I received an interesting email at home the other day from the Conservative Party of Canada.
The email was addressed to Ronald (my first name), which suggested that the sender didn't know the addressee was the same guy who writes business stories and columns for the Leader-Post. The gist of the email message was that the recent attack ads launched by the Conservatives minutes after Justin Trudeau was chosen as the new leader of the Liberal Party were having the desired effect. You know, the ads that suggest Justin Trudeau is "in way over his head,'' that he's a flake who sports long hair and moustache and takes off his clothes in public, thinks Quebecers are better than other Canadians and was at one time a "drama teacher.'' What the ads don't say is that Trudeau's "strip tease" and cheesy moustache were fund raisers for charity, that his quotes about Quebecers were taken out of context from a 14-year-old interview about his father's views on Quebec, and that, yeah, he was a teacher. So what?
But, according to the Conservatives, none of that matters; what matters is that people believe them.
"Unsurprisingly, some members of the media are criticizing our new TV ads," says Jenni Byrne, 2011 national campaign manager for the Conservatives. "But here's the truth - these ads have spread farther and faster than any ads we've ever done. We are communicating directly with Canadians rather than passing through the media's 'filter.'" Of course, ads cost money and the Conservatives would appreciate $25 to keep up the good work of poisoning Justin Trudeau's image before Canadians have a chance to make up their own minds about the new Liberal leader.
Stunned by the audacity of this solicitation, I wondered what the Tories were up to. Then I recalled hearing a couple of political insiders talking on CBC Radio earlier this week about the ethics and efficacy of attack ads.
One of the strategists said attack ads that grossly distort the truth often come back to bite the attacker on the butt. But the other said it doesn't matter if they're true or not. What matters is whether they work or not.
The cynical strategist said most people are only half paying attention to what they hear on the radio or see on TV and only half paying attention to the ads themselves. In fact, the real message of the Trudeau ads is delivered almost subliminally, conveying an impression of flakiness, dilettantism, untrustworthiness, and overall unworthiness, without actually saying any of those things.
And that's OK because, well, all's fair in love, war and politics, the cynic said.
Sorry, but since when is it OK to tell blatant untruths about your opponent? When political parties use attack ads to twist the facts, distort the truth, and smear their opponents, then what else is deemed to be acceptable? Robo-calls? Voter suppression tactics? Dirty tricks?
In the Machiavellian world of politics as practised in Ottawa these days, the end justifies the means. If defeating Justin Trudeau or NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair can be achieved by attack ads, so be it.
Case in point, Mul-cair was vilified in Tory attack ads for his comments that Canada was showing symptoms of Dutch disease, in which the manufacturing sector suffers declining output and competitiveness as a result of high exchange rates caused by high energy prices.
Yet a recent study by Statistics Canada indicates that Central Canada saw the largest decline in economic output and labour productivity between 2000 and 2010. And the Ontario and Quebec manufacturing sectors bore the brunt of that decline. At the same time, there was a shift in capital investment from east to west due to increased investment in the natural resources sector. And what were the reasons for this shift in capital investment, economic output and labour productivity? Changes in exchange rates, commodity prices and global competition, the study said.
Sounds a lot like Dutch disease to me.
But here's the deal. Attack ads only work if the public allows them to. If we form our perceptions of politicians based on attack ads, rather than facts, we will truly get the government we deserve.
Original Article
Source: leaderpost.com
Author: Bruce Johnstone
The email was addressed to Ronald (my first name), which suggested that the sender didn't know the addressee was the same guy who writes business stories and columns for the Leader-Post. The gist of the email message was that the recent attack ads launched by the Conservatives minutes after Justin Trudeau was chosen as the new leader of the Liberal Party were having the desired effect. You know, the ads that suggest Justin Trudeau is "in way over his head,'' that he's a flake who sports long hair and moustache and takes off his clothes in public, thinks Quebecers are better than other Canadians and was at one time a "drama teacher.'' What the ads don't say is that Trudeau's "strip tease" and cheesy moustache were fund raisers for charity, that his quotes about Quebecers were taken out of context from a 14-year-old interview about his father's views on Quebec, and that, yeah, he was a teacher. So what?
But, according to the Conservatives, none of that matters; what matters is that people believe them.
"Unsurprisingly, some members of the media are criticizing our new TV ads," says Jenni Byrne, 2011 national campaign manager for the Conservatives. "But here's the truth - these ads have spread farther and faster than any ads we've ever done. We are communicating directly with Canadians rather than passing through the media's 'filter.'" Of course, ads cost money and the Conservatives would appreciate $25 to keep up the good work of poisoning Justin Trudeau's image before Canadians have a chance to make up their own minds about the new Liberal leader.
Stunned by the audacity of this solicitation, I wondered what the Tories were up to. Then I recalled hearing a couple of political insiders talking on CBC Radio earlier this week about the ethics and efficacy of attack ads.
One of the strategists said attack ads that grossly distort the truth often come back to bite the attacker on the butt. But the other said it doesn't matter if they're true or not. What matters is whether they work or not.
The cynical strategist said most people are only half paying attention to what they hear on the radio or see on TV and only half paying attention to the ads themselves. In fact, the real message of the Trudeau ads is delivered almost subliminally, conveying an impression of flakiness, dilettantism, untrustworthiness, and overall unworthiness, without actually saying any of those things.
And that's OK because, well, all's fair in love, war and politics, the cynic said.
Sorry, but since when is it OK to tell blatant untruths about your opponent? When political parties use attack ads to twist the facts, distort the truth, and smear their opponents, then what else is deemed to be acceptable? Robo-calls? Voter suppression tactics? Dirty tricks?
In the Machiavellian world of politics as practised in Ottawa these days, the end justifies the means. If defeating Justin Trudeau or NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair can be achieved by attack ads, so be it.
Case in point, Mul-cair was vilified in Tory attack ads for his comments that Canada was showing symptoms of Dutch disease, in which the manufacturing sector suffers declining output and competitiveness as a result of high exchange rates caused by high energy prices.
Yet a recent study by Statistics Canada indicates that Central Canada saw the largest decline in economic output and labour productivity between 2000 and 2010. And the Ontario and Quebec manufacturing sectors bore the brunt of that decline. At the same time, there was a shift in capital investment from east to west due to increased investment in the natural resources sector. And what were the reasons for this shift in capital investment, economic output and labour productivity? Changes in exchange rates, commodity prices and global competition, the study said.
Sounds a lot like Dutch disease to me.
But here's the deal. Attack ads only work if the public allows them to. If we form our perceptions of politicians based on attack ads, rather than facts, we will truly get the government we deserve.
Original Article
Source: leaderpost.com
Author: Bruce Johnstone
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