Obama: A Guide For The Gullible

Today’s must read comes from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Dick Polman, who looks at some of the newer anti-Obama emails coming out and begins his piece this way:

As part of my ongoing mission to highlight voter gullibility, today I intend to address several of the virulent cyber-smears currently circulating online about Barack Obama.

I’m referring not to the old lies – that he’s supposedly a Muslim (he’s not); and that he supposedly refuses to put his hand on his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance (he does what we all do) – but, rather, to a pair of fresher lies.

It’s fascinating that some of the same voters who refuse to believe what they read in mainstream newspapers will nevertheless willingly swallow the toxic sludge that arrives as email. Over the past few days, these credulous souls have been urgently sharing these missives with me, demanding to know why “the media” has refused to print or broadcast these dire “facts” about Obama.

My response: Because these emails are lies. Easily refutable lies. Indeed, any citizen with an ounce of sense can dispel these lies by doing minimal research with a few clicks of the mouse.

Read the details yourself.

I’ve received very few real, scandalous anti-McCain emails. In fact, what I’ve usually received are emails opposing his policies. But the emails circulated about Obama are often way out there. Angry, screaming emails. And, as Polman notes, they’re emails that don’t hold up to scrutiny. But they’re often sent to people who the senders assume don’t care about scrutiny since much of our politics is now about reaffirming blatant or latent beliefs (and to hell with facts). Give someone (another) reason to vote against someone they are perceived as being inclined to vote against. And make it sound like the Republic will fall if he/she is elected.

Polman concludes:

I have no doubt that most of the prospective voters who oppose Obama do so for defensible reasons (the belief that he is too inexperienced, or too liberal, or simply that John McCain is more attractive as a candidate). But if this turns out to be a close election, the gullible and the credulous might wind up as a swing vote, and it would not be one of democracy’s finest hours if the choice of a president hinges in part on the indefensible persuasiveness of viral lies.

But such is human nature; refuting untruths has always been a challenge. As Mark Twain wrote more than a century ago, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

May I say: “Ditto”?