Like most of you, we've been pelted by numerous political attack ads these last few weeks. I'm not a fan of attack ads, as they focus on anger and fearmongering rather than on logic or ideas, but I didn't think they were a big deal until I got one attacking Boyce, an African American man running for state treasurer, that managed to combine the attack aspect with things like "his lobbyist friend Mohammed Noure Alo" and "Boyce hired Mohammed Noure Alo's wife for a sensitive position in the Treasurer's office, after advertising the job only at their Mosque." Then, of course, the big question: "Do you trust these guys with your hard-earned dollars?"
Look, attack ads are pretty standard. But an attack ad that stresses Muslim-sounding names and stresses that a job was advertised at a Mosque (while being intentionally vague about whether "their" referred to Boyce, and thus insinuating that Boyce, a Christian, is actually a Muslim) takes things a step too far. (Interestingly enough, Boyce's competitor is not a Christian--he's Jewish).
I wish I could find the ad online (although the TV ads apparently send the same message).
Smelling a skunk, I did some digging. Turns out that "Mohammed" goes by "Noure"--but, of course, they had to give the full name when referring to him, just like far-right wackos always say "Barack Hussein Obama." And, of course, many of the allegations made are apparently not true.
His competitor's reaction to any backlash against the anti-Muslim attack ad, and that an insinuation was made that Boyce was Muslim? He plead innocent. "Again, that I know of, I don’t think the word Muslim was ever in it.” And I'm sure you had no intention of scaring away voters by creating an attack ad criticizing Boyce's friendships with Muslims, either.
Before I received the ad, I didn't really care too much about who won this particular fight. But now I'm definitely rooting for Boyce. We don't need anymore racist, xenophobic fearmongerers in political offices. We need rational, thoughtful people. People who don't fear and hate American Muslims, and people who don't use the public's fear of American Muslims to get votes.
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5 comments:
I really do not like attack ads. Most politicians have something good to bring to the table. I would love to see that emphasized.
Last night I watched TV for the first time in months and saw back to back ads. One from the Democrats and one from the Republicans. They looked like the same ads with names replaced and only slightly different slams. In the real mud slinging campaigns I wish that both candidates could lose.
Agreed.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the way to run campaigns. So I'm left to vote for the lesser of the evils.
I hate those ads and tactics too, and hearing about them makes me glad we don't have any local TV reception. I don't miss them.
I guess I'm glad I don't live in a contested state :)
Unfortunately, a lack of TV doesn't mean a lack of attack ads. They've been flooding our mailbox.
I'd have a lot more to complain about if I lived in a state where all anyone needed to win an election was a "D" or an "R" by their name. A state like Ohio would never vote for a candidate like Lee (the guy who's replacing Bennett). Politicians are much more likely to be moderate here.
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