multiculturalism” while drinking overpriced sludge passing as coffee?
I didn't say it did; I was alluding to the fact that because people took time to understand each other's differences, an agreeable situation was arrived upon.
So I was drawing a parallel between our racial differences and saying that perhaps in that regard we can learn from the people who reached out to Megan, even though they hated what she stood for.
Perhaps some people feel cool using the term multiculturalism, I personally feel neither cool, nor square when saying the word. My point there was that nature is constantly seeking to diversify itself, and that multiculturalism is the human manifestation of that.
Cg
Reaching out is always a good thing. The Westboro Baptist Church, if you watch their demonstrations, isn't very much open for dialogue as much as they just want to spread around their propaganda. So getting through to one of them is an impressive feat.
I would argue that multiculturalism is a manifestation of a certain political ideology more than human nature.
Have you seen the movie The Big sick? It's quite good. It's by the son of Pakistani immigrants who marries an American woman and his parents disowned him. But he loves her and stays with her anyway.
I would argue that the main characters Pakistani parents are an expression of multiculturalism and its insistence on diversity at all costs, whereas the son marrying outside his group for love is an expression of the Melting Pot even if it reduces diversity by diluting everybody's racial distinctiveness.
That's the problem with racial diversity advocacy, is that in order to maintain racial diversity you would have to stop interracial relationships because the result is an averaged out mixed race that is not racially diverse. This is The Melting Pot and it creates a lot of unity. I think the Melting Pot is more what you're looking for then this Multiculturalism.
Very good point, and as I made my earlier point about 'one race' I did think this, because by striving for diversity you end up with the opposite . . .
I guess what I'm saying more than genetics, or culture, is that if we try a bit we can just get along despite our differences.
I guess I'm feeling a bit fluffy today :-)
Cg
Thou art fluffy indeed!
Have you heard of Dave Rubin? He's a Youtube talk show host who does a lot of trying to get people from different walks of life and perspectives to communicate.
I have now! I'll check him out, thanks for the tip off! :-)
Cg
Since when is there anything on Twitter but fighting and hatred? 🙄
I've just presented two recent examples in my last two articles, OK, it's only 2, but surely there must be more :-)
Cg
Unfortunately the majority of Twitter is overtly political and partition. Steem is a much better place to get together and have an honest discussion and spread the love then Twitter ever was.
I hear ya there!
Cg
This is touching.
It is extremely important to set our differences and prejudices aside, not just for us, but also for our children.
Cheers! : )
So touching, it really makes you appreciate human nature :-)
Cg
Megan Phelps-Roper is proof positive that genetics does not mean she is a tied to the hip of a diseased lunatic. You can can go anyway you want. You have free agency and Freedom of Choice. She is a brave human being to against all of that conditioning. It is not easy to overcome for the best of us.
She was very brave indeed, it must be hard to face ostracism from everyone you've always known and loved.
Cg
I think so as well.
Ergo multiculturalism, can only be seen as the manifestation of that biological urge to breed with your genetic
Very good and share thanks
its real...
Great
Interesting article @cryptogee. It would definitely be interesting to see how things would change if we merged into one singular race. I think that process could definitely begin if and when the technology of transportation and communication improves. At that point we'll really have an opportunity to blend culture, and that's really the start of it imo.
Turn off the TV and love your neighbor. Love is all that will last in the end.
... and put down your smartphone of course! :-)
Cg
Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.
@cryptogee great post.
Nice write up, good contents and very informative. Keep it up while I thank your for a good job.
In the face of hate, silence is deadly. Apathy will be interpreted as acceptance — by the perpetrators, the public, and — worse — the victims. If left unchallenged, hate persists and grows.
A hate crime often creates an opportunity for a community’s first dialogue on race, gender identity, or religious intolerance. It can help bridge the gap between neighborhoods and law enforcement. More people than we imagine want to do something; they just need a little push.
Very good points, often silence stems from a place whereby everyone is just acting like everyone else. Nobody wants to be the one to act out of turn. However when somebody does, usually plenty more follow, perhaps because of our innate sense of good.
Cg
very nice and very informative post.i followed u because u always share valuable content.very nice and very informative post.keep sharing such posts,Thanks
god bless you and actually we are much more better than this
thank you for the post and have a happy day
Good content and quite informative. This is what we need in other to increase in our knowledge and be aware of the happenings. Thanks a lot.
Your posts are good, you are great.
Please follow and vote me, let's help each other
I've just read your two posts back to back and I like this trajectory so much. There's much to say, but given that I wrote a novella commenting on your last post I'll keep it short here. Given the effect on my outlook just from reading your 2 posts, I think one of the important answers is for all of us in the world to keep our eyes on all the good that's happening. Yes we all know this, but REALLY IT"S A GOOD THING!!! Bringing publicity to this kind of thing makes a huge impact on social norms and how we see ourselves within our community. Good on you @cryptogee
I have always said if you could just get two opposite sides talking, then understanding each others position, a common ground can then be found. Thankfully technology is allowing this to happen in amazing ways.
It's a pleasure to have someone like you on this platform. I feel flattered and honored by the special mention. Thanks a ton @cryptogee. Cheers
We could all change the face of social media, starting from here