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Persuasion and the NFL: How closely is the current NFL situation related to the Civil Rights Movement?

It’s no secret, what is happening in the NFL today. A movement started by Colin Kaepernick of kneeling for the national anthem before football games, has quickly spread to the rest of the NFL. This movement is primarily taking place by African-American players. Kaepernick initially knelt and protested against police brutality in the United States. However, this movement has now become the medium for many other issues in the United States mostly dealing with racism. This caused a lot of outrage among the NFL audience, that by kneeling during the anthem the players are disrespecting the flag and disrespecting the servicemen and women who have served this country. Recently, many of the teams started to show unity during the national anthem by linking arms and standing together while other teams still allowed players to kneel, but had the team hold hands to show Unity. Recently the Dallas Cowboys, knelt as a team before the anthem and then when the anthem started they stood still with arms linked. So how do these events relate to the civil rights movements? How are they similar and how are they different? I would argue that it is very similar in the way they are protesting, however, very different in the unity of the message in which they are trying to send.

Carole Blair and Neal Michel in the article “Reproducing Civil Rights Tactics,” speak of how the tactics used in the Civil Rights movements persuaded others to join the cause and affect change. They talk of how the peaceful protests were meant to disrupt the “business as usual” narrative. In their article Blair and Michel quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he wrote in a letter, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” In this way the NFL players are very successful disrupting the “business as usual” narrative. They have gotten the attention of hundreds of thousands of people and are forcing people to talk about why they are doing this. Blair and Michel also mention later when referring to a civil rights monument in comparison with the civil rights movement, “It ‘troubles’ the pedestrian just enough to command her/his attention and at least some degree of involvement.” In this way the statue is more subtle than standing in the street to keep people getting to work, but if done right it can possibly yield the same results.

Now, the NFL players have successfully prostested, and gotten America’s attention. The problem is that now that they have it, they don’t know what to do with it. They know that they want “justice.” However, what is the justice they seek? Justice from Police Brutality, justice from racial prejudice, justice from racism as a whole? I think the main difference between the civil rights movement and the current NFL protests, is that during the civil rights movements there were distinct goals and results that were desired. Currently at the moment, the desire of the NFL players is too broad. What I mean is that when asked “What are you doing this for?” the answer is “Justice.” So how do we achieve that justice? I believe that there need to be distinct things that the NFL players need to have in mind when they protest, that way they can successfully facilitate change. However, they have created conversations all over the country about racism in America and I believe that many want to see change happen in regards to racism, we just have to figure out what that means.

“Wait why did you call me?”– Trying to figure out the best way to communicate among college students.

I am the kind of guy that likes to have things planned out ahead when it comes to making plans with my friends. I cannot stand it, when my friends wait till the last minute to tell me what they are doing. So sometimes my friends will get frustrated with me because I like to ask in advance what the plans are. This frustration I think is found when I call my friends instead of texting them. Most of my friends are used to it by now, but every once in a while, when I call someone I don’t know that well, they’ll ask, “Wait, why did you call me? Why not just text?” When I text, sometimes my friends won’t text back for an hour or two, or they won’t text back at all, and then I’m still relatively clueless about our plans. However, when I call my friends instead of texting them, nine times out of ten, I get an immediate response to my questions, and have a solid idea about the plans.

This is a good example of McLuhan’s quote, “The medium is the message.” This means that although you might be sending the same message, the medium you use is important in determining how that message will be received and interpreted. He stated, “The content or message of any particular medium has about as much importance as the stenciling on the casing of an atomic bomb.” So when I am interacting with my friends I carefully choose which medium to use depending on which message I am sending. If my friends and I are planning a trip to Arkansas over Christmas break, ideally we would want to discuss that in person. However, if we can’t, I would much rather discuss the plans over the phone, because then it sends a message about the importance of the plans. However, if I am deciding where to go to lunch, and I text my friend, “Hey wanna go eat?” A text sends a message that it’s not a huge deal, it’s just a casual request.

The Media Environment among college students is constantly changing. It’s hard to find a handle on which medium and technology works the best. However, through texting and social media the communication mediums that students use are making communication less clear. Take the app GroupMe for example, GroupMe is a texting app that allows people to have group messages across different phone technologies (Android and Iphones). However, if you ever try to make plans through GroupMe, it is very hard to do so, because you can all agree on a plan and then thirty minutes later, a member who just checked his or her phone will not be able to go. Then everyone else has to adapt to this person or decide to leave them behind. I challenge that college students are sacrificing clarity of communication for convenience. This is causing communication as a whole to suffer. For this reason, more college students need to learn which mediums are best for which situations, and then use the appropriate medium even if this calls for the less convenient option.

The Peripheral Route of Persuasion and the Elaboration Likelihood Model applied to College Football. How Matt Rhule changed the culture of Baylor Football with one peripheral message.

