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Cancer on the body politic; can negative attack ads be eliminated or at least curtailed?
Civil Discourse Now ^ | April 30, 2012 | Mark Small

Posted on 07/16/2012 9:32:10 AM PDT by teflon9

Why do negative ads work? Some people say the negative ads give them information upon which to base their decision at the voting table (those little four-legged stands we use in Marion County). A study from Stanford University says the information from negative ads generally is not accurate.

Perhaps negative ads work in the same way as Big-Time Championship Wrestling (as it was called when I was young; whatever it is called now). No one doubts the efforts of the participants, and the world is made a much simpler place when painted in black-and-white (with slightly better resolution vis-a-vis the graininess). As human beings, each us has a darker side, otherwise negative gossip would not be the nation’s leading pastime at work.

(Excerpt) Read more at civildiscoursenow.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: ads; attack; civility; courtesy; decency; demoralizing; embarassing
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
“The truth is free speech, whether it offends you or not. “

Exactly correct! To the rest of you.... FREE SPEECH..... you might have heard of it.

TRUTH is what we need.

Negative is just another persons freedom fighter.

21 posted on 07/16/2012 11:11:12 AM PDT by faucetman ( Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: teflon9

But they’ll never do that. And we really don’t want the media, an inherently biased group, deciding which ads are negative or aren’t. It’s a job they won’t be good at.


22 posted on 07/16/2012 2:56:10 PM PDT by discostu (Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.)
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To: teflon9

Without negative political ads, teh only way people would learn about records would be from the leftist media.


23 posted on 07/16/2012 4:38:41 PM PDT by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
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To: repentant_pundit
But it wouldn't be a law. I'm talking about a private agreement among all broadcast media to boycott these ads. If the boycott were upheld properly, Zero (or the guy running for county dogcatcher) could send negative attack ads to the broadcasters until they were blue in the face--they just wouldn't be aired!
24 posted on 07/17/2012 6:45:04 AM PDT by teflon9
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To: teflon9
But it wouldn't be a law. I'm talking about a private agreement among all broadcast media to boycott these ads.

OK, fair enough. I'm all for private agreements.

But if I had a media company, a website perhaps, I'd not join the coalition of "all" broadcast media.

This is a large nation; many others would refuse to join such a coalition to boycott "negative" ads.

I, and many others, would gladly accept ads that tell the truth about someone like 0bamao.

And the truth might just be percieved as negative toward him !

25 posted on 07/17/2012 7:37:56 AM PDT by repentant_pundit (Sammy's your uncle, but he behaves like a spoiled rotten kid.)
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To: repentant_pundit

If such a boycott movement ever gained traction, public support for it would be so overwhelming that only the smallest and most obscure outlets would ignore it.


26 posted on 07/18/2012 7:47:40 AM PDT by teflon9 (Political campaigns should follow Johnny Mercer's advice--Accentuate the positive.)
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