I was a bit unnerved last weekend to receive what appeared to be a letter to the editor that opened with a mildly snarky comment about local media’s failure to do its job of covering voting records and closed with a decidedly snarky comment about newspaper editors. I was unnerved because it came from someone I’ve known for a quarter of a century, but it didn’t include my name, or any greeting, or even a signature at the bottom. And it didn’t “sound” like the person who sent it. Most of us write the same way we talk, and this didn’t fit.
So, I read it again, this time noting typesetting oddities that indicated the content of the email was copied and pasted from some other source. I looked to see if the content was published somewhere publicly online and found nothing. Finally, I asked the sender if the content was original. Nope. It was an email forward from a failed political candidate, designed to be distributed verbatim to local newspapers and “signed” by the person passing it along, with some pointy barbs aimed at the individual who now holds that office. It’s a politicized version of an old-fashioned chain letter, if you will.
astroturfing (as·tro·turfing) adjective
~ Merriam Webster
falsely made to appear grassroots
After some digging I learned a new-to-me term that I’m sharing with you: “astroturfing.”
Astroturfing is metaphorically the opposite of a “grassroots campaign.” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, astroturfing is defined this way: “organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something (such as a political policy) but that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization (such as a corporation).”
That’s a fancy definition for a politician or lobbyist or anyone else asking other people to do their dirty work for them. Instead of A) Posting the content publicly and taking responsibility for it by putting their own name on it, or B) Taking out an ad to voice their support for or against a particular policy, candidate, or campaign, these astroturfers get their followers to do it for them.
If someone asks you to be an information mule for their cause, maybe ask them why they don’t just put their own name on their rhetoric.
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