I’ve been around Baylor Football for about 16 years. I grew up going to football games, my first game was against Nebraska in 2001. I watched as Baylor Football struggled, back when a (3-9) record was a good season. When if would could score ten points against Oklahoma or Texas, was a victory. I was there in 2004 when Baylor beat Texas A&M in overtime 35-34, with a two point conversion from Shaun Bell to Dominique Ziegler. I watched as Art Briles and Robert Griffin III, changed the culture back in 2009. Baylor fans realized that we could actually win football games and it was amazing. I was there in 2011 when we beat Oklahoma for the first time ever. I was there when we beat #1 Kansas State in 2011, 54-24. I was there when we won our first Big XII Championship at the Ice Bowl against Texas, freezing my toes off. And I was there the next year when we beat Kansas State to win our second straight title. Needless to say I know Baylor Football and I’ve been around to watch the ups and down of this team. However, never, in my 16 years of watching Baylor Football, and going to games have I experience what happened on Saturday night against Oklahoma. For the first time in my lifetime, I watched Baylor fans have an unconditional love for their football team. You would have thought we had won the game. Never have I seen so much pride for Baylor Football. How did this happen? What changed, that made fans be so proud of there 0-4 team. What changed in me? What made me have pride in this football team? Maybe a lot of things have changed since Matt Rhule signed on as the Baylor football coach. However, on Saturday, I point to one peripheral message that changed the culture of Baylor Football, and Baylor Football Fans. It was a video played about five minutes before the football team came out onto the field. The video was one minute and eight seconds long. It basically was a call to arms for Baylor fans to support the Baylor Football team. The final shot of the message was, “These kids are giving Baylor everything they have, and it’s time for us to give it back.” The reaction from the crowd and from myself were ones I didn’t expect. My friend and I had mentioned the possibility of leaving at halftime if the score was too bad, but after the video play we locked eyes and said, “WE”RE STAYING THE WHOLE GAME!” And I think many others felt the same. Everybody bought into supporting the Baylor football team. It allow for the fan base to unconditional care for the team, regardless of the outcome. Everyone decided to “give back” to the players for their loyalty.

Richard E. Petty in his article “To Think or Not to Think” describes both the central route to persuasion, and the peripheral route to persuasion. When talking about the peripheral route to persuasions he says, “The type of attitude formation and change that occurs when people rely on simple cues and shortcuts is referred to as taking the peripheral route to persuasion.” This was available on Saturday because many of the fans who were there had already been thinking about Baylor Football until they got there. They didn’t need to have a long message explaining why the football team wasn’t doing well, or a message explaining how they were going to fix it. Honestly the message wasn’t even about football results on or off the field. It was about supporting those kids who had stayed and come to Baylor to play football. When it comes to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, Richard E. Petty states, “When the elaboration likelihood is high (i.e. the person is both motivated and able to process a communication), the central route to persuasion occurs. But as the elaboration likelihood decreases, the person becomes more likely to rely on the peripheral route.” I this case I believe that for Baylor fans, their elaboration likelihood was very high, they were motivated and able to process the message that was played, however, it was a peripheral message rather than a central message that was used. Why is this? I think that this has to do with Petty’s “Situational Impact on Motivation to Think and Evaluate.” In his article he starts talking about the situational impact on how an individual can be persuaded. He states, “People are especially motivated to think about proposals with direct personal implications.” This weekend the Baylor/Oklahoma Game had direct personal implications for a lot of Baylor Fans. Sure, in the long run it wouldn’t really have mattered, but for Baylor Fans this was important and the peripheral message was all we needed.

Petty says that when the likelihood of motivation is high, one should use the central route of persuasion. However, this weekend the elaboration likelihood and willingness to hear a message at McLane Stadium was high, and people were ready to hear a message, but a peripheral message was used. Why was that? I believe that it was used, mostly because of the setting and the situation. Leading up to the game, all you heard all week from ESPN and other people was that Baylor was going to lose, and lose bad. The line for the game was four touchdowns, 28 points, everything you heard led you to believe that Baylor didn’t stand a chance. That’s been the narrative for the whole football season, is that it’s hopeless, and Baylor is going (0-12). However, if they had played a video that was five minutes long and talked about the game plan for the Oklahoma game and had explained all of these reasons why Baylor wasn’t going to go (0-12). Honestly I think people would have thought it was a joke. All week if you turned on the radio or listened to press conferences you heard those things, you heard how Matt Rhule was planning on getting better. That is no what the Baylor Fans needed. They needed a message to serve as a rally call to support the football team. Which is why I would challenge Petty and say that even if elaboration likelihood is high, you don’t always need a central message to persuade someone to your cause. We certainly didn’t need one on Saturday. Petty mentions this in his situational impact, that situations can change how and why someone could be persuaded. However, this stills deals in that if someone is personally involved that the central route to persuasion is best. I challenge that as well. This weekend a peripheral message was all that was needed to full a crowd to support and 0-3 team against a 28 point favorite. We didn’t need stats, we didn’t need an explanation, we needed a rally cry, and that’s what we got. However, if it’s argued that we did need the central route to persuasion. I believe that the central route took place during the week, when you listened to the press conferences and the analysts talk about the game. So maybe Baylor fans needed both central and peripheral routes to persuasion, they just needed them at different times. I challenge there isn’t one definitive way to persuade people, and there isn’t one way to use central every time, or peripheral every time. It just depends on the situation. The way that Baylor used this peripheral message I believe has changed the way many people view Baylor Football. They called for support, and the fans answered with unconditional support, but then the football team answered back with a great display of character on the field. I’ll never forget when we knew we were going to lose the game, and Oklahoma Fans started chanting “OU *clap* *clap*” but they were quickly drowned out by the thousands of Baylor fans who were protecting their players and home field. This was my favorite Baylor Football game I have ever been too. Who knew persuasion could be so powerful?