rumours and race on the internet

My talk for the Watson Conference was today, and it went quite well. I was blessed to be on a panel that was very cohesive, which hasn’t been my experience in the past with panels that are not proposed as a single panel.

Scott Gage (Florida State) gave a great talk on the spreading of rumours about post-Katrina “riots” and such on blogs. He briefly discussed the racial aspect of these rumours—that they function in part because of perceptions of blacks as already criminals, and then, after Katrina, they have been “set lose.”

Here’s another case of racialized rumours online. My roommate notified me via Facebook of the conservapedia page on Barack Obama. To quote:

If elected, Obama would likely become the first Muslim President, and could use the Koran to be sworn into office.

This claim is made despite a citation to factcheck.org, which debunks both the myth that Obama is a Muslim and the myth that he is a “racist” Christian. There is even a section of this conservapedia article with a bulleted list of reasons “Obama is likely to be Muslim, despite his denials.”

According to the history of the article, it’s currently “protected” due to liberal vandalism.

I am amused at the idiocy, but mostly dismayed. A friend of mine from high school a year ago told me that his mother won’t vote for Obama because she thinks he’s Muslim. This woman was someone I respected a lot in high school, looked up to for guidance, and saw as incredibly bright.

I don’t really have anything else to add.