THE MEAN GREEN POLITICAL MACHINE
Rightwingpolitics@richardgallagher.com
SHING THE LIGHT ON D.C. POLITICS
Mudslinging Takes the Social Out of Social Media
By Richard P. Gallagher
Social media is an amazing facet of our modern, fast pace, internet wired society. It allows us to keep in touch with friends and family, find local attractions and see what is on the menu at our favorite restaurant. Social media has also turned the cyber cloud into a virtual minefield. Hidden in this minefield are bullies, predators, deceptive news, distracting advertising, malicious viruses and conspiracy theories on every subject. One trigger that links all these hidden mines waiting to explode in this cyber cloud is political mudslinging. Political candidates, the media and voters all weigh deep into the mud on social media to though out their opinions. So, is mudslinging just example of the social media revolution? What is the purpose of mudslinging? Who are the victims of mudslinging?
“American politics has been a sewer-level art since George Washington's second term in office began in 1793” (Cockerham, William. “MUDSLINGING IN ITS GLORY IN 19TH-CENTURY POLITICS.” Courant.com, 12 Sept. 2018). The Cambridge Dictionary defines mudslinging as “the act of saying insulting or unfair things about someone, especially to try to damage their reputation”. Before General Washington ever became president of the United States, he faced mudslinging and what we would call today fake news. A plot to ruin George Washington's reputation and his command was hatched by a Virginia British loyalist who fled to England. This man was John Rudolph and he forged letters and diary entries that revealed George Washington thought the revolutionary war was a mistake and could not be won. The letters were most likely meant to fool soldiers but to George Washington's Inner Circle they were immediately recognized as fake and assumed "written for purposes of slander and personal profit" (Sabato, Antonio Jr (2018). PolitiFact - When George Washington fought fake news).
The first election in America was an uncontested race and won by George Washington. But in 1793 George Washington face not just another candidate for president but also a new assault of mudslinging designed to ruin his reputation and chances for re-election. The social media of 1793 were short printed pamphlets and newspapers. Both forms of media attacked George Washington as a "horse beater a gambler a tyrannical monster and a most horde swearer and blasphemer" (Levingston, S. (2011, August 19). Is political mudslinging worse today?). “George Washington was not only “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” in Light Horse Harry Lee’s words, but the first to have to deal with deliberately misleading information. Or, as our 45th president likes to say, “fake news” (Brown, B. (2019, January 26). Editorial: George Washington and a history of misinformation).
Can mudslinging serve a purpose? Mudslinging with all its insulting ugliness is not designed merely to embarrass and harm another person's reputation. After all this is not bullying. Mudslinging as a political tool is designed to unhinge another political candidate. To get them off subject, off their focus and make it difficult for them to get back on track so that they can not articulate their opinions. Reagan McMahon write in the Washington Post "...that politicians do this [use mudslinging] to gain an advantage over their opponent or to change the conversation" (McMahon, R. (2019, March 29). Perspective | Fake news, mudslinging and more: How to help kids navigate a contentious political climate). There may be no one more masterful at this than the current 45th president of the United States, President Trump. Jerry Falwell Jr stated back before the 2016 election "that he's teaching Republicans a lesson that I hope they learn that nobody's going to support them if they continue to be so diplomatic and so what's the word I'm looking for? I mean they act like royalty, like it's beneath them to get down in the mud and fight. These people have been looking for someone who will get down in the mud and fight and wade up to their waist. Trump is the first one who has done that” (2020 Election Year to Feature Bitter Fights, Mudslinging. (2020, January 06).
An Associated Press article republished by Alabama today states “Trump has eagerly attacked anyone and everyone who has criticized his personal style or governing decisions even members of his own administration at times. He has already used ethnic slurs to go after Warren, raise questions about Sanders age, falsely called his rivals of being socialist and openly encouraged foreign governments, namely the Ukraine and China, to dig up dirt on Biden". So, mudslinging is not new, it has been around since Washington and mastered by today's current presidential candidates. What is news is how mudslinging is pitched to its recipients. The use of the internet and social media has made mudslinging accusations and insults easily accessible to everyone at an ever-increasing pace. The current president takes full advantage of numerous social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, the home pages of many online news outlets and even many newspapers have gone entirely online which has increased their audience to not just residence of a local city but now, potentially, to the entire world. These are important public figures so what they say is published over and over and with the ability to share what appears on social media outlets, anyone of all ages will likely get covered in a stray mudslinging curveball.
Mudslinging is not bullying. But with the advent of social media and the ease at which these insults spread around the internet and into people's homes and in front of children, mudslinging can become something young readers emulate. When young children are bombarded on social media, television, newspapers and magazines with hostile mudslinging they can get the idea that it is an effective way to argue and express themselves. Children have often become the victims of unrestricted worldwide access to all types of media available on the internet. Pornography, public shaming, malicious viruses and graphic images are widely discussed landmines found in the cyber cloud and we talk to children it. But it is also time that children need to be cautioned about copying how political candidates insult and mess with each other. The last thing parents want to hear is their children parroting political leaders and being told that the “President says it”. Regan McMahon believes that it is necessary for parents to explain that “name-calling and bullying are not appropriate at home, school or on the playground”. She believes “kids must be taught how to respectfully disagree”. Until recently much of political mudslinging has gone ignored by the political candidates in the past. But we see today, especially, by the current president is the need for political candidates to acknowledge the mudslinging and defend themselves against it. McMahon believes that it is “helpful to discuss with older teens the historical context of political elections and tell them that mudslinging is nothing new and that these extreme positions and outrageous comments are used to attract attention”. Finally, she believes it is helpful to ask the question “which do you pay more attention to, outrageous statements or actual policy statements?”. Social media is a marvelous invention of our fast-paced modern times. But as my favorite cartoon character Spider-Man was once cautioned by his father “with great power comes great responsibility”. With so much information in all its varied forms of media inundating our children, parents have the extra responsibilities of acting as a filter medium parsing out the good bits of media and explaining or eliminating the bad media. Unlike pornography or graphic images political candidates will likely never be filtered, so it is more important than ever to explain to impressionable children the purpose of mudslinging and how it is different than bullying and not something to be copied by them on the playground.
Works Cited
2020 Election Year to Feature Bitter Fights, Mudslinging. (2020, January 06). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://altoday.com/archives/31853-2020-election-year-to-feature-bitter-fights-mudslinging
Brown, B. (2019, January 26). Editorial: George Washington and a history of misinformation. Retrieved from https://richmond.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-george-washington-and-a-history-of-misinformation/article_a210792b-9944-57b0-b541-7090a87c11a3.html
Cockerham, William. “MUDSLINGING IN ITS GLORY IN 19TH-CENTURY POLITICS.” Courant.com, 12 Sept. 2018, www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1992-04-28-0000202669-story.html.
Kahn, K., & Kenney, P. (1999). Do Negative Campaigns Mobilize or Suppress Turnout? Clarifying the Relationship between Negativity and Participation. The American Political Science Review, 93(4), 877-889. doi:10.2307/2586118
Levingston, S. (2011, August 19). Is political mudslinging worse today? Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/political-bookworm/post/is-political-mudslinging-worse-today/2011/08/19/gIQAoz3zPJ_blog.html
McMahon, R. (2019, March 29). Perspective | Fake news, mudslinging and more: How to help kids navigate a contentious political climate. Retrieved from
MUDSLINGING: Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary. (2020). Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/mudslinging
Sabato, Antonio Jr (2018). PolitiFact - When George Washington fought fake news. Retrieved from www.politifact.com/article/2018/jul/02/when-george-washington-fought-fake-news/