For my final project, I decided to create an episode of a fictional podcast I created for a previous class. Podcasts are a great way of sharing information to a large audience with common interests. While they are often opinion-based, many (including this one) use verified methods of fact-checking. Podcasts help to create public discourse about a range of topics, keeping people informed of and interested in important and relevant issues through popular media.

Reading While Black is a fictional, left-leaning podcast created by Elana Joy. Through literary analysis, fact-checking, and academic discourse, we strive to break the systemic silencing of oppressed BIPOC and uplift the voices of underserved communities. We are reading radically; we are reading while Black!

Please e-mail epera@asu.com for free copies of both episodes of Reading While Black.

The transcript for this final project (episode II) is below:

READING WHILE BLACK EPISODE II TRANSCRIPT:

(Silent Treatment Intro)Hello everybody, and welcome back to “Reading While Black”.

I’m your host Elana Joy and I’m reading, while Black. Today I want to talk to you all about an online controversy that caught my attention a couple of weeks back…(Part of Your World intro)That’s right, The Little Mermaid! So, for those of you who don’t know, in early September Disney released the teaser trailer for the live action Little Mermaid movie that is coming out in May of 2023. Also for those of you who don’t know, Halle Bailey from the vocalist sister duo of Chloe x Halle has been cast as Disney’s iconic protagonist, “Ariel”. 

Halley Bailey is an incredible Black female vocalist and actress. She and her sister have received five Grammy nominations for their music, and on her own she has received an NAACP award nomination for her work in Grown-ish. She is 22, she is an outstanding performer, and according to Wikipedia, she is going to be starring in a 2023 film adaptation of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple?! I had no idea they were remaking that movie. We will definitely have to do an entire episode about that because as y’all know, I am not happy with how they changed Celie’s character, and really, the whole plot, in the original adaptation. But for now, let’s return our attention to the Little Mermaid.

Of course, when Disney released the teaser people were furious. And when I say people, you know who I mean…ignorant..people. Everywhere this video had been posted across social media platforms, people have come running to the comment section to defend their—I’m gonna call it like I see it—racist views. These comment sections can be pretty toxic spaces, but I do think it could be helpful to hear what people have to say. Luckily, I found a great Forbes article which is written by Dani Di Placido, who’s a Senior Contributor for the magazine’s arts section, and it’s called “Disney’s ‘Little Mermaid’ Backlash Has Reached Insane Heights”. I’ll have a link to it in the show notes, for those of you who are interested in reading the whole thing.

In the article, Di Placido discusses the backlash to Disney casting Halle Bailey to play Ariel. He shared a couple of tweets that I thought were particularly interesting. One of them is by a user named @josh_morgans and they say, “Considering mermaids are supposed to live underwater where there isn’t any sun light they wouldn’t need any melanin in their skin.” so…that one’s funny to me because mermaids aren’t people. Like, why are we all assuming that mermaid skin functions like human skin, when mermaids can do all kinds of things that humans can’t do?! I’m not going to use the argument that they are imaginary, because that is just blasphemy, but I will say with certainty that at this moment in time, humans don’t have the capacity to make claims about mermaid melanin.  

Anyway, another interesting tweet Di Placido shares in this article is from a user named @NomeDaBarbarian and Nome says, and I’m guessing by his punctuation that the first part should be read mockingly: “Well the original little mermai-“

The original The Little Mermaid is a queer man’s self-insertion character, longing to be able to be in a relationship with another man, and at the end the mermaid dies.

You don’t care about the original, mate.

*laughing*

So, when I got to the bottom of this article I felt like I’d struck gold because I found two more commenters, like people commenting on the article type of commenters, that I feel do a pretty good job of summing up the way people are feeling about this controversy.

So, the first one is by a user named User X, and they say,

User X: It’s clear to me that it was easy for you to portray all of those who are angry as simply “racist” when in reality most of us who are mad/sad are really just disappointed that Disney neglected to keep her identity alive. While looks aren’t the most important part of what forms a character, they do matter. You can’t portray a character for so many years with a certain appearance and then suddenly change it and expect it to not damage her identity o essence. We fell in love with the original Ariel, therefore we’re simply sad to say goodbye to her. If they were to change princess jasmine as a white blonde woman then people would be rightfully upset, yet I can’t be when they change the ethnicity of the main character that I love? I would be extremely happy to see Disney creating more princess who are women of color, women who have their own story to share and empower others, there was no need to to steal the identity of a princess by changing her ethnicity. If anything I think it sends the wrong message as if a princess of black color couldn’t be as successful and as loved as the little mermaid, as if the only way to get there was by forcing her way into a pre existing character.

So..that was User X. Quite an emotional roller coaster ride she deflected us on there. Who doesn’t love a good logical fallacy…or, several, logical fallacies.. 

In response to User X, 

User PressX2Doubt said:I’m so sorry that Disney is pairing the release of the live-action Little Mermaid with the removal of all the old Little Mermaid films from sale, and the deletion or destruction of existing Little Mermaid films already in the homes of millions of Disney fans. Your loss must be incalculable.

Oh, what? Those movies still exist? This is a new take that will exist alongside the films you already love, and not supplant them? Then what are you on about?

