Dorson also regarded Paul Bunyan as fakelore. Although the number one fakelore hero, Paul Bunyan originated as a character in traditional tales told by loggers in the Great Lakes region of North America, James Stevens, an ad writer working for the Red River Lumber Company in Minnesota, is said to have invented many of the stories about him that are known today. Others say the character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers, and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882–1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the same previously mentioned Red River Lumber Company. According to Dorson, advertisers and popularizers turned Bunyan into a "pseudo folk hero of twentieth-century mass culture" who bore little resemblance to the original.
"Obama, With Angela Merkel in Berlin, Assails Spread of Fake News," New York Times, November 17, 2016.
Research does not demonstrate
whether Bunyan actually lived or was wholly mythical. [Researchers] have noted, however, that some of the older lumberjacks whom they interviewed claimed to have known him or members of his crew, and the supposed location of his grave was actually pointed out in northern Minnesota. In this regard, it should be noted that Bunyan's extreme gigantism was a later invention, and that early stories either do not mention it or, as in [one research] paper, refer to him as being about seven feet tall. Source.
Fakelore, at some level, develops from "fake news," i.e. local or regional stories that are untrue but many people are convinced what they have heard or read in social media is "real."
Fake news has been in the news of late, as the realization settles on the mainstream media, Facebook executives, and Twitter readers that much of what they read has little to do with reality.
Headline stories this week speak volumes about what is occurring:
"Trump's fake-news presidency," Washington Post, November 18, 2016.
Fake news has been in the news of late, as the realization settles on the mainstream media, Facebook executives, and Twitter readers that much of what they read has little to do with reality.
Headline stories this week speak volumes about what is occurring:
"Trump's fake-news presidency," Washington Post, November 18, 2016.
"I fooled America with fake news stories and got Trump elected," New York Post, November 17, 2016.
"7 signs the news you're sharing is fake," Mashable, November 17, 2016.
"Here are all the fake 'news' sites to watch out for on Facebook," The Daily Dot, November 16, 2016.
There are a half million hits on the Internet where you can read versions of the story, with most mentions of them presenting the "news" as "real."
The only problem with the "news item" is that there are no names, no locations (although various ones do pop up before another one is mentioned), no sources, and not too surprisingly, there is a short history of the same tale showing up down through the years.
Earlier in 2016, a variant on the story was tied to Black Lives Matter protestors on a bridge with a "suffering child" in an ambulance being blocked by their march. The child was reported to have died.
ABC News, on July 11, 2016, debunked that story:
Could you have seen us being here, ten years ago? This is the era of post-truth.
Let's look at one "fake news" story that has greatly circulated in the wake of Donald Trump's election and the anti-Trump demonstrations. It is the alleged story of anti-Trump protesters blocking an ambulance with the father of a 4-year-old girl dying. It's false, fake, and a hoax, but it's become fakelore extraordinary.
There are a half million hits on the Internet where you can read versions of the story, with most mentions of them presenting the "news" as "real."
The only problem with the "news item" is that there are no names, no locations (although various ones do pop up before another one is mentioned), no sources, and not too surprisingly, there is a short history of the same tale showing up down through the years.
Earlier in 2016, a variant on the story was tied to Black Lives Matter protestors on a bridge with a "suffering child" in an ambulance being blocked by their march. The child was reported to have died.
ABC News, on July 11, 2016, debunked that story:
A rumor swirled on Facebook that a young girl died as a result of the "Black Lives Matter" protest Sunday night. That rumor is not true.The debunking site Snopes examined the post-Election Day fake news of the father dying because of the blocked ambulance, and
Early during Sunday's protest that stopped traffic on the Interstate 40 bridge, a car trying to take a child to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital got stuck in the traffic jam. Police worked with protesters, who let the car go through. Source.
found no corresponding news reports of any such death occurring (in conjunction with anti-Trump protests or otherwise) in the United States since the 8 November 2016 election. Source.But the protesters-blocking-ambulances fake news continues to spread, and is now part of current urban fakelore.
Could you have seen us being here, ten years ago? This is the era of post-truth.
