The International Political Multiplier

[koganbot]

A thought about current political messages:

Owing to the Internet, information and misinformation propagates much more quickly than it previously had, which is how lies that are easily refutable such as Obama being Muslim nonetheless can gain traction and get wide play. However, what it also means is that messages that are tailored to a particular target audience can quickly find their way to other audiences. In times past if you ran an ad in Nebraska that you expected would appeal to swing voters in Nebraska but would alienate swing voters in New York, the ad was likely to stay in Nebraska. Now it might be on YouTube or in the blogosphere within the hour. If a McCain official in southwest Virginia writes a racist column about Obama, it can be internationally known in no time.

Of course, that doesn't mean everything will get propagated. Only a small amount of what gets said achieves critical mass and gets heard by more than a few. But it means that what happens in southwest Virginia doesn't necessarily stay in southwest Virginia.

Comments

[koganbot]

Had what stuff going on? He had attack ads, right? But what I'm saying is that you used to be able to tailor hit pieces to specific audiences without worrying too much how it would affect other audiences since the other audiences wouldn't know about it. But now other nontarget audiences might well get exposed to it, and a racist hit piece that goes over with undecideds in Appalachia might backfire if it alienates undecideds in Colorado. (Hope I'm not overestimating undecideds in Colorado.)