Outrage over Ursula: a manufactured controversy

It’s a lesson in media manipulation.

No one really cares whether Ursula’s makeup artist is gay.

Yet it’s become the controversy du jour, and a great example of how we’re being manipulated into being outraged all day, every day.

Disney is producing a live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” and released an advance clip of Melissa McCarthy in the makeup chair, transforming into the sea witch Ursula. As always, this bothered someone in America.

It wasn’t McCarthy's casting that was the issue, but that of the man behind Ursula's new look: makeup artist Peter King. The bone of contention was that Disney should have hired a queer artist for the job. “Critics” said this because the original design of Ursula was allegedly inspired by the famous drag queen Divine.

The first articles

No more than a handful of ridiculous people worldwide care about this, but it doesn’t matter. “Outrage!” articles only need a few quotes, and reporters can find them on Twitter without even picking up the phone.

It’s easy, lazy journalism, and it gets attention.

The second articles

The reaction is as predictable as its creation. People respond, understandably, by calling it stupid, which it is. That reaction then becomes the next story. 

The media then reports on the 'backlash', giving them even more material to feed the outrage machine. It's like a game of ping pong, with the public's attention and emotions being bounced back and forth between manufactured controversy and equally manufactured outrage.

The third articles

This time, the actual artist responded, which was even better for a click-seeking press. Here’s People’s take: “‘The Little Mermaid’ Makeup Artist Calls Ursula Backlash 'Ridiculous.'” There are well over a dozen stories about this.

In a matter of days, some dumb tweets got picked up by a media hungry for clicks, and here we are with another manufactured controversy designed to provoke and divide. It’s how we entertain ourselves.

Besides straight makeup artists, though, who does this actually hurt? Everyone, to an extent.

I wrote this piece because a friend asked, “Did you hear about how gays are upset with Disney?” before telling me the sordid tale, yet another reason America seems doomed.

But “gays” aren’t upset with Disney over this. About seven gay nimrods* care, and they don’t represent anyone. 

Rinse & repeat

This is happening in every corner of our society, on every topic you can think of. Activists and the media are creating and magnifying fake controversies, whipping up outrage, and dividing us further and further apart. 

And we're falling for it. We're playing their game, letting them manipulate us into a constant state of anger and division.

So, what's the solution? How do we stop playing? 

We need to see through the manipulation. We need to recognize these controversies for what they are: carefully constructed narratives designed to provoke a reaction. 

We need to understand that the original complaint, the spark that starts the whole fire, is often something very few people actually believe in or care about.

We need to start having real conversations about the issues that truly matter, instead of getting distracted by the latest controversy of the day. The reality is, we have far more in common than clickbait journalists would have us believe.

We're a country of 330 million people, with diverse opinions and perspectives. It's time we stop allowing a tiny fraction of that number to dictate the narrative and set us against each other. 

We have the power to change the game. All we have to do is refuse to play.

   — Ken

* Fun fact: “Nimrod” was a “mighty hunter before the Lord” from Genesis. His name became synonymous with “dumb” because Bugs Bunny used it as a sarcastic reference to Elmer Fudd’s inept hunting, and viewers didn’t understand the Biblical reference.

Finally …