The Rumor Bomb and the Administration of
Barack Obama
How
the Virulent Utilization of the Rumor Bomb in Attacking Barack Obama
Prevents
Meaningful Discussion of Actual Missteps, Mistakes and Wrongdoing
in
the Obama White House
Rhetorical
Analysis Project Proposal Thesis:
The
extensive rumor bombing targeting Barack Obama has made it difficult, and in
some cases impossible, to undertake valid and meaningful criticism of actual
missteps, mistakes and wrongdoing of the president and his Administration.
Rumor
Bombing Obama – History and Background:
Barack Obama has been subjected to
an array of different rumor bombs since he announced his candidacy for the presidency
of the United States, most if not all which persist to this date. In fact, the
rumor bomb that the president is a Muslim has its roots in the days following
the Democratic National Convention of 2004. The primary rumor bombs lobbed
against the president include:
Bomb:
Barack Obama associated with known terrorists
Bomb:
Barack Obama is constitutionally ineligible to serve as President of the United
States
Bomb:
Barack Obama is a closet Muslim
Bomb:
Barack Obama is a traitor
Annotated Bibliography
Harsin, J.
(2006). The rumor bomb: Theorizing the convergence of new and old trends in
mediated US politics. Southern Review: Communication, Politics & Culture, Volume 39,
Issue 1, 84-110.
Harsin devised the concept of the
rumor bomb (or RB) to describe a phenomena he initially associated with
American politics. Indeed, he utilized the rise of the Obama presidential
campaign as a prime example of how the rumor bomb is utilized in U.S. politics
at this particular juncture in history. The concept of the rumor bomb
transforms a mere rumor into a media and political concept.
According to Harsin’s hypothesis,
the rumor bomb is identified by way of its five primary features:
1.
Crisis of verification. A rumor bomb
involves a contention that in no way has been verified according to protocols
normally utilized to confirm the veracity of a statement or accusation.
2.
An existing context of uncertainty about
a political group or cause which the rumor bomb transfers to a particular
individual.
3.
An anonymous of obviously partisan
source.
4.
Rapid electronic diffusion.
The rumor bomb concept, widely
utilized against Barack Obama, provides the conceptual framework around which
the incumbent President’s ability to politically survive missteps, mistakes and
wrongdoing can be analyzed and explained. The hypothesis is that because Obama
has been the subject of such extensive rumor bombing, actual missteps, mistakes
and even wrongdoing by the Administration and Obama himself are relegated to
the level of discourse associated with a rumor bomb. Serious accusations
leveled against the President simply are not taken seriously precisely because
Obama has been the target of intense rumor bombing.
Harsin,
J. (2015). Rumor bombs affect managed democracy 3.0. Unpublished
working paper. Retrieved
from
http://www.academia.edu/1895343/Attention_Rumor_Bombs_Affect_Managed_Democracy_3.0_Working_Paper_
The
most recent available written analysis on the subject of rumor bombs by Harsin
appears to be an unpublished working paper yet in progress. Although the paper
clearly addresses the role in professionalized politics of the ubiquitous rumor
bomb, the focus remains on how rumor bombing itself directly has on political
debate and discussions. The analysis (now nine years after Harsin’s original
article on the subject) does not go further and discuss collateral impact
associated with the thesis at hand.
In
this article, Harsin analyzes how the rumor bomb, being more widely used, is
beginning to undermine (or at least has the potential to undermine) the very
foundations of democratic principles and practices in the United States.
Specifically, Harsin concludes that political elites and economically
advantaged individuals are less impacted by the rumor bomb. The theory is that
these individuals have access to multiple and reliable resources for
information – and utilize them. Conversely, what oftentimes is referred to as
the 99% (in this case, the economic 99% as well as the vast majority of
citizens who are not part of the political elite) do not have this same type of
access to reliable information resources. This probably is more a function of a
lack of time (due to other commitments) than anything else.
As
a result, the political elite is armed with accurate information and the 99%
ends up garnering a great deal of “information” from rumor bombs detonated with
regularity on the political landscape.
Journalism and media staff. (2008). False rumors that Obama is a Muslim.
Pew Research Center.
In order to truly
understand the impact of rumor bombing when it comes to Barack Obama, an
appreciation of the extent of one of the most prevalent rumors involving the
president is necessary. The Pew Research Center extensively analyzed the false
and widely circulated (and significantly believed) story that Barack Obama is
Muslim.
Pew traces the rumor bomb
about Obama being a Muslin when he made what really amounted to his national
debut on the stage of the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Pew suggests
that at that juncture, proactive GOP and aligned strategists identified Obama
as a political threat. (Obama received significant acclaim for his speech to
the convention and was immediately pegged as a true up and comer within the
Democratic Party.)
Pew has been able to
identify early rumor bombing regarding Obama being a Muslim in the immediate
aftermath of the 2004 convention speech. Ultimately, according to this
research, “Obama is a Muslim” actually became the top religion story associated
with the 2008 presidential campaign. In other words, the false contention that
Obama is Muslim outpaced all other religious stories of the campaign, including
some associated with actual campaign issues (separation of church and state,
church involvement in elections and so forth).
There is nothing in the
Pew research and associated analysis pertaining to the collateral damage of a
rumor bomb in preventing meaningful debate and discussions about actual
shortcomings of the president and his Administration.
Morgan, M. & Shanahan, J. (2010). The State Of Cultivation.
Journal Of Broadcasting &
Electronic
Media, Volume 54 Issue 2, 337-355.
Cultivation
theory initially analyzed the long-term impact of television. Indeed,
cultivation theory has been at the heart of many research states, even if not
explicitly noted within a specific project. Ultimately, cultivation theory has
been expanded and utilized to examine the impact of other forms of media,
including those associated with the Internet (oftentimes collectively referred
to as “new media”).
