As we enter a new decade, it is typical to look back at the
significant events that took place in the previous decade. Reflecting on
enhancements in society and the progressive efforts made by organizations and
people, helps us to realize what we have learned and recognize the important
steps that were taken to get where we are today.
Back in 2016, you might remember the movement (still ongoing)
that started as Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel during the national anthem at a
preseason game. This sparked the complicated conversation of respect and
patriotism.
If you do your research and read articles that present
quotes by Colin Kaepernick himself, then you know that his kneeling had nothing
to do with disrespecting the military or veterans. However it has everything to
do with police brutality, racism, and social injustice. Even though it is right
there in the news, some people still refuse to believe that this is the real
reason behind kneeling during the national anthem. Therefore, Colin Kaepernick
is continued to be misrepresented and his story is told in a different way than
he would tell it.
“I think it’s a misunderstanding.” – Colin Kaepernick
The impact that media has on society is so strong, that it
could hinder the opinion of people as well as feed people the wrong
information. It is a dangerous power that the media holds, as false information
can easily be spread and just as easily believed. Just like how the many people
that visited Christopher Blair’s fake news Facebook page believed his posts,
even after disclaimers were posted, people were quick to believe the misinterpretations
of Colin Kaepernick’s intentions.
It doesn’t end there. Because there are people that are not
aware of the truth behind Kaepernick, a series of events have occurred which
include Kaepernick being blackballed in his own team and the NFL to eventually
leaving the league. Even though Kaepernick’s football career did not take off
after that, he did impact many people across the nation and gave a voice to
those who are silenced. From all of this, we can learn that fake news isn’t
just simply delivering wrong information.
It’s more than that.
I completely agree with your post and believe that using Colin Kaepernick is a great and well known example to use in your argument of how negative the impact of false news stories can be. I would recommend possibly bringing that argument more towards the front of your post and explaining the example afterwards. It may also help the reader if you supplied a specific example of the type of false stories related to Kaepernick.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI found your article very intriguing as someone who has followed the Colin Kaepernick development and I think you did a good job explaining it in a concise way. I believe you could improve your post by adding more explanation when you discuss Christopher Blair for people who may not know who he is or what Facebook page he runs. I also think you may want to provide examples of how Colin Kaepernick has been misrepresented in media.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and thought it did a great job of analyzing the case of Colin Kaepernick in the media. I agree with the previous comments here that you could have linked a specific example of his detrimental coverage- an image of a news headline would be great. To bring up "America's Last Line of Defense" a bit sooner, you could post an image of one of Blair's fake facebook headlines side-by-side with the Kaepernick headline. These headlines could allow you to make a comparison/contrast the two cases earlier on in the blog and provide for a deeper insight into how easily people absorb lies.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. I have been following this story for years and have always been so interested about how his protest of inequality has turned into people saying he's insulting veterans. I think you did a really good job effectively summarizing the situation without too much fluff and stated the facts. I would like to see some commentary about the intentional malicious misinformation surrounding this case. You briefly touched on it, but this was a case of intentional misguidance by some news sources and I would be super interested to see what your take on that was.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really nice job of quickly talking about a topic that can easily be discussed at length. Were the incorrect interpretations fueled more by new outlets or social media? Both?
ReplyDeleteThe connection to Blair's fake news page was good, but would've liked to have read an example or two, maybe even an out-link to his page. A connection to one of the other readings would've made the post more impactful as well.