"Mobyism"

To all the anti-Arroyo bloggers out there, beware. As you all know, ever since pumutok ang GLORIAGATE, the pro-Arroyo internet brigade is out in full force, trying to spin the negative news against their boss's illegitimacy problems.

The usual tactic of course is to harass bloggers and spam their sites.

Another more clever tactic though is one that was used by the artist Moby.

It’s called “Mobyism”. It’s a tactic to demoralize the other side by pretending to be a “disgruntled” or a “disappointed” anti-Arroyo person. they visit anti-arroyo blogs and other sites to try to plant the seeds of doubt among those who are against arroyo.

Ellen Tordesillas' blog was a recent victim of this tactic.:

Ellen at mga kasamang walang humpay na sumusubaybay sa column mo…

Wala ng bago sa mga pinagsasabi nyo…Araw araw na lang yata ay puro “KASINUNGALINGAN, PANDARAYA,MAGNANAKAW, at lahat ng masasamang katawagan sa tao.Baguhin mo naman ellen ang yong style, nawawala na ang pagka professional mo, sayang magaling ka pa naman.At ang mga tagasubaybay mo naman ay nakikisakay na lang…

Di ako tuta o aso ng singaling at mandarayang GLORIA na sinasabi n`yo, pero ang masasabi ko lang ay pag-ukulan n`yo naman ng pansin ay ang magagandang bagay na kakaharapin ng pilipinas di ang kabaliktaran nito…

Araw-araw ko sinisilip ang column mo, at wala na kayong ginawa kundi bumatikos, di ko na lang matiis kasi naisip ko na parang bago lang kayo sa Pilipinas.Noong panahon ni Marcos,nasasabi nyo rin ba yan? Hindi di ba? kasi takot kayo na baka sa kulungan kayo pulutin?

Naisip ko nga na mabuti pa siguro “semi china” na lang tayo,
kasi sa sobrang kalayaan ay lahat na magaling at matalino.
Wala ng ayaw magpakumbaba….

Yon lang at sana`y sa sususnod na taon ay iba naman ang topic nyo….

"Lucy" claimed she's not pro-Arroyo, and she reads ellen's blog everyday raw, but her nasty post attacking Ellen and parroting the Arroyo line betrays her true intentions.

I think Ellen was Moby'ed.

Here's an article on "Mobyism" from the NY Daily News:

One of Sen. John Kerry's celebrity supporters is ready to pull out all the stops to get him elected. Republicans are shrieking over a suggestion by rocker Moby that Democrats spread gossip about President Bush on the Internet.
"No one's talking about how to keep the other side home on Election Day," Moby tells us. "It's a lot easier than you think and it doesn't cost that much. This election can be won by 200,000 votes."

Moby suggests that it's possible to seed doubt among Bush's far-right supporters on the Web.

"You target his natural constituencies," says the Grammy-nominated techno-wizard. "For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you're an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion.

"Then you go to an anti-immigration Web site chat room and ask, 'What's all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?'"

More on "Mobyism" here.

I'm sure this reader is right. And many other emailers have also told me to beware any email which begins "As a lifelong Republican...." But I would add that I doubt it's just letter's to the editor and emails to bloggers. I'm sure C-Span callers and others have played this game too, on both sides of the aisle. What's different is that people are publicly advocating it, saying lying is a good thing. The Clintonian rot sinks ever deeper. Anyway, the letter:

I am not surprised by the actions of Moby and others of the liberal/leftist persuasion. I wouldn't expect less of them. But did you ever consider that maybe their tactics are also aimed at the various "letters to the editors" pages of the daily newspapers? and not just to the blogosphere?

More and more I am reading such letters that begin with something like "I am a life-long Republican" or "I voted for Bush in the last election" that then go on to list the litany of sins perpetrated by the current administration.

Letters such as these may well influence the non-blogosphere since their carry the cachet of the daily snoozepaper. I've noticed that these letters don't have the same amount of vitriol that a liberal/leftist writer would use, but they have got me thinking.

I don't agree with everything going on the Bush administration, but I sure wouldn't write a letter complaining about it to the local news.

Read this too.