Astroturf, its implications and consequences

[thingfish]

Metaphorically speaking, 'astroturfing' is just what it sounds like: an artificial grassroots movement. The Wikipedia definition of astroturfing offers insight into the techniques involved, which run the gamut from the creepy but harmless (paying people to publicly extol the virtues of a product), to the unethical (planting rumors that your opponent is insane, funding Ralph Nader's campaigns, infiltrating and spying on your opponents), to the downright criminal (planting agents provocateur and agitators in opposition ranks to sew discord and/or make the movement in question appear to be criminal).

Wikipedia's definition also touches on the difficulties in distinguishing between authentic popular movements and astroturf PR in an age of digital, multi-media manipulation. MoveOn.org's recent "Bush in Thirty Seconds" contest provides an interesting example of the dichotomy at work, here. Their contest encouraged people to produce amateur, on-the-cheap, anti-Dubya commercials for a chance to have their work aired during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, some cowards at CBS pulled the plug on that idea... Anyway, thanks to recent advances in digital a/v technology (and the large number of disgruntled, unemployed media professionals out there), many of the commercials submitted were perfectly professional by every measure.

Billionaire George Soros funds MoveOn.org, and his money no doubt helped to get those commercials seen. These perfectly professional looking commercials were watched by millions, both online at MoveOn.org, and when they were broadcast on CNN. But neither Soros nor MoveOn.org paid for the creation of those commercials. Is the "Bush in 30 Seconds" campaign an example of astroturf, or grassroots, activism? Perhaps it's a weird hybrid of the two.

It is a vexxing paradox of our age that the democratization of media - through the creation of a new front-line of small-scale information "filters" particularly, but not exclusively, online - has come to provide near-impenetrable cover for the machinations of what we euphemistically refer to as "special interests."

And perhaps therein lies the most significant difference between grassroots and astroturf: authenticity. There's nothing hidden about MoveOn.org's agenda. The same cannot be said of the Pentagon's pathetic, efforts at surreptitious Public Relations.

[Fovea]

1. The test might be

the presence of real user support, rather than an amazing simulacrum with nothing but paid shills behind it.

[Must_B_Free]

3. Prescott Bush and Hitler's Astroturf

I saw some unearthed documents recently that mention that some company associated with Prescott Bush hired some astroturfers to come to America and promote Hitler. The source had scans of the actual old congress documents that mention it.

[Cleita]

2. Great article.

I wish I could improve on this but I can't. I would like to say I do know the difference between a handful of sweet earth and a stinky turd.

[Adams Wulff]

4. The most common form of astroturfing...

Letters to the editor that appear real, yet copies show up, word for word in a number of newspapers with different signatories.
Editorial page editors hate that.