A distorted message
Media creating a celebrity
Throughout the Colin Kaepernick issue of racial injustice, the media has continually dramatized and compared the protests in such a way that the audience is drawn away from the meaning of the protest. Instead. they are enthused by the fame of Kaepernick, suggesting that his protest is for personal fame. The media, in this issue, is not reporting the issue as it is, but we believe that they are using dramatization and comparisons to turn the issue away from racial injustice and to an argument of celebrity.
In the media’s coverage of the Kaepernick protest, especially in the area of news articles and reports, Kaepernick is continuously being compared to another movement in history that concerned racial injustice, and even to famous celebrities that fought against racial injustice. In one news article, "Slavery and the national anthem: The surprising history behind Colin Kaepernick's protest," CNN journalist AJ Willingham parallels Kaepernick and his protest to "baseball pioneer and civil rights activist" Jackie Robinson who famously wrote the
autobiography line, "I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world" (Willingham). By paralleling Kaepernick to Jackie Robinson, the media is dramatizing Kaepernick’s impact and the ideas behind the protest of racial injustice in a way that draws the audience away from the actual issue, and instead refocuses the attention on the idea of celebrity, a much less controversial topic. This parallelism not only draws attention away from the actual protest, but it aids in convincing the audience that Kaepernick’s motives are impure and that the true reason of his protest is to obtain fame that could potentially impact his career as a football player, or maybe even give him a career after his football days are done.
Not only did the media compare Kaepernick to Jackie Robinson, but they also used the platform of other celebrities in order to put down Kaepernick’s protest. In another article from the New York Times, the media used the views of men such as, football player, Cody Oden who argued against the use of the anthem as a form of protest due to the fact that it downplayed the sacrifices made by the men and women who fought for our freedom (Powell). Another article LA Times author, Chuck Schilken, uses the interview of former NFL player, Mike Ditka, who claimed that there was not a drastic enough issue that he perceived to warrant protest from Kaepernick. In using the opinions of other celebrities, the media once again turns the reason of the protest into a war of opinions. The issue of the media dramatizing and creating celebrity out of people working for good causes is not a new issue. This media dramatization has been occurring since before the days Muhammad Ali and his fight against racial oppression. While Kaepernick is often times compared to Muhammad as far as their similar causes for social justice, we believe that they can also be compared by how the media transformed their issues. In one scholarly journal interview with Muhammad Ali, the media took Ali’s platform of racial injustice and turned it into a drama filled issue that focused more on the celebrity life of Ali, rather than his actual issue of protest. They focused mainly on how Ali’s protest and refusal to enter the Vietnam war caused him to loose his career, rather than the platform of reason as to why he refused to enter the Vietnam war (The Black Scholar).
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Throughout time, the media has consistently used the protests and platforms of celebrities, such as Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Colin Kaepernick to create an image of desired self fame to all audiences. With the media’s dramatization of these protests and platforms, audiences no longer see the heart of the issue at hand, but they see a person with a desire for more fame and fortune.
Media Dramatizing Voting Decision
A recent issue that the media has been covering concerning the Colin Kaepernick controversy focuses on Kaepernick’s decision not to vote in the 2016 presidential election. Kaepernick stated that he would not be voting due to his displeasure with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. For many who have been following the Kaepernick protest, they are no longer satisfied with Kaepernick’s decisions of protest. Many are angry and opposed to Kaepernick’s decision not to exercise his right as a citizen to vote, and they are upset that he speaks about the conditions of racial oppression in the United States yet he neglects to vote for a leader who will work towards ending racial oppression. The media is not at all without a say when it comes to Kaepernick’s decision not to vote in the 2016 election. The media has done everything from informative interviews, news articles, to angry interviews concerning Kaepernick’s voting decision. In one specific interview aired on ESPN, the media uses their platform of interview in order to over dramatize and broadcast an angry interviewee.
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In ESPN’s interview of Stephen A. Smith, the interviewers ask Smith how he feels about Kaepernick’s voting decision and whether or not it reflects hypocrisy within Kaepernick’s protest. The specific question asked was: “How can you be socially conscious, yet not vote?” and “Did he portray his cause?”(Stephen A Smith Destroys Kaepernick for not Voting”, youtube.com). Smith promptly answered, “Yes, he did…. He comes across as a flaming hypocrite…. My days of rooting for him has come to an end” (“Stephen A. Smith Destroys Kaepernick for not Voting”,
youtube.com). By the media’s phrasing of questions in a provoking way, they have already caused the interviewee to become angry, thus dramatizing his answer and swaying the American public to see Kaepernick’s decision in a negative way, no matter their initial beliefs.
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Smith is not the only former supporter of Kaepernick’s after the voting uproar. Many of Kaepernick’s faithful followers are quickly turning their backs against Kaepernick due to his actions that many consider to be a hypocritical use of his platform. In the case of this voting fiasco, the media will not be ending their dramatized coverage anytime soon. Instead, this incident has turned into a possible tipping point for Kaepernick followers due to the dramatized media coverage which consists of so much negativity, thus taking away from the actual issue of racial oppression and focusing instead on the simpler issue of Kaepernick’s mistakes.
