Tourist Guy, Osama bin Lousy, and Other Tales of Newslore

The Original Tourist Guy: Look Out!

It was a DC do-over as we headed back to The Mary Pickford Theater at The Library of Congress again today, this time hear a lecture on current folklore on the internet inspired by real news which a Pennsylvania professor has dubbed newslore.

Tourist Guy Round 2: Who You Gonna Call ...?

Newslore, according to Pennsylvania State University  journalism instructor Russel Frank who coined the term, takes multiple subversive forms, all of which circulate freely on the internet: jokes; urban legends; digitally altered photographs; mock news stories,  press releases, and interoffice memos; and  parodies of songs, advertisements, movies, and TV shows aimed at skewering politicians, celebrities, and business tycoons.

"Many recipients dismiss this material as mindless, tasteless nonsense created and disseminated by people with too much time on their hands," Frank, the author of the new book Newslore: Contemporary Folklore on the Internet. "But folklorists assume that when people invent, transmit, and retransmit some form of cultural expression that item must have something to tell about the culture that gave rise to it."

Frank said he has been examining newslore for 15 years, but that study intensified in the days immediately following the 9/11 attacks on The World Trade Center. For the first few days America adopted a solemn tone, but, soon, web accounts, with a much different tone, many focused on Osama bin Laden and terrorism, began making the web rounds.

Frank used the plethora of pictures featuring a character who has come to be known as 9/11 Tourist Guy as a classic example.  The initial photo captured a man posing on the deck of the world trade center, oblivious to the fact that a jet plane is headed directly at him.  Although many were taken in by the picture and mass emailed it to their friends, astute observes quickly compiled evidence that the image was fake.  Such as:

• the unsuspecting tourist was dressed for winter; Sept. 11 was warm
• the plane was coming from the wrong direction
• the plane depicted was not the type of jet that crashed into the towers
• the observation deck wasn't even open at the time of the attacks and
• there was the question of how the camera taking the picture would have survived the collapse of the building

 Tourist Guy at a deadly day in Dallas

However, even when the picture proved to be a hoax, Tourist Guy didn't die.  Photoshopped parodies of the faked original began circulating showing Tourist Guy being threatened by a subway car or a hot-air balloon or even the Stay-Puff Marshmellow Man from the film Ghostbusters.  In the final phase of the phenomenon, instead of disaster coming to him, Tourist Guy shows up at the disaster.  There he is on The Titanic.  There he is next to the fiery zeppelin. There he is in President Lincoln's Box at Ford's Theater.

Frank contends that newslore is worthy of serious academic study since it provides and accurate record of what people are really thinking and helps them handle the absurdity and often senseless horror that comes with living. "Jokes are one of the mechanisms we use to protect ourselves from the terrible things that can happen in the world," Frank said. "The jokes do more than express anxiety; they help us grapple with it."

The elevated Center Cafe at Union Station: may I suggest the grilled chicken panini

Traveler's Tip:
Since the one-hour lectures at the Library of Congress start at noon you will probably be hungry after. And while there are good restaurants nearby, it's worth the 20-minute walk to Union Station. There you can find a series of interesting eateries in the restored great hall.  Or you can opt for the massive food court that takes up the train station's entire basement.  Trust me, there's something there for just about anyone's taste or pocketbook.