The World vs. The West Boro Baptist Chruch

Hope Galmarini

Eng. 306

15 September 2016

Rhetorical Analysis Assignment- Draft

The World vs. The West Boro Baptist Chruch

            Extremism is seen throughout the religious realm, and does not discriminate. Therefore, extremism can be seen throughout the Church of Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, and Christianity. The West Boro Baptist Church is a Baptist congregation that many would argue are the epitome of extremism. They are famous for creating a public spectacle of themselves, by protesting gay pride events, the funerals of fallen military members, movies, Comi Con, and an assortment of other public events throughout the nation. These protests have garnered the attention of the nation by the use of their imagery, language, and sheer anger. The church is small, being only members of the Phelps family, and share their ideals to the world through their website called ‘godhatesfags.com’. () On this website, they also share statistics such as ‘how many people have been damned since you’ve been on this site’ and ‘how many people God has killed in the Middle East’. Sensationalism is the key to success for this particular group, particularly the incitement of anger from their audience.

            The anger incited by the West Boro Baptist Church has also been met with comedy. For instance, in 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival semi famous director Kevin Smith attacked the group head on when they attempted to protest his movie Red State. Coincidentally the inspiration for the film was actually the West Boro Baptist Church. Smith was prompted that the group would be protesting the first showing of the film. He decided that he had to do something, had to counter the protests in one way or another. Kevin Smith chose comedy.

            After reading about the group, and seeing a multitude of media coverage on their pickets, Smith decided that he found their sensationalistic behavior to be ‘ridiculous’ and out right silly. So, his friends and colleagues took it upon themselves to make their own counter protest signs. Along with their own picket signs, Smith prompted all attendees of the showing to bring their own signs. Whoever came with the best, most ridiculous, and maybe offensive, sign would win a free ticket to the screening. Some of the signs created by Smith and his friends read things like: “God hates press screenings”, “God hates Mondays”, “Shirley you can’t be serious”. All of these picket signs directly mocked signs previously used by the group. The winner of the free screening ticket created a sign simply with the image of an Ewok, covered in a ‘Ghosbusters-esque’ ‘no’ symbol, as Kevin Smith described in his filmed Q & A session “An Evening With Kevin Smith.” Weeks after the initial protest, Kevin invited the Phelps family to further screenings… In which they attended. Smith has described their relationship as comical and it almost can be said to be a sort of friendship (Smith, Kevin).

            Kevin Smith came to the conclusion that ‘people like them’ are in search for sensationalism, and attention. Through this counter protest of sorts, Smith attacked their want for attention and sensationalism by simply making them a big joke. Humor was the key strategy in this debacle, and in further protests against Kevin Smith he has reverted back to this. It may be for his own fun, or to make a statement about the West Boro Baptist Church. Nevertheless, it has changed the worldly perspective of the church. Now, many news outlets do not even discuss the group, because that fuels the fire. Outrage on social media is at an all time low: the group, in short, is loosing steam. That is, they are loosing an audience. The audience for the group seems not to be those that particularly agree with their preachings, but those who are outraged by the language used and the messages shared by the Church. Those who are religious are outraged by the incorrect teachings of the Church, those who are not believers are outraged that a group speaks in such a hateful way, The West Boro Baptist Church has a goal of attracting outrage. Therefore, the intended audience is those who are outraged and are willing to feed into their outrage instead of attempting to deflect it.

            The West Boro Baptist, on their website, gives no clear indication of their church’s purpose. Other than to ‘spread the word of God’ it is unclear why ‘spreading the word of God’ means picketing funerals, parades, and movies. The assumed purpose would be that these protests incite anger, disgust, and overall attract attention. In turn, the church get’s media coverage, and presumable that’s the avenue in which they have decided to spread the word of God. However, there is no clear indication from any of the Phelps family why this is the rhetorical strategy they have decided upon. The question is always deflected by more rhetoric of the church, more slogans, more “God hates fags” type of language.

            If the group’s intended goal is to incite outrage, they have been successful in doing so over the last decade. However, if their intended purpose was to gain followers, it is not clear if they have been successful. The rhetoric used by the group is usually categorized as ‘hate speech’. The group is mainly successful by their use of pathos, by inciting rage in the audience. Authority is a key rhetorical strategy as well, but it is not the authority of the Phelp’s family or the audience, it is the authority of God and the Bible. The group utilizes their own translations of the holy text to create their rhetoric, and when it is argued by the audience the main response is ‘it’s the word of God’. The group uses the ultimate authority, and does this in such a way that it is almost indisputable. That’s why Smith’s counter protest was so successful in deflecting the hate group, because the rhetoric used by Smith and his friends had very little to do with religion or even in response to the actual rhetoric of the West Boro Baptist Church. He simply mocked them, and utilized the rhetorical strategy of inciting laughter to deflect the group.

            Overall, the West Boro Baptist Church may be successful in their own purpose of attracting attention. However, Kevin Smith’s counter protest deflected the attention they so wanted, and therefore at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Smith was successful. Through his use of pathos, and sheer comedy, his message of positivity was communicated successfully and clearly. Both identities, both sides of this ‘argument’, utilize pathos as a primary rhetorical strategy, but it seems that the Church’s claims to the greatest authority have failed them and humor and positivity prevailed.

Works Cited

“Cult Kids: Westboro | Vice | United States” VICE. Web. 14 Sept. 2016

Smith, Kevin. "Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell." Youtube. N.p., 21 Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Sept. 2016.

“Westboro Baptist Homepage” Westboro Baptist Home Page. Web. 14 Sept. 2016