With all the ruckus over Romney's statement about cutting funding for PBS in the first Presidential Debate, Sesame Street and its various characters (especially Big Bird) have been getting a lot of air time lately. Now, I haven't watched Sesame Street in 15 or so years, but I still have fond memories of Big Bird, the Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and, of course, Bert and Ernie (I mean, "Rubber Ducky" is simply a musical classic). In all my fond memories, though, there is one jarring note. I remember I was in middle school when I heard that Sesame Street was planning to kill Bert. They were caving in to parental fears that Bert and Ernie were teaching their children to be gay by having Bert get run over by a vegetable truck.
This rumor has circulated for a really long time, and you can find multiple variations of the rumor: Bert was going to be killed in some sort of motor vehicle accident or by some heavy-duty disease; Ernie was going to be killed in some sort of motor vehicle accident or by some heavy-duty disease; Bert was going to be killed because he was gay; Bert was going to be killed because he was evil (see this website); Ernie was going to be killed because Jim Henson (Ernie's muppet-teer) actually did die. According to Snopes.com, the first reliably recorded instance of this rumor was back in 1991. That's a long time for a rumor to still be floating around.
What does Bert and Ernie have to do with digital culture, you might wonder. I mean other than the fact that Bert and Ernie are awesome and that there is actually a Bert is Evil website, I think we can learn a valuable lesson from the Bert/Ernie dies rumor. Rumors spread quickly, even without the internet, but think of how much faster they can spread and how much bigger they can get when spread through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. For example, remember my post about Facebook status updates? (If not, you can read it here) Let's say I had posted some vague concern about my older sister's welfare. How many people could see that and jump to the worst conclusion--as people are so wont to do? In a more real-time example, I had a friend who posted a picture of his completely totaled car yesterday morning and by about 2 P.M. that same day he had already had 15 people asking if he was ok. It turns out he wasn't hurt at all, and the car was crashed back in July, but since he didn't post any information along with the picture, people started to freak out. And that, my friends is not only how rumors get started, but with the power of digital culture, that's how rumors can get out of control.
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| This is Bert's mug shot--because apparently he's evil and that's another reason for killing off Bert |
What does Bert and Ernie have to do with digital culture, you might wonder. I mean other than the fact that Bert and Ernie are awesome and that there is actually a Bert is Evil website, I think we can learn a valuable lesson from the Bert/Ernie dies rumor. Rumors spread quickly, even without the internet, but think of how much faster they can spread and how much bigger they can get when spread through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. For example, remember my post about Facebook status updates? (If not, you can read it here) Let's say I had posted some vague concern about my older sister's welfare. How many people could see that and jump to the worst conclusion--as people are so wont to do? In a more real-time example, I had a friend who posted a picture of his completely totaled car yesterday morning and by about 2 P.M. that same day he had already had 15 people asking if he was ok. It turns out he wasn't hurt at all, and the car was crashed back in July, but since he didn't post any information along with the picture, people started to freak out. And that, my friends is not only how rumors get started, but with the power of digital culture, that's how rumors can get out of control.
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