Today, I found an article in the Huffington Post that serves as a great example of the power of media in social movements. Last week, One Million Moms (an affiliate of the American Family Association) attacked JCPenny for hiring Ellen DeGeneres based on her sexuality. In the “Gay Voices” section of the online newspaper, activist and blogger Scott Wooledge, gives reasons why the smear campaign will actually be ammunition for the LGBT community:
“The LGBT community owes a great big thanks to the “One Million Moms” (actually, closer to 40,000) for launching the best LGBT-friendly public relations blitz the community has seen in ages, and battering Christian conservative’s image in a way the LGBT community could never hope to do.”
The fact that One Million Moms is using moral judgement as grounds for employment discrimination has even gotten Bill O’Rielly talking. (In the article, there is a clip of O’Rielly passionately defending non-descrimination in the workplace.) In addition, GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has started a campaign in response, called “Stand Up for Ellen”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-wooledge/million-moms-ellen-jcpenny_b_1272420.html
Thoughts?
After reading Meyer’s Chapter 8: When Everyone Protests, I think this example you present also highlights the “routinization” of social movements in addition to highlighting the powerful role media plays in social movements. Meyers notes how protest has become a tactic embraced by both sides of an issue (159-161). Clearly, both sides are using similar tactics to emphasize their point of view.
I think this was such an interesting post. I feel that social movements often times get power and publicity accidentally, as in this example. It is funny how sometimes the biggest boosts for a social movement can come from completely unplanned events.