The white anxiety just radiates off this comment. Come on, dude. Like the article says, this is for today’s children. Let them enjoy what’s meant for them. You can still watch your old DVDs of white Ariel and nobody will judge you for that. They’ll be too busy judging you for your barely hidden racism in your comment.

Well said, User PressX2Doubt. Gosh, people on the internet can have such a way with words, don’t ya’ll think? 

So, since we are Reading While Black, let’s really dig into this now. Especially when it comes to things that we see on the internet, like these kinds of viral controversies, it’s important to get all of our facts straight. So, for transparency I’m going to tell y’all about the method I’ve used to ensure accuracy. It’s called SIFT which stands for “Stop! Investigate the Source, Find Trusted Coverage, and Trace to the original. So far, we have stopped, we’ve investigated the sources of this argument, you’ve found me, your trusted coverage *haha*, but really, I have linked the sources I used in the show notes, so please check them out, and now we are going to Trace to the original. 

 So, Hans Christian Andersen’s the Little Mermaid is a short story that was written in 1837 and published in the third volume of Fairytales told for Children. Andersen was from Denmark and his stories were all originally written in Danish. He wrote several fairytales that we are familiar with today including The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes (which has also become Disney movie) and The Princess and the Pea, to name a few. There are countless more and Andersen wrote beautifully, so I recommend reading as many as possible. A lot of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and the live stage. The Little Mermaid was first adapted into a ballet in the early1900s. I couldn’t find a specific date for its first release, but I did find that there is a Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen that was inspired by the ballet and commissioned in 1909. Interestingly enough, there is another Little Mermaid statue in the Principality of Monaco that was created in homage to the Danes who live in Monaco and to the, now late, Prince Rainier III to mark the 50th year of his reign.

Anyway, the Little Mermaid has been adapted for television in 1958 for Shirley Temple’s Storybook, where Shirley Temple played the Little Mermaid, then again in 1976 for a feature film in the former USSR, and then of course, most famously in 1989 by Disney. 

The Disney adaptation has taken some of the most liberties with the story. They were the ones who gave the princess the famous name of Ariel. Now, you are not wrong if you are thinking that the Little Mermaid in all of these adaptions has been white. However,  since one of the biggest arguments in this “Black Ariel” scandal is that the Little Mermaid in the original story is white, let’s turn to the original text. I encourage all of you to read the Little Mermaid because it is just such a beautiful story of love and sacrifice, and the writing is spectacular. 

It’s also pretty short; if you’re interested there is a free copy from Project Gutenberg Canada posted in the show notes. And, although we must consider variation in translations, in the most popular English translation Andersen describes the Little Mermaid’s skin in only one passage. This passage reads:

“There were six of them, beautiful children, but the youngest was the prettiest of them all. Her skin was as bright and pure as a rose-leaf, her eyes were as blue as the deepest lake; but like all the rest, she had no feet—her body ended in a fish’s tail.” (Hans Christian Andersen)

Reading that passage for the first time, my heart honestly sank a little. I thought, “Wow, these asshats are right. The Little Mermaid is described as white in the original story.” which doesn’t excuse the blatant racism coming from several of these keyboard warriors, but still. 

Then, I remembered that with literature, especially older pieces of literature, it’s important to look up definitions of words. Otherwise, you can’t be sure you are really understanding the author’s intentions..or at least trying to. We know that can be nearly impossible at times to truly know. So, I looked up the words bright and rose-leaf in the trusted New Oxford American Dictionary. The word bright is defined as giving out or reflecting a lot of light; intelligent or quick-witted; giving an appearance of cheerful liveliness; clear, vibrant, and typically high-pitched; luminous.

The words rose-leaf didn’t have an exact definition together, and could only be defined as the leaf of a rose bush or as a rose petal. Since leaves are green and rose petals come in many colors, it seems safe to assume that the Little Mermaid was a shimmering, creature with a human torso and fish tail. It also seems safe to conclude that skin of any color has the ability to shimmer. 

Now, the truth of the matter is that people are going to be mad regardless of facts because racism is undeniably involved in this controversy. However, I think it’s also beautifully ironic that this scandal has risen from Halle Bailey singing the song “Part of Your World” in the teaser trailer, a song ORIGINALLY sung by an outsider, yearning to be a part of a space that she feels excluded from. So friends, readers, my advice to you if you are feeling overwhelmed, discouraged or disappointed by this issue, as I have, I recommend you “Just Keep Swimming”. I know, different Disney movie, but whatever, we’re taking over!

I’m Elana Joy, and til next time, keep your books open and keep reading, while Black! (Silent Treatment Outro)

SHOW NOTES:

Forbes Article

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/09/14/disneys-little-mermaid-backlash-has-reached-insane-heights/?sh=706ebf305592

SIFT

https://researchguides.uoregon.edu/fakenews/sift

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/andersen-mermaid/andersen-mermaid-00-h.html

Wikipedia

Hans Christian Andersen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen

The Little Mermaid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid

YouTube/The Little Mermaid – Official Teaser Trailer

The News Co/Lab Q&A webinar opened my mind to some of the ways in which we can tackle the problem of misinformation. The programs referenced, that notify people of corrections to the information they have shared, also could help to build trust. This kind of transparency could help media consumers be more comfortable in their own fact-checking. If large media outlets and platforms can normalize acknowledging the accidental spread of misinformation, there could be somewhat of a trickle down effect, where the acknowledgment is normalized by consumers as well. In a world where misinformation seems to be normalized, it makes sense that acknowledging and rectifying this misinformation should be normalized too. As a consumer of media, I know that I would feel more secure sharing information if I knew that anything incorrect about it will ultimately be addressed. 

