6/28/2008

Interesting Article on the Future of Political Smear Campaigns

Posted by Andrew | Labels:

Linked below is a good article from the The Washington Post discussing the origins of the email smear campaign directed against Obama. I've received a few of the emails myself alleging that Obama is a frothing, hate-filled, "jihadest", Manchurian Candidate Muslim, and each one of these emails is just as ridiculous (and ignorant) as the previous.

If you have received some of the emails, please send them to me. I'm curious to read what they say.


To read the WP article, click here.

1 comments:

Bruce Kratky said...

I feel so intimidated by smart people, I mean really smart. I read the article about countering smear campaigns and find it interesting. I have not received any anti-Obama or McCain emails, but if I do I will forward them to you. I must not fit a certain profile that would attract such messages though I do have some filters on my email. I am not sure that my spam would filter political things especially on AOL as that is unhindered due to its business nature. I wonder. How pervasive are these email and blog sights? Perhaps they are given more gravity than they deserve by those who make issue with them. Traction begins when Charlie Rose, Brit Hume, Pbs, MSNBC get hold of them. Then they begin to circulate more rapidly. That there are lies out there, and half truths during an election cycle is not news. Carl Sandberg's "Lincoln" chronicles some of the meanest campaigning you can imagine during Lincoln's two elections. Can lies be stopped. No. If it were not for lies JFK would never have been elected, rather Richard Nixon in 1960. The Dailey machine was able to lie and get the "dead vote" out. The Internet age does seem to bring with it some increased dangers though.

6:34 PM  

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