'John' Howard

[Earth_First]

I've noticed that in the past few days that there have been quite a few articles on Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his views on American politics.

One thing that caught me off guard, only after the fact, however, is that the media is headlining this is a very slanderous way, in what I believe to be a very intended outcome.

This thought comes after I received an email from my father. My father is a hardline Christian conservative. We exchange emails frequently on current events, and agree on very little. However this is what had me thinking this evening: "...I hear that there is some disarray in the Democratic party with Howard disagreeing with Obama on his Iraq war stance..."

I really had to think about this, because I hadn't heard any such thing that Howard Dean had said a word about Obama's stance on the Occupation of Iraq. Then, upon reading the LBN headlines it hit me like a ton of bricks...

It's a blatant attempt at smearing a Democratic candidate by creating misleading headlines. By removing "John" and simply left as 'Howard' it attempts to catch folks off guard; knowing full well that a majority of folks these days do not have time to bother themselves with the content of the story; they feel that the headline will give them the gist of the article. As they've become so used to hearing their news in sound clips, why should they treat the print media any differently.

So to someone who generally does not keep track of national politics, and certainly not foreign politics, but someone who knows a few of the faces that the conservative media demonizes, it would most likely come across as "Howard" Dean to this demographic.

This plays every well into the hands of the conservatives such as my father, who generally only hears ten percent of the half-truths in media reporting.

And why not? It's been a game of theirs for as long as I can remember to attempt to create shadows of doubt that the Democratic party is in complete disagreement, with the top Democratic National Committee chairperson lambasting one of his own 'top Presidential candidates'.

For shame on this type of media reporting...

[Nickster]

1. I thought the same thing. When I saw the headlines, I made sure to check which "Howard" they

were speaking of because I thought it was odd that Howard Dean would attack Obama.

[hwmnbn]

2. Once you cleared up the misconception......

did your dad feel foolish for believing something idiotic? Did he feel angry at the manipulation? Was he upset that his sources of information has "mis-informed" him?

I suspect not. As you note, RW conservative voters have less need for truth. They are much more comfortable with propaganda which is in great supply.

[baldguy]

3. If done intentionally, this is a lie of omission.

What does your "Christian conservative" father feel about being lied too?