 The idea that reporters need to make strong connections with the communities they are reporting about is a powerful one. Building trust between reliable media and communities could ultimately help to curb misinformation because people might be more likely to trust accurate reporting. This concept made me think of one of my favorite podcasts, Ear Hustle. It is broadcast out of San Quentin prison in California and shares the stories of the prison’s residents. The hosts are a (now former) inmate and a longtime volunteer. There is an incredible amount trust between the storytellers and the hosts, and it makes for some honest and intimate reporting. I don’t think the podcast would be nearly as powerful if it were hosted by people who don’t have a relationship with the prison community. This is important for my future because storytelling is a big part of my plans. It is helpful to know that building a solid relationship with the subjects of my stories is necessary to get the full truth. Overall, the News Co. is a fascinating project, and one that is worth following.

I approached this assignment in the same way I root for sports teams: I chose the two news sites that had the most appealing names, Arizona Silver Belt and Arizona Mirror. Starting with Arizona Silver Belt, I began to apply the “Trust Indicators”.

1. Best Practices
   As I began searching for information about who controls Arizona Silver Belt, I immediately noticed that the website was riddled with advertisements. It seemed like every time I closed an ad window, a new one popped up elsewhere. Regardless, I was able to find a “contact us” page that revealed the following information:
   (screenshot of contacts)
   Digging deeper into the staff of Arizona Silver Belt with the SIFT approach, I discovered that the publisher, Mike Caywood, is actually an employee of a larger company called “News Media Corporation”. The company claims to have ten printing plants and 34 newspaper offices operating in nine different states. Andrea Justice, the editor, seems to be a fellow student at Arizona State University, but she doesn’t have much of an online footprint. David Sowders, the assistant editor, claims on his LinkedIn profile that he has over 8 years of of experience in journalism. This is somewhat reassuring, but Celine Dion has WAY more than eight years of experience as a vocalist, and I am highly unimpressed by her; so, it is possible that Sowders’ experience is not evidence of his skill (…I offer my apologies to any die-hard Celine Dion fans, but not Celine Dion herself because she is rich and I believe her heart will go on.) 
2. Journalist Expertise
   Clicking through a few articles on the site, I noticed that several are published by members of the Associated Press. In addition, the news site has a link that directs users to a magazine about Arizona’s outdoors called The Copper Corridor. This made me feel that the site might just be a front for a larger media company. I think this company is most likely the News Media Corporation (the same company that Mike Caywood works for.)
3. Labels
   Each story seems to be properly labeled and categorized. Even though the site itself is a bit of a jumble, the articles don’t have click-bait titles and they appear to be based upon verified facts. One article on the front page is titled, “US Gas Prices Tick Up, Ending 99-Day Streak of Lower Costs”. This title doesn’t persuade readers in any way, but it does share reasonable information about the article. This suggests that the organization values sharing information without coercing their users, which is a good sign.
4. References
   The lack of references on the Arizona Silver Belt’s site is a bit of a red flag. Even though the website acknowledges the work of members of the Associated Press, I couldn’t find any articles that contained hyperlinks to sources, nor a “Works Cited” page. This is concerning because readers can’t easily cross-check the information shared by the news site. 
5. Methods
   I could not find evidence of any specific methods used for reporting. 
6. Locally Sourced
   Googling the provided names of the company’s leaders on the contact page revealed that the employees (or at least the higher-ups) live in Arizona. This is a good sign because our professor has argued that those who are familiar with the communities they are reporting in will do a more thorough/accurate job in telling the stories of the people and events which exist within them
7. Diverse Voices
   When I clicked on the “Front Page” link in the news site’s menu I was directed to a series of articles arranged similarly to the front page of a hard copy newspaper. I noticed that there were no pictures of POC, with the exception of those attending a STAND (Standing Together Against Narcotics and Drugs) meeting. Although one could argue that those affected by substance abuse disorders are often the oppressed https://www.marylandmacs.org/media/SOM/Microsites/MACS/Documents/Systemic-Racism-and-SUDs.pdf, there are also plenty of POC who are living lives that are not plagued by drug addiction. It is important to consider what may be the results of providing POC with limited and, arguably, biased representation in the media.
8. Actionable Feedback
   The site offers polls and surveys as a way of gaining insight on their readers’ perspectives, but some of these polls are ads that direct readers to a new and unrelated webpage. 

Overall, Arizona Silver Belt appears to be a legitimate news site, but an unappealing one. The advertisements make it difficult and annoying to navigate, but the articles themselves seem to be reporting on real news. My guess is that several of the News Media Corporation’s sites are laid out in similar ways—to create the highest potential for ad-clicks (even if they’re accidental). Next up, Arizona Mirror.