Harsin
and others have incorporated cultivation theory into their research and
analysis. In the aforementioned paper in progress, Harsin does utilize the
cultivation theory in his updated analysis of the rumor bomb. However, and has
been noted, Harsin focuses only on the expanding impact of rumor bombing itself
but has not taken a step further to discuss a certain type of blowback
associated with rumor bombing. In other words, Harsin’s work using the
cultivation theory to discuss the long-term impact of rumor bombing has not
analyzed how rumor bombing has stifled valid critical analysis of missteps,
mistakes and wrongdoing of the incumbent president and his Administration.
Cultivation
theory does provide a framework that would be helpful in evaluating the manner
in which rumor bombing has impeded the ability to bring forth effectively
otherwise valid critical discussions of actual shortcomings of Obama and his
Administration.
Sampson, T.
(2012). Virality: Contagion theory in the age of networks. Minneapolis: University
of Minnesota Press.
Contagion theory historically was
applied to analyze physical crowd behavior. The theory has been utilized since
the middle of the 19th century to describe and ultimately to
anticipate crowd behavior in the physical world.
More recently (as in this 2012
work), contagion theory has been utilized in a virtual setting, to describe the
conduct of “crowds” or networks of people in cyberspace. Contagion theory
dovetails nicely with the work of Harsin on the rumor bomb.
Recognizing the connection between
the contagion theory and the rumor bomb, an exploration was made to see if the
contagion theory has been utilized to examine the impact of the rumor bomb of
the ability to effectively lodge meaningful criticisms of the actual missteps,
mistakes and wrongdoing of Obama and his Administration. This particular
article does not directly apply contagion theory to this type of premise.
Nonetheless, it does help to flesh out the contagion theory in a virtual world
to the extent that it serves as something of a setup for utilization in an
analysis of the effect of rumor bombing on making valid criticisms of the
president meaningful (or even believable).
Seib, P. (2004). Beyond the front lines. New York: Palgrave.
The book analyzes how new media
resources and outlets as well as trends and practices typically are
underestimated when they originate. For example, the author examines that when
Al Jazeera initially took to the airways and started to expand its reach, it was
underestimated. Indeed, even the Internet initially was underestimated. The
author maintains that even today the Internet is not fully understood.
The theory underpinning these
discussions actually can be applied to analysis of the rumor bomb at this
juncture in time. The actual extent and reach of the rumor bomb, specifically
as it is applied to Barack Obama, is not fully understood at this juncture. Its
reach is not completely appreciated.
Rumor bombing impacts the
understanding of issues at the present time. It alters perceptions of the
president and his Administration. However, at this juncture, the impact of the
rumor bomb in preventing or inhibiting rational and meaningful discussion and
debate about real shortcomings of the president and Administration seeming is
not appreciated. This is a zone open for research and examination.
Swanson,
David. 2004. Transnational trends in
political communication.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Although this text does not address
the rumor bomb per se, it does focus on a variety of trends associated with
political communication in the age of traditional and new media. The text does
provide guidance in regard to how certain communication trends develop in a
political setting, which were utilized in Harsin’s latest work on the rumor
bomb. The construct could also be utilized in an analysis of how the rumor
bombs leashed on Obama have stilted the ability to bring forth rational
criticism of actually shortcomings of this president in a constructive and
meaningful manner.
Terranova,
T. (2004). Network culture. London: Pluto Press.
This text
focuses on what oftentimes is referred to as the network culture, something
which is prevalent on the Internet, including via social media settings.
Although this work does address the impact of not only information, but also
misinformation, on network communications – and the resulting conclusions drawn
from those communications – it does not reach out to discuss anything quite
like the rumor bomb. (This text does predate Hirsin’s formulation of the rumor
bomb. However, as Hirsin makes note, the rumor bomb was being used in regard to
Obama at this juncture in time, following his speech to the Democratic National
Convention held that year.
The text does provide insights and
constructs that might prove useful when considering the impact of rumor bombs
on successfully, thoroughly engaging in a meaningful criticism of Obama and his
Administration. Hirsin does make use of this text in his current work in
progress.
Thussu,
Daya. 2003. War, infotainment and 24/7 news.
London: Sage.
The book
examines how trends have developed in the media. Specifically. The book addresses how even significant news events
have become something of infotainment, thanks in part to the rise of the 24/7
news cycle and around the clock networks dedicated exclusively to providing
news and commentary.
The book
predates the development of the rumor bomb. However, some of the information
included in the text about how infotainment developed is being utilized by
Hirsin in his current research. Although it does not address the concept of
analyzing the impact of rumor bombing on the effectiveness of challenging
Barack Obama and his missteps, mistakes and wrongdoing, the information in the
book about developing changes in the media is a helpful resource or guide
Zuckerman,
Esther. (2012). Faked bylines and outsourced writers. Atlantic
Wire.
This article examines a growing
trend in regard to “news” that appears through digital media outlets, through
new media outlets. There is an expanding use of faked bylines as well as an
ever increasing reliance on outsourced or freelance writers. Oftentimes, the
two go hand in hand.
This type of “reporting” results in
a lack of accountability regarding the truthfulness and accuracy of a “news”
story. Resulting stories oftentimes actually include “data” that is as
unreliable as what is included within a rumor bomb. Indeed, these types of
“stories” in some cases rely upon “information” contained in rumor bombs as
source material for articles.
Due to the nature of the Internet,
sensationalism sells. Thus, the combination of anonymous reporting and news
writing coupled with the prevalence of rumor bombs is proving to be a
powerfully negative combination, with the potential for catastrophe.
Barack Obama
Mike Broemmel
