Republican public relations firm creates fake “amateur” anti-Gore video to trick YouTube visitors
Aug. 4, 2006 — A tiny little movie making fun of Al Gore, supposedly made by an amateur filmmaker, recently appeared on the popular Web site YouTube.com. At first blush, the spoof seemed like a scrappy little homemade film poking fun at Gore and his anti-global warming crusade.
Man, just when I begin to think that Republicans have finally scraped bottom, I’m once again reminded that there IS no bottom, and that Republicans will stop at NOTHING to maintain power. Even if it means lying, fabricating, and just plain making shit up, the GOP knows who to turn to in order to make it happen…because when you’re a Republican, winning isn’t everything…it’s the ONLY thing. Honor means nothing. Integrity means nothing. Ethics mean nothing. The only thing that means anything is winning and maintaining power.
If you’ve been paying attention- certainly since 2000, but really since 1994- you will understand the depths to which Republicans will stoop in order to achieve their ends. This isn’t to say that there aren’t good, decent, and honorable Republicans out there. There are, and I know several. Unfortunate, these folks aren’t the ones in power, they’re not the ones heavily invested in spreading dirty money around, funding efforts to smear Democrats and those who stand in the way of the GOP machine. Truth be told, I wouldn’t necessarily mind if our government were in the hands of decent, honest, and honorable Republicans. It certainly would be a vast improvement over the current cabal of thieves, thugs, and reprobates now manipulating the levers of power.
In the movie, Gore is seen boring an army of penguins with his lecture and blaming global warming for everything, including Lindsay Lohan’s thinness.
But when the Wall Street Journal tried to find the guy who posted the film “Al Gore’s Penguin Army” — listed on YouTube as a 29-year-old — they found the movie didn’t come from an amateur working out of his basement.
The film actually came from a slick Republican public relations firm called DCI, which just happens to have oil giant Exxon as a client.
Exxon denies knowing anything about the film, and DCI says, “We do not disclose the names of our clients, nor do we discuss the work we do on behalf of our clients.”….
Public relations firms have long used computer technology to create bogus grassroots campaigns, which are called “Astroturf.”
Now these firms are being hired to push illusions on the Internet to create the false impression of real people blogging, e-mailing and making films.
Yes, now there’s an entire industry surrounding the creation of amateur-looking media designed to feel like the “real” thing. The only problem is that it’s really no longer possible to know what the “real” thing is any longer. Between viral marketing and disreputable Republican PR firms creating “YouTube”-style videos, dishonesty and deception have replaced honest debate and intelligent, forthright discourse.
I’m less concerned with Al Gore being spoofed than I am about the fact that this video was created by a professional PR firm and the passed off on YouTube as an amateur video. When Republicans will stoop to this sort of deception and unethical behavior, how are we to believe that ANYTHING is what it seems? When the creation of effective propaganda becomes more important than convincing the American public that you are decent, honest, above board, and have real, workable ideas, it’s no wonder that people think so little of politicians. Until Republicans stop the lying and cheating, we have no hope of engaging the American public in a reasoned, rational, and intelligent debate on the future of our country.
Yeah, like that’s going to happen….