1. Best Practices
   Jim Smalls, the Editor-in-Chief of Arizona Mirror, claims to have almost 20 years of reporting and journalistic experience. The outlet’s website explains that the news site is a part of a larger non-profit organization,  States Newsroom (States Newsroom) , but “retains full editorial independence.” (Arizona Mirror) However, regardless of the site’s constructed image of professionalism, the articles’ headlines suggest that the Mirror’s credibility should be questioned. They feature click-bait titles such as, “A Seismic Change Has Taken Place in the Supreme Court—but it’s Not Clear if the Shift is About Principle or Party”.  On the plus side, there are no ads, but almost anybody could pay to have a website that functions ad-free. As obnoxious as ads may be, they don’t seem to be symptomatic of an inaccurate news site. 
2. Journalist Expertise
   Each article provides a thorough bio of the author.
3. Labels
   Although the stories are categorized properly, they all have click-bait titles. This suggests that the organization places a high value on clicks, which readers should consider. Prioritizing clicks could ultimately dismiss the value of the truth.
4. References
   Certain articles, like this one, that details how some ignorant politician folk don’t have the capacity to provide clarity over whether or not women have rights, do contain hyperlinks. However, these hyperlinks direct readers to articles written for Arizona Mirror, rather than academic journals and peer-reviewed sources verifying the provided information.
5. Methods
   The Mirror has a thorough ethics page, which explains the methods they use in reporting.
6. Locally Sourced
   Almost all of the writers for Arizona Mirror seem to be from Arizona,
7. Diverse Voices
   The writers of Arizona Mirror are relatively diverse: they are Native, white, and Latinx. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have any Black writers. However, Native and Latinx populations are dense in Arizona.
8. Actionable Feedback
   Arizona Mirror does not offer its readers an option to contact its team. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the general validity of both of my chosen sites. I probably wouldn’t chose them as a source of news myself (because I hate both ads and clickbait), but I acknowledge that they aren’t spewing complete misinformation. I think the best thing these sites can do to make themselves more trustworthy is to eliminate ads and click-bait titles. Those two characteristics raise red flags in my brain, whether they are reasonable or not. For me, both ads and click-bait come across as tacky, and I can’t rationalize their use when considering credibility. I realize that I am essentially asserting that my own site is tacky, but this is not something I deny. A site riddled with ads leaves a poor first impression, but removing ads costs money, and I don’t have any of that. But, hey—why bother having money when you can experience the thrill of living paycheck to paycheck? 

As a society, we are dealt with the shared responsibility of bearing the weight of the misinformation problem. Theoretically, it is reasonable to assume that each individual should learn to handle it on their own. Meaning, each person should be responsible for the way they consume and share information. However, this thinking is not realistic. In a country that seems to be defined by disparity, it isn’t fair to expect everybody to have the capacity to gain media literacy; especially when we consider how many people haven’t had an opportunity to gain literacy in their native language. That being said, I would like to assert that it is the responsibility of the government to regulate the way information is spread. However, I make his proclamation with a heavy load of apprehension. 

Involving the government in the way media shares information could be problematic for several reasons. The First Amendment ensures freedom of the press, making the mass spread of information an inseparable piece of the American democracy. Although there are already exceptions to this amendment, misinformation is not one of them. This is reasonable because putting the government in charge of misinformation would mean that the government has the final say in the “truth” society is given. If our government is the final institution involved in determining what is true, then the press would not be free to exist as a buffer between people and government. The truth we are given could be limited and edited in whichever way our leaders want, which would not be an ideal way to properly inform the people who ultimately vote for them. 

With this in mind, I think that the best way to address the misinformation problem is to start with younger generations. Media literacy could be implemented as a part of K-12 curriculum, just as other courses, such as typing and computer classes, have been implemented with advancements of technology. At a post-secondary level, media literacy could be included in General Education requirements. In my state of California, several community colleges (including the one I work at!) have begun to offer free courses for local residents. Ideally, community colleges could also offer media literacy courses at no-cost to local residents. This would give people of all ages an opportunity to become aware of the misinformation problem, and learn how to responsibly consume and share information. 

The goal in attacking this issue is to gain enough media literacy as a country, so that misinformation loses its value in discourse and is ultimately eradicated. However, this is also not realistic. A more realistic goal is to have gain enough media literacy as a country, so that each individual is at least aware of it.

Overall, the concept of media literacy needs to migrate from academic environments to everyday living. In the same way Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just A Bill” is embedded in the brains of Gen-X’ers and Millennials, regardless of our knowledge or interest in political science, children today could be having their brains imprinted with catchy tunes that introduce them to the concepts of media literacy and misinformation: 
“I’m just a meme. Yes; I’m just a meme, and I might not be quite what I seem.”  (If you didn’t automatically sing that line, or at least know how it should be sung, I’m sorry for your loss)

Anyway, Schoolhouse Rock is an example of how the idea of understanding the inner workings of our democracy has been normalized for young children. These educational pieces of media, incorporated into everyday life, should be funded by the government and recreated for relevance. In addressing the misinformation problem, the best thing we can do for future generations is to help them also understand its inner workings. If the First Amendment is truly meant to give Americans the opportunity to gain the knowledge required to responsibly participate in government, we must ensure that future voters are capable of discerning fact from fiction. As a country, we have faced many threats, but unless individuals are willing to accept the responsibility finding the truth, misinformation will persist and prevail. We must not let it.