The Tongue Twisting Media
In the world we live in today, we rely on the media to inform us on the happenings of the world. While much of what the media relays is true, there are many instances where the media has taken statements and facts out of context, thus causing them to appear in a way other than the truth. In the Colin Kaepernick controversy, there are many instances where the media has indeed taken the statements of Kaepernick out of context, thus taking away from the central issue of the protest, meaning racial oppression and police brutality, and instead focusing on the simpler, less controversial issue of how Kaepernick goes about his protests and whether or not he is hypocritical in his protesting. Recently, Kaepernick’s words have been taken out of context concerning his comments on Fidel Castro and the Cuban government. The media has taken his statements and turned them away from the focus of racial oppression and towards them towards the idea that Kaepernick was supporting a communistic government and dictator.
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Shortly before the death of Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, Kaepernick was seen wearing a shirt with Malcolm X and Fidel Castro, and in an interview he made statements supporting both men’s actions. This interview of Kaepernick was conducted by a Cuban-born who was able to flee Cuba for a better life in America, while his relatives were suffering under Castro’s dictatorship. The interviewer asks Kaepernick how he could support a man such as Castro who had caused so many to suffer. Kaepernick answers by explaining that he does not support the oppressive characteristics of Castro, but that he supported the some of the government stances of Cuba, such as universal health care and educational literacy. While these are the clear facts concerning this particular interview, the media completely distorted the facts by taking them out of context. In one interview by Fox News, it is simply stated the Kaepernick wore a shirt supporting Castro. Nothing else is stated and so the reader is simply left with what they believe to be a fact, Kaepernick supports dictators; however, what the media fails to tell us was the specifics of what Kaepernick supported concerning Castro and that he did not support his acts of oppression on the Cuban people. In instances such as these, the media draws viewers away from the Kaepernick’s protest on racial oppression and police brutality and causes people to see a false hypocrisy taken out of context by a conniving media.
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In the interview by Armando Salguero, the cuban born interviewer mentioned above, the words of Kaepernick are once again taken out of context and distorted away from the central issue of Kaepernick’s protest. Instead of focusing on Kaepernick’s clarification concerning the fact that he simply supported the universal healthcare and educational literacy implemented by the Cuban government, Salguero focuses on the fact that Kaepernick is in fact supporting something in Cuba, thus making him a hypocritical protester who supports dictators. Salguero states that Kaepernick, “OK with people being treated unfairly, being harassed, being terrorized, then the problem is more what they’re doing in their lives…” (Miami Herald, Salguero). By making comments such as this throughout his article, Salguero and others are taking away from Kaepernick’s protest and changing the issue by demonizing Kaepernick’s statements and taking them out of context.
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In all areas of media, words are being taken out of context and changed in a way that creates a new issue other than the issue at hand. This is true in many instances, including the Kaepernick controversy. People are susceptible to a distorted story because it is so much easier to focus on less controversial topics that avoid difficult issues. Rather than focusing on racial oppression and police brutality, the media is distorting the statements of Kaepernick and creating simpler, superficial, and less controversial issues.
Image courtesy of Tv, Revolt. “Thanks to Colin Kaepernick, Now TIME Magazine Knows That Black Lives Matter.” REVOLT TV, 22 Sept. 2016, revolt.tv/stories/2016/09/22/colin-kaepernick-time-magazine-black-lives-matter-0700705837.
Fake News
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Media has delved into Kaepernick’s personal life to the extent of questioning his religion and drawing conclusions from it. Kaepernick was rumored to have recently converted to Islam which, in itself, was enough to trigger a seemingly irrational negative response from Americans. Unfortunately, the general American population has an inherent and deep-rooted problem with Islamophobia. The issue dates back centuries to where lack of contact with this religion and culture forced Americans, “to rely on the British perception of Islam and in this way, the British and the American aversion towards Muslims buttressed the ideological claim that Islam is a fanatical religion seeking world domination,”(Mohiuddin 146). Although none of these ideas are true, the United States population generally fears anything related to Islam, and in this case, the rumor that Kaepernick had converted severely weakened his credibility with the American public. Thanks to the media, any information can be published and spread extremely quickly, so it is still not confirmed whether Kaepernick actually converted or not, regardless of whether the information is true. He himself has neither confirmed nor denied the conversion, however, despite whether he did or did not convert, this contribution by social media has curbed his momentum. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that Kaepernick’s motives were completely unrelated to religion in any form, but the fact that Americans have so much misunderstanding and discriminatory feelings toward this large group of people hinders his efforts to raise awareness for racial injustice.
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The overall matter of Islamophobia related to Kaepernick and his protest is that people avoid the challenging topic of racial oppression, and the topic of his conversion is being used instead to bash his protest and his motives behind it. Instead of focusing on racial oppression of blacks and other minorities, media and observers use his involvement with the Muslim community as a substitute for the difficult topic of misrepresentation and oppression that he centers his protest around. This is a prime example of the dramatization that goes on with most forms of media, as their goal is to attain as many readers as possible, and the general trend of today’s society is that people would rather read about a topic that bashes someone and squelches their feelings and intentions. The issue of oppression of people of color is an issue that is so relevant in everyday life and society, that so many people avoid the topic altogether for various reasons.
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Rumors are all to commonplace in media today and generally accepted as fact by much of the public. Blatantly false news like stories fabricated by conservative news site 100% Fed Up distort information about the issue provided to their audience. They claim that Kaepernick converted to Islam just before coming into the limelight and that his fiancee is an Islamic BLM activist (100% Fed Up), both of which are simply not true (Branch). According to the book The Stewart / Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impact of Fake News, many people choose to believe comedic late night television shows instead of actual, informational news (Amarasingam).