![thedailywhat:
Westboro Baptist Troll of the Day: When Margie Phelps, prominent member of the stridently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, tweeted a manipulated photo alleging to show church protesters picketing the funeral service of Whitney Houston, many in the media rushed to the conclusion that WBC was trying to pull a fast one by pretending to be somewhere they were not.
But in their rush to call out Westboro for being predictably awful, the finger-pointers inadvertently gave the Phelps clan as much, if not more publicity than they would have received by physically showing up.
After hundreds of outlets republished the church’s hateful shop, Phelps posted a tweet thanking the media for doing her legwork.
“Multiple media outlets publish”Whitney in Hell,”while whining Westboro didn’t picket :),” Phelps tweeted. She followed that up with another tweet noting that Raw Story had tweeted the fake Whitney protest photo to its 19,500 followers, subtly referencing the subterfuge with the hashtag “#SoManyWays2Picket.”
Before the media began voluntarily advertising the WBC’s message, Margie Phelps’ tweet of the photoshopped photo received all of 8 retweets. Now it’s been seen by millions. Instead of embarrassing the church, the media emboldened them. Now they know they can get front page coverage without ever leaving the compound.
[nj / @margiejphelps.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzpn6ynpbQ1qzpwi0o1_1280.jpg)
Westboro Baptist Troll of the Day: When Margie Phelps, prominent member of the stridently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, tweeted a manipulated photo alleging to show church protesters picketing the funeral service of Whitney Houston, many in the media rushed to the conclusion that WBC was trying to pull a fast one by pretending to be somewhere they were not.
But in their rush to call out Westboro for being predictably awful, the finger-pointers inadvertently gave the Phelps clan as much, if not more publicity than they would have received by physically showing up.
After hundreds of outlets republished the church’s hateful shop, Phelps posted a tweet thanking the media for doing her legwork.
“Multiple media outlets publish”Whitney in Hell,”while whining Westboro didn’t picket :),” Phelps tweeted. She followed that up with another tweet noting that Raw Story had tweeted the fake Whitney protest photo to its 19,500 followers, subtly referencing the subterfuge with the hashtag “#SoManyWays2Picket.”
Before the media began voluntarily advertising the WBC’s message, Margie Phelps’ tweet of the photoshopped photo received all of 8 retweets. Now it’s been seen by millions. Instead of embarrassing the church, the media emboldened them. Now they know they can get front page coverage without ever leaving the compound.
[nj / @margiejphelps.]
