Did Irresponsible Clickbait Intentionally Make Anthony Mackie Look Bad?
The problem of clickbait has become an increasingly pervasive aspect of our digital lives. We can blame Buzzfeed, YouTube, or even social media for creating it, but the fact remains that it is unavoidable for anyone who spends more than three minutes online today. Is it misleading? Absolutely. Is it annoying? Of course. Is it dangerous & irresponsible? Well…that gets a bit more complicated. In a general sense, the answer should be no, especially not for anything we would typically cover here on Dallas Geek. However, if you look deeper into it, there is an argument that shows a direct correlation in the number of clickbait headlines in the entertainment industry & the public prevalence of toxicity in major fandoms.
People have increasingly come to assume that headlines provide a true & complete synopsis of their article. As such, if a headline sounds particularly inflammatory, many fans will fail to read deeper into the original article or any others on the topic, & instead make their assumptions based solely on that first headline. As this is due at least in part to a lack of media literacy education, most media outlets fully understand this reality & intentionally prey on this fallacy.
The most recent instance of this comes from Variety & their interview with Anthony Mackie titled, “Anthony Mackie on His ‘Promotion’ to Captain America, and Sam and Bucky’s ‘Bromance’ on ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier.” While the article itself fully explains that Anthony’s perspective on Sam & Bucky’s “bromance” in an innocent & innocuous way, it intentionally frames that part of the interview to place an undue emphasis on a false sense of homophobia that was never actually expressed by Anthony. As soon as the article was published, every other entertainment outlet piled on with their opinions & headlines continuing to exaggerate the “problem” that Variety’s article artificially created. This built over the following days, until many fans were convinced that Anthony Mackie was homophobic & were sending him hate mail & comments on social media over this “Sam & Bucky problem” that never existed in the first place.
This same cycle of manufactured toxicity can be seen over & over again with Daisy Ridley & Kelly Marie Tran after the release of The Last Jedi; with Robert Downey Jr. after most of the early Marvel movies releases; with Scarlett Johansson after the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron; & nearly every red-carpet interview with an actress…ever. While this type of clickbait gets the short-term views that today’s digital landscape has begun to demand as payment to exist, it has consequently emboldened the more toxic elements of fandoms that had previously hidden away in the deeper corners of the internet & chan boards. These misleading headlines have continued to justify their feelings of disgust & hatred that had previously been festering in the dark, so much so that now they have become the loudest voices in public discourse about many amazing franchises.
While it is easy to blame “the algorithm” for these trends, it is important to keep in mind that the algorithm ultimately changes to fit public interest & behavior. If these types of problematic clickbait continue to be the norm for entertainment journalism, it is questionable whether this cycle will ever stop. Obviously, this is only a small part of a much larger discussion. So, join us on today’s edition of Dallas Geek as we dive into the dark side of the internet!