When choosing two social media platforms for this blog post I thought it would be most interesting if I considered platforms that I access regularly, but for unique and specific purposes. I ultimately settled on Pinterest, which I use exclusively for recipes and nail art inspiration, and WordPress, which I generally use exclusively to practice being comfortable with sharing my writing, but temporarily use for Misinformation and Society assignments. I realize that I may be jumping into hot water with the latter choice for this analysis, but my research shows that I probably have very little to worry about. It’s much more likely that I will be soaking in a hot spring in the middle of a PNW forest, my presence unknown by those who aren’t around to witness me being there.

A search on the Google for “WordPress misinformation policies” brought me to an article from their Policies and Safety page about reporting sites on the platform. Digging further, I found a page that goes into a deeper explanation of the way the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) may affect WordPress bloggers. This site links to a blog, which supposedly provides updates on privacy-related issues, but hasn’t done so since May of 2018. That being said, while privacy is important, I didn’t find any resources or attempts for protecting users from misinformation. WordPress’ focus seems to be protecting users’ privacy, and not their perception of reality. I was somewhat surprised to see this, but I also think that freedom of creative expression for writers is important. I follow the PEN America organization and admire Salman Rushdie’s fight against censorship; and yet, the freedom of an author, who clearly defines the genre of their writing (fiction, non-fiction, magical-realism, etc.), to share their stories, feels different than the freedom of @unvaxxedprincess2020 to share harmful conspiracies across social media. Also, social media is inarguably more accessible than banned books. I don’t know how reasonable (or possible) it is to comb through every single WordPress site for pieces of misinformation; but that doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary. This is why I imagine my critique on WordPress’ policies as more of a subtle soak, rather than a dangerous plunge into hot water. Even if I am spreading potentially harmful information about the site, it doesn’t seem likely that my writing would be noticed by anybody with the power to censor them.

Pinterest, on the other hand, seems to be making several efforts to prevent misinformation:

Pinterest isn’t a place for misinformation, disinformation, mal-information or the individuals or groups spreading or creating it. We remove or limit distribution of false or misleading content that may harm Pinners’ or the public’s well-being, safety or trust” 

Pinterest Community Guidelines

They also provide a transparency report which details their review process of any and all media that may violate community guidelines.

As you can see from the chaotic layout of photos above, Pinterest seems to be extremely transparent and as thorough as possible in prevention the spread of misinformation on their platform. They even share with users the stricter guidelines to which advertisers must comply.

Overall, my research has shown that WordPress could be making more efforts to curb the spread of misinformation. In addition to their user-reporting services, they could use an automated tool to comb through posts and flag those with certain hashtags, which may suggest misinformative content. This tool could be followed up with a manual review of flagged posts. Although there would be an incredible cost associated with hiring the necessarily large staff that would be needed to perform the manual reviews, the PR has incredible potential in this age of misinformation. Considering the way celebrities and users loudly separated from Spotify after the whole Joe Rogan fiasco, I think that many people would praise WordPress for increasing their efforts, possibly flocking to the platform. That being said, while many people write something (even if it’s as minimal as a datebook entry) on a day-to-day basis, blogging is a bit more niche. Maybe WordPress is more worried about maintaining a “safe” space for writers, with the knowledge that their service doesn’t have nearly as broad of an appeal as other social media platforms like tiktok and instagram.

Pinterest seems to be doing a pretty solid job, so I’m just going to recommend that they keep the recipes flowing and the ads a’blowing…away. Because I hate them. Now, please enjoy the ads below this post *insert upside-down smiley face emoticon here*.

I thought it would be easy to find a claim to analyze on my Facebook newsfeed, but I was very happy to find that I seem to have finally created my “bubble”. That is, I’ve managed to curate my social media content in a way that has minimized the number of questionable posts I see each day. However, this isn’t to say that they are non-existent. I follow a couple of pages, who will regularly post humorous memes. Usually they are meant to incite laughter or nostalgia, often they are relatable and personal enough to forward to a friend without the concern of spreading misinformation–

However, a recent post, while funny, immediately brought up questions and I realized it was perfect for this assignment:

My first step in analyzing this piece was to do some lateral reading–I opened up a new browser tab and headed straight for the Google. I started by typing “September 25, 1926 Henry Ford” in the search bar and got a few results that shared the same information, in meme form, that my chosen piece does. However, the commentary tweet was not included. The sites that shared the information were unfamiliar news sources, so I decided to try a new search: “Henry Ford labor practices”. This search immediately brought up several sources that I did recognize–history.com, NPR, and even a research project from the University of Michigan. I learned that Henry Ford’s 8-hour, 5-day work week was actually a positive change to common labor practices in the United States. People flocked to his factories in hopes of employment because they were guaranteed consistent money and stability in their time commitment to work. Ford found that treating his employees well had positive effects on his business, and thus, his practices spread like viral meme.

So, should we be heckling Henry Ford, as the original poster jokingly suggests? Well, yes. But not because of his labor practices. He was publicly anti-Semitic and spread harmful rhetoric about Jews at the same time that Hitler was doing so in Germany. Ironically, I knew about Ford’s antisemitism because of misinformation I’ve been holding on to since I heard it in Hebrew school as a child–Henry Ford helped Hitler build the incinerators and gas chambers used in the Holocaust. While there have been questions about the connections between Ford and the Nazis, there doesn’t seem to be evidence of him constructing gas chambers. Regardless, it is pretty clear that he wasn’t exactly a kind-hearted fellow.

