Back to School: Week 3

This week in my Media & Society class we're discussing more theories of media. One that caught my attention was the "Cognitive Dissonance Theory," where someone is presented with a conflicting message or thought other than what they would normally believe. The first example that came to my mind was the Glenn Beck controversy over how he "thought" Obama was a racist.

Beck begins by saying that Obama "has a deep-seeded hatred for white people or the white culture." When he is shut down with facts that most of Obama's top officials are white, Beck's statements change to "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people," and then going back to "This guy is, I believe, a racist."

In this example, its obvious that Beck has two opposing thoughts. Maybe he honestly does think that Obama is a racist, maybe he doesn't. Either way, the way he's being perceived is someone who is thinking one thing but wants to be looked at in a different way. To release some the obvious tension seen  in this clip, Beck goes back and forth on what he's saying while still trying to get his initial idea across... whatever that is!

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzKFYcHKbnk
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/cognitive_dissonance.htm