Sleaze Machine

The Internet has indeed revolutionized the way we interact. It is in many ways the biggest “miracle” of our time. The good it does on multiple levels is indisputable. The ever-evolving face of it is fascinating. Unfortunately, the Internet is also used to spread false information, distortions, exaggerations and blatant lies.

The Internet makes it much easier and much faster to communicate, and that is great. But we as humans have a new and important responsibility. We have to be very selective and very careful about the validity of the information we spread. This is a moral and a practical responsibility. It is the moral part that my post is concerned with.

Let me illustrate this with an example. A neighbor of mine, who is a staunch Republican has been sending me (and others) “Forwards” that depict President Obama as an unpatriotic, elitist impostor who is out to crash our Constitution and institute either a Communist, or a Fascist dictatorship, depending on the author’s choice of (conflicting) terms. This lady and her husband are known as God-fearing, religious, patriotic Pro-Lifers. They were fans of George Bush, now are fans of McCain, pro-war and anti-Obama. Having known them for a decade, they seem warm hearted, honest and compassionate people. That is on a personal level.

Somehow I regard them as victims of Right Wing propaganda, but they seem to be willing participants in the machinery that produces Obama-sleaze. This machinery works by spreading e-rumors. Most e-rumors use very clever combinations of true and false statements to seem credible to the unwitting, but always arriving to bizarre conclusions about our President. The neighbors who have been forwarding e-rumors to me believed them, until one day I got on their case and proved them wrong on several counts.

I no longer get those e-rumors from her, but I know from others that the lady is still sending them around. So I had an opportunity to have a sincere talk about this subject. I asked: If you knew for a fact that you are spreading lies, would you continue? As a devout Catholic, would you spread a lie? What could she say to that? No. Then I said, if you knew that an e-rumor is most likely a lie (as I showed it to her many times), would you send it on without checking your facts? No.

But then these people are also fans of FOX News and (probably) Rush Limbaugh. The “fair and balanced” broadcasters tend to reinforce the content of these emails. Unbelievably, they repeat lies even if proven wrong.
They provoke and agitate their audience. Depending on whose show, they might even instigate violence. It is a big, coordinated, systematic machinery of propaganda.

Because Barack Obama is an excellent president, a great leader, a family man and a modern intellectual, all the sleaze machine can do is produce falsities and repeat them until their audience think they are true.

The latest rumor is that the Obama Administration has been refusing foreign offers for help in the Gulf disaster. This is being repeated even though it is entirely false. Foreign technology and help has been employed almost since the beginning and it is participating. The only help that was not accepted was some that would not have been of use at this time.

In closing let me address those Republicans who feel that by demeaning Obama they are some sort of patriotic freedom fighters. They are not. If the only way they see to win is to lie, then they are giving up their moral principles. They are giving up their integrity. And I do love my country more than to let a bunch of liars take it over.