{"id":184629,"date":"2019-03-05T08:24:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T08:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=184629"},"modified":"2019-03-08T08:26:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T08:26:06","slug":"how-and-how-not-to-beat-a-smear-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=184629","title":{"rendered":"How (And How Not) To Beat A Smear Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Johnstone \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com March 3, 2019<\/h1>\n
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Recent smear targets. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyone who opposes western interventionism or thinks the poor are human beings is a Russian antisemite. If you disagree, it\u2019s because you are a Russian antisemite, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Narrative is a funny thing. You can do everything right, cross all your \u2018T\u2019s and dot all your \u2018I\u2019s and color within all the official lines, but if you offend the powerful they can still rearrange the dominant narrative underneath you to kill your public influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Venezuela right now some guy named Juan is being elevated to the leadership of the nation simply by the governments of other nations referring to him as \u201cPresident Guaido\u201d and denying the legitimacy of the actual guy who is running the Venezuelan government. The funny thing about that is if enough people believe it, it can theoretically work; the only thing keeping leaders in place is the agreed-upon narrative that they\u2019re the leaders. If you can replace that narrative with a different one, as powerful people are currently attempting to do, in theory it is possible to effect a coup by pure narrative. You couldn\u2019t ask for a more perfect illustration of the power of narrative control.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smear campaigns work in the same way. Anyone challenging authorized narratives and the status quo of oligarchic hegemony can have their reputations destroyed by the lackeys of the plutocratic class which exerts massive influence over the political\/media class, thereby neutralizing their ability to influence the public. If the public distrusts someone, they aren\u2019t going to believe the narratives that that person is putting forward, even if those narratives are as sane as protecting the poor, opposing senseless warmongering, or defending Palestinian rights. In today\u2019s political climate where smearing someone as a socialist or communist is increasingly ignored, the most effective smear campaigns are currently those which paint the target as a servant of the Kremlin or a hater of Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Really important video which spells out the vile and destructive nature of antisemitic conspiracy theories. pic.twitter.com\/Nm9xc8j7Vc<\/a><\/p>\n

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 1, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n