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Author Topic: Conspiracy Theories Devilish rumor causes national scandal in 1970s  (Read 3090 times)

mlr52

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Devilish rumor causes national scandal in 1970s
« on: November 07, 2012, 11:24:06 pm »
It's late and I have nothing better to do.  So enjoy.


Devilish rumor causes national scandal in 1970s
Nov 7, 2012 Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal

AKRON, Ohio -- A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its big, floppy clown shoes.

In the late 1970s, McDonald's officials faced a public-relations nightmare over a silly rumor that was too ludicrous to be believed. Yet, many customers bought it.

According to the outrageous gossip, Ronald McDonald was in league with the devil.

Officials chuckled when the first letter arrived at corporate headquarters in Illinois. An Ohio woman wanted to know if it was true that company owner Ray Kroc donated 20 percent of the fast-food chain's profits to the Church of Satan in California.

Another letter arrived asking a similar question.

Read more at http://www.arcamax.com/religionandspirituality/religiousnews/s-1229839-735774#H6OSF6DQOLWcfOf3.99
« Last Edit: January 22, 2020, 11:10:52 am by SunflowerP »
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Re: Devilish rumor causes national scandal in 1970s
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2012, 08:11:53 am »
Quote from: mlr52;80059
It's late and I have nothing better to do.  So enjoy.


Devilish rumor causes national scandal in 1970s
Nov 7, 2012 Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal


I remember when this happened. Sadly, it shows what happens when no one bothers to fact-check rumors.
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Annie Roonie

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Re: Devilish rumor causes national scandal in 1970s
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2012, 10:11:08 am »
Quote from: mlr52;80059
Read more at http://www.arcamax.com/religionandspirituality/religiousnews/s-1229839-735774#H6OSF6DQOLWcfOf3.99

I remember this and the Liz Claiborne rumor too. It wasn't the first time religious leaders chose to create a panic in order to drive more people to churches, but it was one my mother took seriously because we joked about it because she favored that designer. My father had already attempted to teach us the rumor lesson and it worked in part. We never took stuff like this seriously, but we went the other way and used it for jokes. My mother didn't think it was funny though.

I remember back then that people who brought their religion into public discourse were, in large part, thought to be crass and base. Faith was more intimate than underwear, and so if a body spoke of it outside of the limited forums dedicated to it, it was akin to being a flasher. A pervert. A whack job. A betrayer of the very gods purported to be worshipped. Best to be avoided. These rumor spreaders, to an immature mind, were meant for mocking.

And with my immature mind, I didn't connect these absurd tactics to the real harm they helped cause. I wasn't able to empathize because I could not envision the long term consequences. And in the mass media there was little dispassionate discussion of it all (they only sold papers if they hinted at some truth to a rumor - if they didn't they could be in league with the devil themselves according to many other rumors) and the ugliness was let to breed and grow. My own immature mindset ended in short order for me with the suicide of a classmate and childhood friend who was a victim of the very same kind of satanic rumor spreading.

I recently watched the newest volume of Paradise Lost about West Memphis 3. It's worth watching IMO. Jason Baldwin's commentary at the end is some of the most poignant. I thought of it and his sacrifice when the wild rumors during election time were spread. The victim, not a big company or party too distant to and inhuman to connect to often, but a man who would have given his lifetime, but ironically had to sacrifice even that kind of nobility to save his friend from death at the hands of the state.
 
The movie is useful because it can help a young mind make the connections in order to empathize. I'd like to see it as an accepted non-fiction companion piece to The Crucible since most public school kids have to cover that one and seldom do connect much beyond the drama to ever examining the salacious rumor breeding in their own circumstances. Even with all the anti-bullying campaigns and the million hits on youtube suicides, many still do not act as if they understand, but use these modern stories to fuel more rumor spreading. And satanic rumor spreading has only grown along with the people, organizations and parties that profit from witch hunts directly or indirectly by using faith to sell.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2012, 10:13:39 am by Annie Roonie »

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