Even though the piece of media I found is spreading seemingly harmless misinformation, getting history wrong or retelling it incorrectly can have serious consequences. The current conversation of whether or not it is appropriate to teach children about the realities of slavery is concerning because we are at risk of ignoring a critical piece of United States history, and ignoring or forgetting history is a wonderful way to repeat it.

That being said: BOO, Henry Ford! But also, thank you for weekends.

As a major fan of games, this week’s blog post assignment had me hyped from the moment I read it: Play and evaluate two of the three hyperlinked “news games”. If you know me, you know I played all three. Several times.

The first game listed is called Bad News. I won’t go into too much detail about it because it was my least favorite of the three. The game runs in a chatbot format (possibly ironically, possibly not), where you are prompted to give one of two answers. One answer generally expresses uncertainty or moral objections to the creation and spread of fake news, while the other is far more sinister and always in agreement with the chatbot’s questionable intentions. The main issue I have with Bad News is that the chatbot ultimately pushes you into playing its game, whether you really want to or not. Here are some examples:

As you can see, regardless of the player’s uncertainty, the chatbot insists that you play along with its mischievous plan. When I selected “I’m not sure”, the robot pressured me into doing it anyway. This made me feel that the game doesn’t really reflect a typical experience with misinformation. It shows players how easy it is to create and spread fake news by taking them through six tactics: impersonation, emotion, polarization, conspiracy, discrediting, and trolling; however, it doesn’t seem to give players much of a “WHY”, but rather, a “HOW” fake news happens.

That being said, I felt that Fake It To Make It did a great job of providing players with both a how and why fake news is created and spread. The game allows players to exploit click-bait, making “money” off of article clicks and shares on social media. The game starts by explaining that the information itself matters less than its popularity, and that people who want to make money through monetizing media on the Internet don’t (and won’t) consider the truth or their own opinions when spreading it. Next, players are instructed to create their own news site. They are given an allowance of $50 to start their “business” with, told to choose a financial goal, and then given a task to complete, the first one being to create a website that has a credibility score of 30. Players then are taken through a process of selecting articles to copy and buying social media profiles, which will be used to plant the articles in groups. Articles are click-bait that either support or attack a fictitious political party (Orange v. Purple), or spread viral information like kid quotes and cat pictures. Players are tasked with figuring out where to plant these articles, so that they get the most clicks and shares, creating optimal revenue. After an hour or so, my game looked like this:

The list of goals on the right help to guide players in their strategy. Fake It To Make It is definitely the most complex and time-consuming of the games, but it also provides players with a broad understanding of the inner-workings of spreading information. The gameplay is saved as well, so that players can come back and continue building their business or start a new one. I think that this format makes the game ideal for middle and high schoolers, who may have the opportunity to gain media literacy as a part of their education. If children can learn both how and why information is spread, they will be better prepared to analyze it on their own.

The final game I played, Factitious, is the most straight forward. It allows users to select between six levels of difficulty (based on reading level), and then players dive into the gameplay. Articles are presented that the player must read and then decide whether they are real or fake news. I quickly learned that I could bypass the actual reading by checking the source at the bottom of the article:

The pictured article was from CBS News, which I know is a fact-based news network. However, some of the articles come from international outlets and I couldn’t determine whether or not they were real without doing the reading. Regardless, Factitious is a simple game that allows players to exercise their analysis skills. It doesn’t explain the source or cause of misinformation in the way that Fake It To Make It does, but Factitious provides a private, judgement-free space to practice recognizing fact from fiction. This eliminates the shame or fear of embarrassment that some people may have when it comes to their ability to analyze information. This makes it ideal for all ages, and the fast gameplay suggests that it would make for a great lesson plan in an academic environment.

Overall, games seem to be a great way for people to explore the causes and effects of misinformation. I plan to share these with my colleagues at the writing center I work at, so that we can use them as tools when supporting students in sourcing evidence for their argumentative essays. These games reminded me of the educational games I played in the computer lab in grade school. Educational games helped me to memorize history, strengthen my arithmetic skills, and get my WPM up into the 80s (on a good day). They were an extremely successful tool for me. I believe that humans are highly receptive to play, and when it comes to misinformation, playing games could be our saving grace. Especially for future generations.

Had I not met one, I probably wouldn’t have ever believed they exist. Something like a mythical creature in my mind, a unicorn, a fairy— I’ve always held a spark of imagination that allowed for the possibility of such things, but this one was much harder to wrap my head around. How could somebody living in the 21st century truly believe the earth is flat?

A while back I went on a date with a guy that left me feeling confused and unsettled. Initially, I was impressed by the way he articulated himself and the old soul in me recognized immediately that chivalry seemed to come naturally to him. As we pulled up to my house at the end of the night, a spark of curiosity took ahold of me and I invited him inside. We sat talking for some time and I could feel butterflies, the first sign of a crush, fluttering below my chest. The conversation was blowing my mind and then he said, “You know…I’m not like other guys.” What! Did he really just say that? Without even considering a more creative angle? He’s not like other guys, now my mind was really blown. But don’t hold your breath, this isn’t a story from my collection of  “me too’s”.  This is about another conversation I’ve been having with anybody who will listen: what is The Truth? 

