Joe the Conspiracy-Monger
There's something that really bugs me about this video:
It's not the claim that Joe the Plumber is "clearly his own man" and completely separate from the campaign while he's got a manager, a record deal, and his own root-level directory on johnmccain.com. It's not that Joe is saying stuff so blatantly false that even Fox News can't take it. It's not even that Joe is neither named "Joe" nor a licensed plumber nor earning $250,000 per year nor intending to buy any business. It's this quote:
"Find out why they would think I would say that. ... This is just my personal opinion that I've come up with by looking into various facts. ... Some people believe it wholeheartedly. It's especially important to this gentleman, and I agreed with him. ... I'm not trying to be dancin' around this. I honestly want people to go out and find their own reasons."
Joe is telling his audience to work backward from his conclusion to evidence. "Why would I make these baseless insinuations? Go trawl the underbelly of the internet and see what you come up with." It's a calculated invitation that opens the door to conspiratorial thinking. Google Obama hates israel. Did you find a bunch of crazy websites? They're your crazy websites. Your evidence that you found. Don't ask me what they mean. I just opened your eyes to reality, man.
I noticed this because I've seen this a lot. Google:Chemtrails. Google:WTC-7. "I'm not saying that the government is using airplane exhaust for high altitude mind control. I just said one word. You're the one who punched it into google and found all that stuff." It's bad enough when a nutcase like Alex Jones does it, but I start getting concerned when a major political party starts pitching its campaign this way.
Click to viewIt's not the claim that Joe the Plumber is "clearly his own man" and completely separate from the campaign while he's got a manager, a record deal, and his own root-level directory on johnmccain.com. It's not that Joe is saying stuff so blatantly false that even Fox News can't take it. It's not even that Joe is neither named "Joe" nor a licensed plumber nor earning $250,000 per year nor intending to buy any business. It's this quote:
"Find out why they would think I would say that. ... This is just my personal opinion that I've come up with by looking into various facts. ... Some people believe it wholeheartedly. It's especially important to this gentleman, and I agreed with him. ... I'm not trying to be dancin' around this. I honestly want people to go out and find their own reasons."
Joe is telling his audience to work backward from his conclusion to evidence. "Why would I make these baseless insinuations? Go trawl the underbelly of the internet and see what you come up with." It's a calculated invitation that opens the door to conspiratorial thinking. Google Obama hates israel. Did you find a bunch of crazy websites? They're your crazy websites. Your evidence that you found. Don't ask me what they mean. I just opened your eyes to reality, man.
I noticed this because I've seen this a lot. Google:Chemtrails. Google:WTC-7. "I'm not saying that the government is using airplane exhaust for high altitude mind control. I just said one word. You're the one who punched it into google and found all that stuff." It's bad enough when a nutcase like Alex Jones does it, but I start getting concerned when a major political party starts pitching its campaign this way.