"Nah, Bruh, That's Sus"
How to Use a Smear Campaign to Distract Your Audience and Achieve Your Goals
Opinion Editorial
by Jessica Schneider
December 13. 2024
Loveland, gather ‘round! It’s time (again) for a good old fashioned smear campaign.
The smear campaign, as defined above, is a fast-paced and spicy tango that requires you to participate in order to be successful. Once you have decided to participate, the smear only requires several easy steps that once mastered can have a metaphorical ballroom of people dancing with you.
Important Note: In order to succeed you will need to also master the techniques of Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender (DARVO) and gaslighting. All of these carry the risk of moral injury, so proceed with caution. I’ve outlined common consequences at the end of this article.
How to Conduct a Successful Smear Campaign*
Step 1 - Have a Goal
Do something, or plan to do something, illegal or unethical that will reflect poorly on you personally, professionally and/or in a court of law. Ideally the end result will bring you money and power or at least relief from suffering the consequences of your misdeeds.
Step 2 - Choose Your Target
Identify your scapegoat. This is the person who will absorb all of the negative attention you need to divert to accomplish your goals.
Step 3 - Strike First
This is essential to a successful smear campaign… Do not skip this step! Striking first can be as simple as questioning the credibility of the scapegoat (this can include their character, their actions, even how they look).
This will be even more effective if you have chosen a scapegoat that is already marginalized in some fashion. Choosing an already vulnerable target allows you to easily infer negative qualities historically attributed to that “group” in popular culture. This further removes the need for the smear to be factually based or even relevant.
For example:
If you choose a woman as your target, easy messages may include that the woman has not acted “ladylike” is, “crazy,” “hysterical,” and “needs help.” The majority of your audience can absorb these accusations as truthful because these biases are ingrained in our culture, and make it easy for your audience to believe they are true not only because you said so, but because that’s what women are like, am I right?
Ward 3 City Councilor Steve Olson provided an excellent example*, just hours before the Loveland Urban Renewal Authority (LURA) meeting on Tuesday, December 10th (see image below). Note that this meeting included an important vote regarding a forensic audit of Centerra. That vote passed.
This email was sent just prior to a LURA meeting during which the body voted on the upcoming audit regarding Centerra and developer McWhinney. *Author’s note, I wrote the above example before I read this email or knew of the existence of it. This is how common this tactic is!
Step 4 - Recruit Allies
Recruit allies. The truly adept will have started this process before Step 1. Whisper campaigns, eyerolls, “you know what she’s like,” etc. can get this ball rolling without making a single accusation towards your scapegoat. Laying the groundwork to discredit your target for simply existing will go a long way. Ideally your smear campaign recruits (often referred to as “flying monkeys”) will do your dirty work for you.
Step 5 - Get Loud!
If you are serious about succeeding in your ultimate goal, you need to be working diligently on this for the duration of your smear campaign. Tip: Increase the volume of your smear campaign whenever you need to be sure that your audience is paying attention to the scapegoat, not your actions.
Step 6 - You Did It!
By this point, you should have accomplished the goals you have been diverting attention from while your audience has been focused on your target. If not, start again at Step 1 and repeat.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If your target is a human being, and not an actual goat, you can expect that your target will likely suffer physical, mental, emotional, psychological, financial and professional losses as a result of being targeted and ostracized by their community.
Jesus Christ is one famous example.
Who Is This For?
While the steps outlined above are accurate, I am not writing this for any current or would-be orchestrators of a smear campaign. If you have done it, or are capable of doing it… You are not my audience and you didn’t need to read this to know how to wreak havoc on the personal and professional lives of other people in order to achieve your own goals.
I am writing this for those who are subjected to these character assassination attempts.
I am writing this for those people in the middle who have been or are being inadvertently manipulated into participating in this age-old tango that leaves no one innocent, or unscathed.
You don’t have to play along.
Who Cares?
Many people care. On November 19th many people packed City Council Chambers to provide public comment, the majority demanding Councilor Erin Black’s resignation, an apology, and suggestions for mental health treatment.