This guy, who grew up in the same liberal-minded, knowledge-valuing community in the San Francisco Bay Area that I did, spent the rest of the evening attempting to educate me on The Truth About The Flat Earth. He told me that he’d spent hours on YouTube and had internet proof that we’ve been lied to about the true shape of our planet. He’s not like other guys because he doesn’t believe “the same bull sh*t story” we’ve been taught in school. I began to think hard about what motivates us to believe in something. Could I really blame him for thinking the earth is flat? 

A teacher once told my grade-school class, “You are so lucky to be living in the Information Age. The Digital Revolution is happening right now!” The statement sounded powerful and stuck in my mind, but at the time I was just happy to be playing typing games and Oregon Trail during “Computer Hour”. Technology has made advancements over the past 25 years that are hardly believable in retrospect. 

In recent years, humans have gained the ability to spread information like a virus. Each person that receives it may pass it on to a million more if they have the power to do so. I know I’m guilty of sharing a convincing article, only to later discover that it was all imagined by a pseudonym who could have rather had an incredible career as a fantasy novelist. Our minds are so easily manipulated by the overload of information we are constantly receiving. When a story is shared or “liked” by several of our friends, it’s easy to hop on with the hype and forget that what’s popular isn’t always what’s real.

Conspiracy theories and pseudoscience have become normalized in this Age of Information. As incredible advancements have been made in science and technology over the past several decades, movements have grown to resist them. “Flat Earthers” share a battlefield with Anti-Vaxxers, a seemingly less-extreme group of conspiracists (or, at least seemingly pre-Covid). But both groups deny the progress and proof of science, insisting that we are being lied to for a grander unknown reason. My mother’s older sister had friends die and become permanently disabled from Polio. Her generation remembers the clinic lines around the block, the excitement, gratitude, and sense of relief that came with the invention of the vaccine. Today, people rarely get polio in the United States. So what motivates us to believe in something? What proof is proof enough of the truth? 

I am not ashamed to say that I dated the Flat-Earther several more times, and ultimately learned that his criticisms of science came from a deeper feeling of distrust. He is a Black man and feels that the information we have been told our whole lives has been from a white perspective with colonist motivations, one which we (POC, especially Black people) in America should know better than to trust. To bring up integration, Civil Rights and countless POC professionals and researchers was useless because the argument was always made that they are “part of the facade”. It seems that distrust and fear tend to be at the root of belief in conspiracy and the spread of mis/disinformation.

I think the best way to combat misinformation is to get to the root of the problem, but convincing the public to be trusting and unafraid in a country that was built upon the oppression of many of those living in it is not so easy. The fears many citizens have are valid, whether or not the threat truly remains. This valid fear is what must be addressed, but how?

I chose to do the media diary assignment on the Saturday of my birthday weekend, mostly because that was the only time I knew I would be able to properly keep track of my consumption throughout the entire day. Luckily for me, I slept in and had a very active day, so the amount of media I consumed overall was pretty limited. However, the content I did take in turned out to be particularly interesting (especially compared to the usual, repetitive flow of viral video clips).

11:30am: I woke up and checked Facebook. The first post on my feed was from a member of my dashers for DoorDash group:

“RICH PEOPLE STAY RICH BY LIVING LIKE THEY’RE BROKE. POOR PEOPLE STAY BROKE BY LIVING LIKE THEY’RE RICH.”

Out of toxic habit, one which I am (forever) trying to break, I immediately checked the comment section and was not disappointed. There were several “OK, Boomer.” comments, with a few paragraphs of long-winded U.S. history lessons, touching on housing insecurity, the systemic oppression of poor people, and even the on-going COVID-19 pandemic sprinkled across the thread. Having just read Ayn Rand I was itching to chime in, but resorted to liking a few comments pointing out the problems with the poster’s simplified reasoning.

1:30pm: I read and reposted an NPR article about a new Barbie doll made in the likeness of Madam CJ Walker.

1:35pm: I watched and reposted a video of a person who made a song inspired by a facebook argument.

7:00pm: A friend told me about an app called Replika AI, that is essentially a robot friend. Supposedly, some users have reported that interacting with the app helps anxiety. I immediately typed the app’s name into the Google and clicked on this Medium article.

9:00pm: I went to karaoke and listened to colorful renditions of old-school classics and modern hits until the day turned over.

I waited until the following morning to review my previous day’s media consumption. At first glance, I was relieved because I felt that I’d recorded a surprisingly light day of intake; unfortunately, my thoughts of a quick-and-easy analysis were fleeting.

The Facebook post I started my log with is inarguably controversial, but it is also serves as perfect example for several logical fallacies. The poster suggested false cause in making a blanket statement: rich people stay rich by living frugally, while poor people stay poor because they live frivolously. This thinking is black-and-white. In the city I live in, one could easily see that the large encampments, some which take up stretches of several blocks, are filled with displaced individuals and not tech moguls. This isn’t to say that having poor spending habits or a lack of financial literacy aren’t factors in certain instances of poverty, but they are far from the only reason, which is what the Facebook post suggests.

