Pop smear

How to create an online political smear

Step one: The preamble
"I heard this today, from a reliable source."

Step two: The statement
"When Barack Obama was in college, his class voted him "Most Likely To Become A Communist."

Step three: The qualification
"I don't know if it's true..."

Step four: The demand
"...but Obama needs to reveal if he intends to turn the US into a Communist country."

Step five: The attack
"How can we vote for someone who wants to turn our country Communist?!"

See what I did there? Turn an unfounded, easily disproved statement, into a juicy soundbite.

Step six: The blogosphere
"Looks like we were right - Obama is a bleeding Commie. Information has emerged that he was voted the "Most Communist" in his college class. Perhaps that's what he meant by "Community organiser"? And he planned to turn America communist. Over my dead body, Obamarx!"

Step seven: The media pickup
"PRESIDENTIAL candidate Barack Obama was voted "Most Communist" in college and wanted to turn the USA into a Marxist state, sources alleged yesterday."

Step eight: The simple rebuttal
"Well, it looks like the news from yesterday might have been a bit off the mark. A copy of Obama's college yearbook has emerged and he was voted "Most likely to grin." I guess we can put this one to bed, but in my mind there are still some questions over what exactly Obama's plans for America are."

This has been happening throughout the campaign. John McCain and Barack Obama have copped a fair bit, but the last two weeks have seen the internet in overdrive ripping into Sarah Palin. Even Newsweek, which is leaning Democrat, has debunked a bunch of the rumours they've been hearing about Palin. It actually annoys me when otherwise credible news sites jump on defamatory stories and promote the hell out of them without checking ANY facts. The Age, I'm looking straight in your direction. They're complaining that the job cuts will reduce their ability to provide quality journalism. But who needs that when you can print stuff straight off the wire without even needing to check it?

Anyway, I just think we should be more cynical when we hear fantastic (and I use that word's proper meaning) rumours about political candidates. Both sides are putting stuff out there. It's up to us to choose what to believe.