Information about Smear Campaign

This page is about a political tactic. For the album from Napalm Death, see: Smear Campaign. For the smear test, see Pap Smear.

A smear campaign or smear tactic is a deliberate attempt by an individual or group to harm another individual's or group's reputation. This tactic is also colloquially referred to as mud slinging.

Common targets are public officials, politicians, and political candidates. To a lesser degree, the term can refer to an attempt to damage a private person's reputation; for example, during a trial, the opposing counsel may attempt to cast doubt on the reliability of a witness.

The concept of the smear campaign is related to the concepts of propaganda, media bias, yellow journalism, and other falsehood-related terms such as libel and pejoration. In extreme cases, smear campaigns may lead to widespread persecution, such as in the case of the Dolchstoßlegende before WWII.

Definition

A smear campaign is an intentional, premeditated effort to undermine an individual's or group's reputation, credibility, and character. "Mud slinging", like negative campaigning, most often targets government officials, politicians, political candidates, and other public figures. However, private persons or groups may also become targets of smear campaigns perpetrated in schools, companies, institutions, families, and other social groups.

Smear tactics differ from normal discourse or debate in that they do not bear upon the issues or arguments in question. A smear is a simple attempt to malign a group or an individual and to attempt to undermine their credibility.

Smears often consist of ad hominem attacks in the form of unverifiable rumors and are often distortions, half-truths, or even outright lies; smear campaigns are often propagated by gossip spreading. Even when the facts behind a smear are shown to lack proper foundation, the tactic is often effective because the target's reputation is tarnished before the truth is known.

Smears are also effective in diverting attention away from the matter in question and onto the individual or group. The target of the smear is typically forced to defend his reputation rather than focus on the previous issue.

Smear tactics are considered by many to be a low, disingenuous form of discourse; they are nevertheless very common.

Examples

Smear tactics are commonly used to undermine effective arguments or critiques. For example, Ralph Nader was the victim of a smear campaign during the 1960s, when he was campaigning for car safety. In order to smear Nader and deflect public attention from his campaign, General Motors engaged private investigators to search for damaging or embarrassing incidents from his past. General Motors eventually was forced to publicly apologize to Nader.

A Senator was a lawyer working for a DA and they attacked him for defending shady persons, but he had been forced to defend them by working for the state. His opponent pretended to not have made the statement, and said they were sorry after they saw it was hurting their reputation and not the Senators.

Smear campaigns can occur on a suburban level, as evidenced by the political and media efforts to scapegoat and lie about the Parma Police Department in Ohio as part of a three year incident known as "the Parma Witch Hunt." Smear campaigns also occur on a national level and in many countries. In the Philippines, for example, smear campaigns are not uncommon; gossip, unconfirmed rumors, and distractions during political discussions are in no shortage; however, shame campaigns are often seen in a different form—that of marking on one’s house or property—or through negative TV advertisements, or worse, wet rags plopped on one’s head.

In January 2007, it was revealed that an anonymous website that attacked critics of Overstock.com, including media figures and private citizens on message boards, was operated by an official of Overstock.com.^[1]

Legality

In many countries, the law recognizes the value of reputation and credibility. Both libel, a false and damaging publication, and slander, a false and damaging oral statement, are often punishable by law and may result in imprisonment or compensation for damages done.

In popular culture

• In the Family Guy episode "Running Mates," Peter Griffin's last-minute advertisement in which he says, "Lois Griffin is a slut," is an example of mud slinging.

References

See also

• Negative campaigning
• Dirty tricks
• Whisper campaign
• Shame campaign

External links

• Spinsanity - A U.S. political website that specializes in highlighting smear tactics and other unethical forms of political discourse.
• FearAndSmear - Exposing fear tactics, FUD and deliberate misinformation in Politics, Business & on the Internet