The most questionable media I consumed turned out to be the one that was seemingly the least polarizing– the Facebook-argument-inspired song. I decided to first fact-check to see if the argument had really happened. A quick search on the Google for some of the song’s lyrics brought me to the original Facebook argument post, which went viral in 2020. Below is the first screenshot from that post.

With the original poster and commenters’ full names in hand, I was able to do a search for their actual profiles. I learned that the names in the argument are all linked to real facebook profiles, but it is unclear if these profiles are connected to real people. While the stolen broccoli casserole recipe may not be controversial in the way that I expected the media I consumed to be, it proved to feel relevant to the topic of misinformation. Whether Helen Hywater is a real person or an imagined person doesn’t matter nearly as much as whether or not real people believe that Helen Hywater is a real person.

I’ve noticed the presence of fake social media profiles since I made my first AOL instant messaging (AIM) account in 2003. I’d come across a list of celebrity screen names, who you could supposedly add to your friends list, giving users instant access to some of their favorite superstars, so long as they were online. I remember messaging “Paris Hilton” and getting back quick responses that I could have only described as feeling robotic. These celebrity chatbots were my first experience with AI robots that are essentially impersonating a fellow user on a social media platform. Looking across the social media landscape today, we can see that these bots have clearly evolved. They seem to have taken on darker personas, often appearing in news articles and research articles about their use for accessing sensitive information and creating (additional) chaos in politics.

Much like bots, internet trolls are known for causing chaos and spreading misinformation. These trolls can be bots, but they can also have real people behind them. Some of these trolls are simply looking for laughs, but others (like the Russian “troll farm” Internet Research Agency) are looking to stir up trouble and sway the public’s opinion. While the Helen Hywater account, if fake, seems to be one that is looking to start a laughing attack rather than a riot, it is still a symptom of this age of misinformation. Satire and parody can be misinformation if they are accepted as truth, and the great broccoli casserole recipe controversy is a comical reminder of this reality.

Replika AI turned out to be less interesting than I hoped it would be. I ultimately didn’t feel like I could determine how safe the information recorded by the application truly is. So, I turned my attention back to the real world and went to consume some live media–karaoke at my favorite local lounge.

Overall, this diary reminded me that not only can the media itself we consume be deceptive or misinformed, but also that the source of that media can be an illusion of its own. One thing is for certain–I can already tell from this first assignment, that traveling across the world of media is going to be just as enlightening as traveling across North America.

Since Vanna and I returned in mid-August, I’ve struggled with the idea of finishing this blog. I have felt stretched in opposing directions— pulled by the fingers of one hand towards the keys of my laptop to regurgitate the rest of my summer memories into a digital bank of my own words, while my other hand is busy grasping where I’m at right now, coping with the reality of being home.

There is a large part of me that feels like I have a duty to my friends and family who offered me endless love, guidance and support throughout the most spectacular adventure of my life. They deserve to know what I did with the power they gave me to find my own way. And of course, I do think it’s important to finish what I’ve started. I would like to be the type of person who consistently follows things through to their end. So—

I made a point of touring a handful of historical churches in the South. There is so much that I can’t explain about how it felt to be a Jewish Black girl, sitting in the first “official” church owned by slaves in Savannah Georgia, tracing the Hebrew and Arabic markings written on the original pews by men and women escaping to their anticipated freedom on the Underground Railroad. The acknowledgment that there is a difference between being a Black Jew and being a Black woman who is Jewish awakened a part of my consciousness that I had never explored.

In the Dexter St. King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL I held hands in a circle with 50 other visitors, most of them a part of a gloriously jubilant family reunion, singing “This Little Light of Mine”. While I was in Montgomery, I visited the Peace and Freedom Memorial. Metal columns with names engraved deep into their rain-rusted surfaces memorializing known victims of lynchings hung from the ceiling. I searched meticulously through the looming lists, organized by state, for names I might recognize from conversations with my father. I noticed that mine were not the only eyes drawn upwards. Most of us visitors had our necks craned into the sky, resisting the ache in our spines as we descended deeper into the memorial. We all seemed to be searching for something in there.

A thick grayness hung above Vanna and I as we traveled backwards along the historic Selma to Montgomery route. Selma felt like a ghost town. Most of the business were either shut down or closed for the day and nobody was out walking on the street. I stepped onto the old cobblestone road just as the rain broke over head. The sudden downpour drenched my sundress, making me grateful for the two braids I’d woven tightly against my scalp the night before in an attempt to ward off frizz. I quickly returned to Vanna and changed my shoes, keeping in mind that skin is basically waterproof; compared to socks, at least.

As I walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, my flip flops squelching in shallow pools of water, I tried to imagine what it would have felt like to march with Dr. King. Rain dripped off of my eyelashes and into my eyes; I closed them. Every step I took felt like a strenuous push against the concept of time and as fat droplets hit my face, I felt suddenly dizzied by the realization that history can mean “just yesterday”.

When I close my eyes and think about this Summer, it feels like “just yesterday”.

I will continue this blog. I will continue this story. Step by step.

Thank you for being patient.

**Photo taken in Great Smoky Mountains National Park