Spreadable Media -Chapter 5- RUMORS( how damaging can they be)

Rumors
Taken from "Spreadable Media", by Jenkins,Ford and Green

For my Blog due, I wanted to talk about my power point on chapter 5, which I did a poor job on so I apologies to Dr. Wilson and hope this makes up for it.

In today’s society, Rumors can be seen as a double edges sword. They have the ability to spread good things about you, but also work in a negative way against you or your company. Rumors are more of a negative thing as it seems people act on rumors rather than gathering the facts. 
Patricia Ann Turner who worked with African American populations and many of her work which centered on the commercial side of products.

Companies such as “Church’s Chicken”, “Marlboro cigarettes” and clothing firm “Troop Sports” were on the receiving end of negative rumors claiming them to be owned by the KKK, a racist group in America. Such rumors inflicted serious damages on these brands. As a result Church’s was forced to sell and Troop went bankrupt.

Why did these rumors start though? Some of the accused organizations were privately owned and others were public, both of which had no racist policies what so ever. Turner claims the “accused companies were “white owned firms with advertising directed solely at black consumer in black neighborhoods” (p216). The rumors became shared feelings of frustration amongst some African Americans who were angry at the shortage of black owner businesses in their own communities. By circulating a story, community members were demonstrating their own active participating in the community by “distinguishing between friend and foe” (p217), establishing the boundaries of their community and the concerns about racism.

Historically, black Americans generated their own institutions, from the barbershop to the African American press and the black church, which enabled the formulation and exchange of the communities own perspective. Scholars have linked these institutions to the older traditions of “hush Harbors,” where slaves gathered outside for vital communication, stressing their capacity to sustain conversations within their own race.

These communities have since had more risks brought to them especially with the availability of technology. An example to book gives is the circulation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright whose sermons to his trinity United Church of Christ Congregation to whom Barack Obama was a president, played a significant role in the 2008 presidential campaign. “ Wright’s sermons were for and presented to a predominantly but no longer exclusive black congregation as part of a tradition of fiery black critique of white institutions and practices” (P217). With the availability of modern media though it wasn’t long before Wright’s videos and comments were appearing on the internet on such sites as YouTube. From there it wasn’t long before it was picked up by broadcast networks such as Fox news, the Washington Post and the New York Times, who brought his comments more so to the public.  The book as a result claims, “What Wright’s comments might have meant in a black – only or black- dominated space is very different from what they meant when spread through these other contexts” (P218).

(A website link to an article about Church's Chicken)

 http://newsone.com/2018343/black-urban-legends-churchs-fried-chicken/

I am sure everyone can remember walking into a shop and seeing a magazine claiming that Barack Obama was a Muslim and not really born in America. These rumors have continued for many years even after his second session as president of America. For Christians, this wasn’t a good thing to hear especially those who had been so used to George W Bush’s conservative Christian values. One rumor that had gone viral was the national day or Prayer that Obama had apparently tried to cancel while he participated in an Islamic ceremony in The White House. In actual fact, Obama had welcomed and encourage d that day or prayer but opted to do it in private.

(This is a clip made to examine if Obama is a Muslim)

However you take rumors, they do have an effect culturally as well as politically when shaping how communities collectively perceive information, especially in regards to racism or religion. Often it is the material which isn’t the highest quality or have the most truth behind it that will often get picked up and strike fear into society.  Reading this chapter was very insightful and just proved how a few simple words can affect so many thing and people around the world.