The accusations were that she “doesn’t appreciate the faith of our chief of police,” that her behavior is “cruel and argumentative, targeting citizens,” and more.
She whistled at the Chief of Police to get his attention. Personal opinion, was that in poor taste? Sure. Black made a public apology for doing so. Also, as a woman I have been whistled at a lot in my life, so it’s hard for me to see this as any more disrespect than I’ve been subjected to just walking down the street since I was 12 years-old. (Now that IS gross).
Repeated requests for an internal affairs report that I now understand has always been open to the public, according to Colorado State Statute signed into law in 2019 by Governor Jared Polis.
The quote she is reported to have said, according to the report leaked to the Loveland Reporter-Herald, never happened, as there is now video evidence to prove this.
Public bias towards members of the lgbt community and shelter for the unhoused.
I could go on. You can watch the entire litany of public comment, here, if you are so inclined. Warning, it’s brutal.
The only reason smear campaigns work is that usually kind and reasonable people are fooled into participating. Often these unwitting participants believe they share a perceived moral high ground with the perpetrator, never truly understanding that the end goal for the author of the smear has nothing to do with them and is unlikely to benefit them in any way.
This is particularly true when it comes to scapegoating in government.
How To Combat a Smear Campaign
To avoid being swept into a smear campaign:
Trust your gut and then check the facts.
Disregard attacks against a person’s character that does not apply to their actions. For example, allegations that “she needs mental health treatment” without evidence that this impacts sound decision making are not enough to render a person incompetent in their elected role.
Request public answers for issues regarding public interest and your public dollars. An elected official should be able to answer basic questions from the people they serve in writing, or in a public format. If a public official is unwilling to answer your questions in writing, and prefers to have a “one-on-one” conversation with you about a matter of public interest, that is red flag.
Remember that smear campaigns are generally a distraction from a problem that deserves public attention. Take some time to inspect the Loveland City council rolling calendar and consider what items might be of more interest than personal attacks against your representative.
When information in the public interest is hidden for purposes that do not benefit the entire community, the community loses.
The Smear Is As Old as Dirt
The well-worn and useful manipulative tactic can be adopted by anyone who wishes to achieve a goal that they know, on some level, is wrong, simply by pointing their fingers in someone else’s direction.
“Over there! Look over there!”
Whether you are new to Loveland or have been here your entire life, the beauty of a smear campaign is that it is universal. I don’t care if we’re talking local government politics, the workplace, your family or friends, the playbook is the same.
So while what we are watching unfold right now is not unique to Loveland, by any means. The smear campaign knows no geography, no gender, or political party… It is a universal experience and just like any communicable disease, if you care about your personal well-being, it is wise to pay attention to levels of infection where you live, work and/or play.
Note: Councilor Andrea Samson said the words that became the title of this piece when she voted against the forensic audit of Centerra North on December 10th, 2024.
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Do you have a perspective you would like to share? Email jessica@thelovelandvoice.com
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Thank you for this insightful and informative article. There are some courageous individuals in this community who are and have bucked the power brokers. Those folks have super-hero courage. Good on you all. I so respect them.
I think Black is getting pilloried unfairly.
That said...
I think the majority Councilors are mainly responsible for an internecine war that we have seen the last year, which was likely within their power to avoid or at least tamp down.
Since day one, majority Council has done nothing to calm the waters. Not an ounce of diplomacy or clemency. There have been no thoughtful alternatives. A series of dumb lawsuits with bad outcomes.
Just three days ago, Don Overcash wrote Council that he was glad Krenning was resigning, attaching acid Facebook comments about him, penned by Krenning. (I've seen worse examples.) Black jumped at this opportunity to deliver more digs: "That's rich coming from, someone who LOST his mayoral bid. The voters have overwhelming said they don't trust your [sic] or your judgements. You don't have credibility with the voters, Don."
With this level of animosity, people tend to not behave rationally. They assume the worst about others; they read into remarks what's not intended.
We elected the new councilors to be better than those they replaced. To be thoughtful, civil, questioning, lawful, respectful, studious, and putting citizens first. Alas, that's not what we got.