So, you may have heard the term “astroturfing” in the news this week.
That’s the term that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs used, (as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin) to describe the citizens who have shown up at congresspersons’ town hall meetings to protest the pending health care legislation.
Said Gibbs:
“I hope people will take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the AstroTurf nature of so-called grass-roots lobbying.”
So, what is “astroturfing”? Let me answer that with a simple example: two paid PR operatives sit at their computers and post comments (maybe under different names) on a variety of blog posts, advocating a certain issue, to falsely give the impression of a large grassroots movement.
But, astroturfing is not to be confused with with grassroots advocacy. Gibbs confused the two today — insulting countless American citizens and showing a huge double-standard between what happened this week on health care, and what the Obama administration and campaign has done over the past two years.
How so?
When the Obama political organization sends out a series of mass emails, urging people to walk door-to-door, email Congress, or sign a petition advocating for a certain issue — that is grassroots, not astroturfing.
Likewise, when a business organization does the same thing on the opposite side of the same issue — that is also grassroots, not astroturfing.
If a citizen shows up to a town hall meeting based on a request he or she received from a political organization, that action is not to be belittled. No matter who the initial request came from, that citizen made a decision to take the time to make his or her voice heard.
If a citizen knocks on doors to advocate for health care legislation based on an email he or she received from the Obama political organization, that action is not to be belittled, either.
Of course, Gibbs, Pelosi and Durbin know all of this. They certainly haven’t criticized the Obama political organization for “astroturfing” — or a host of other advocacy organizations, such as MoveOn.org or Democracy for America.
They are simply trying to practice the art of deflection — responding forcefully to those who criticize their legislative proposal.
Curt, you’re giving organizational machinery too much credit. Your definition of AstroTurfing as PR flacks fabricating a movement out of thin air is accurate, but when individuals are so moved by an issue that they rise up and make their voices heard, *that’s* grassroots. What we need is to define that middle ground, where the ‘roots require an external stimulus — that organization — before they can flourish.
Of course, what’s the word for a natural stimulant to make the grass grow? In the interest of keeping your blog clean, I’ll just identify it by location: there’s a big pile out behind the barn.
Well, then, Susan, I guess we would identify the Boston Tea Party as astroturfing.
Or any of the anti-war protests of 2002-2008…
Or anybody who attends a town hall meeting because they receive an email from MoveOn.org or Organizing for America or are told to by their Union bosses…as well as those who receive them from a “conservative” organization.
The point of my post is this: let’s not for a moment think that liberal protesters do not require “stimulant” (as you put it) or organize online.
We might as well, then, label any “grassroots” effort by any organization — conservative or liberal — “astroturfing.”
We should then label those who walk door to door because they are asked to by the President as astroturfing.
Or war protesters who receive an email from Code Pink or MoveOn.org…astroturfing, too.
My point is: let’s be consistent.