Posted on 07/09/2008 10:07:48 PM PDT by kristinn
...How important is calumny today? In 2000, calumny effectively led to John McCain's defeat in South Carolina. That smear campaign against him used robo-calls and fliers, and e-mail also played an important role, as the New York Times reported in February 2000. Arguably, calumny defeated John Kerry in 2004, and the infamous Swift boat television ads of that summer were, importantly, preceded by an aggressive Internet campaign begun that January that included perhaps the first viral campaign e-mail: a computer-generated image of Kerry and Jane Fonda beside each other on a podium at an antiwar rally. The image originally emerged at the Web site FreeRepublic.com, and Fonda had not in fact been at the event. But the damage was done. Today we are seeing viral anti-Obama e-mails, some of which I have traced to some of the same origin points for the 2000 and 2004 smear campaigns.
SNIP
A right to free speech is no excuse for lying. While strongly protected rights of free speech are critical to a healthy democracy, rights bring responsibilities. Citizens should, as a standard practice, take responsibility for their views -- the matters of fact and principle that they wish to put before the public for consideration -- by appending their full, legal names to their expressions, even in blog posts. While there are times and places for anonymity, it should be the exception. Unfortunately, the Internet has brought us to a point where anonymity is the rule, not the exception. Rather than facilitating free speech, this is corrosive to democratic discourse. It's time to rebuild a responsible culture in which people speak in their full, legal names and honor the truth.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
D. Allen sounds like your original kook.
Fonda should have been brought up on charges of treason when we were fighting in Vietnam. Like a faithful democratic she was exempt. Thanks to her, our men and women were spat upon!!!
Let a conservative say or do what that witch did and look out, we might see a conservative hung.
D. Allen sounds like your original kook.
Fonda should have been brought up on charges of treason when we were fighting in Vietnam. Like a faithful democratic she was exempt. Thanks to her, our men and women were spat upon!!!
Let a conservative say or do what that witch did and look out, we might see a conservative hung.
Good one!
Good post!
Been there, done that.
Only a rube who is unfamiliar with our "justice" system would accept this view as legitimate. In practice, battalions of lawyers would be deployed by both parties to crush anyone who dared rock the political boat.
This b*tch is a dangerous liar.
Ms. Allen needs to understand that merely using a word that H.L. Mencken liked to use does not make you H.L. Mencken.
I'm sure that soon we'll be treated to an Allen column about GOP buncombe and it's effect on the booboisie.
now, how can anyone know that’s him behind all of that hair..
smirkz
Feel free to start any time Danielle. You can start by admitting that the Swiftboat veterans were telling the truth about John Kerry and that Kerry lied.
Then you can take a tour of the Vietnamese Museum of the Revolution and tell your readers about Kerry's exhibit there as a hero of the communist revolution.
Ping.
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