naked candidate

My first thought was ‘Wow – you mean I have been doing this for free?’

Of course, I have not been offered any incentives for posting my thoughts and opinions online. Leave it to that maverick Republican John McCain to change the game though. This is from the official John McCain website:

Help spread the word about John McCain on news and blog sites. Your efforts to help get the message out about John McCain’s policies and plan for the future is one of the most valuable things you can do for this campaign. You know why John McCain should be the next President of the United States and we need you to tell others why.

Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you’ve commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below. After your comments are verified, you will be awarded points through the McCain Online Action Center.

The page is called Spread the Word and it is designed to send out the hoards en masse on both conservative and liberal websites and spam them with McCain talking points. He lists possible sites such as Red State, Jeff Emanuel and Daily Kos as strategic targets and he even supplies you with the talking points:

The Issue: Jobs for America

John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan that will create millions of good American jobs, ensure our nation’s energy security, get the government’s budget and spending practices in order, and bring relief to American consumers. Click to learn how the McCain Economic Plan will help bring reform, prosperity and peace to America.

The Issue: Partisanship

There are serious issues at stake in this election, and serious differences between the candidates. And we will argue about them, as we should. But it should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, and heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other.

So, now the straight talkin’ McCain is offering his minions incentives to go out and post ideas. The concept is nothing new. Many big corporations pay people to go out and blog or post product friendly thoughts on well-trafficked sites. It is an increasingly popular big corporation strategy and an effective means of manipulating public opinion.

What is not entirely clear is what I can cash my points in for. Am I able to get my own 3×3x6 Wooden ‘Segregation Box‘ in which we are holding Iraqi prisoners? How many points would I need to get my own 1% Increase in Oil Production in 20 Years from Off-shore Drilling? Or even better, can I cash them in for the grand prize of 100 Years in Iraq?

After a little research I found that the list unfortunately includes:

The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk Express, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

These aren’t quite as sexy as my own personal Segregation Box, but I can see how it might appeal to some folks.

I am not going to go into histrionics over this the way some of my liberal cohorts have done. As the online media grows and more people are embracing it on an interactive level, such things were bound to arise. Despite all such instances, not just those of McCain’s campaign, being somewhat disingenuous, I do not think we are facing an epidemic of un-truthiness.

I will add that I agree with Michael Cornfield, an adjunct professor at George Washington University, who is quoted in the Washington Post saying:

“…participants should use their real names and identify themselves as part of a campaign participation program (as in, “I’m Mike Cornfield, and I’m part of the McCain Action Team”)”

Responsible blogging and posting should require some transparency. This should fall in line with the idea of personal accountability, which I have previously mentioned as something the GOP has traditionally touted as tantamount to their philosophy. As long as we are all forthcoming about what we are doing and what our motivations might be, then initiatives such as McCain’s Spread the Word are fine.

However, this is a tactic called Astroturfing and:

Rule No. 1 of astroturfing is “Don’t get caught doing it”. This means you should set up front organizations to do the work so that the important guys/government have plausible deniability

In order to remain plausible the posters should not identify themselves or their biases and incentives for making comments. I am fairly certain McCain’s minions will not identify their efforts on behalf of his campaign. However, I reasonably expect the majority of those doing the postings and blogs to be strongly in the McCain camp and perhaps would have made the same comments without the promises of fabulous prizes. Yet, something is rotten in the state of McCain.

The Post article mentions similar practices being implemented by the Chinese government, which has a long tradition of media censorship. The idea of this kind of practice quickly becomes Orwellian in the scope of what the public is allowed to see. A free media has been the cornerstone of our own experiment in democracy. When one considers how the world is, for the time being, turning a blind eye to the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Chinese government, I believe we should remain cognizant of the kind of control it lords over any news coming from its shores. One of these is clearly the internet:

China’s growing armies of Web commentators—instigated, trained and financed by party organizations—have just one mission: to safeguard the interests of the Communist Party by infiltrating and policing a rapidly growing Chinese Internet. They set out to neutralize undesirable public opinion by pushing pro-Party views through chat rooms and Web forums, reporting dangerous content to authorities.

Where do we draw the line between saying nice things about a candidate in order to get a better seat at a campaign rally and saying nice things about government practices for personal gain? In both instances people are being offered incentives for their actions. Both instances are aimed at shaping public opinion. Both instances leave me with the feeling of something being out of tune – of not being right.

Of course, I am not comparing McCain’s attempts to permeate media outlets with people who are offered incentives to say positive things about him to what the Chinese government is doing.

Am I?