The anarchic and decentralized nature of the Anonymous collective is made clear in its ongoing actions against the Kansas-based radical religious group, famous for protesting funerals and memorials in the name of a vengeful God. In 2012, Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson Shirley Phelps-Roper announced that the church intended to picket dozens of funerals of people murdered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. In retaliation, a hacker identifying as a member of Anonymous released the personal information of church members, hacked into Phelps-Ropers personal Twitter account and took down the Churchs website. Less than a year before that, a hacker identified as a member of Anonymous broke into the Churchs website during a live radio interview, and the church claimed to have received a threatening letter from Anonymous, a claim the group denied. Their public feud peaked when a hacker named Cosmo the God disproved Phelps-Ropers claim that their site was unhackable and protected by God by hacking it on-air. Here's where it gets epic. Following the deadly Moore, Oklahoma tornados in 2013, Westboro decided to protest the funeral of some of those who died, including a nine-year-old child. In response, Anonymous took over the churchs website, uploading a picture of Jesus holding up his middle finger along with a link to the Red Cross donations page for tornado victims. Over $8000 dollars were inadvertently raised in the churchs name. Eventually traced to a hacker named Jester, this was an epic hack that proved the chaotic nature of Anonymous was a force to be reckoned with when directed towards a common social purpose.
David Wagner is an author/musician who splits his time between Oakland, CA and Istanbul, Turkey.
David has published two novels, both available on his website, and as a fan of movies, comics, and genre television, he is happy to be working with WhatCulture as a regular contributor.
