The Reflector

I hope the important thing we have all learned by now is that Americans get the bad end of the deal during election seasons, especially during those with Roger Wicker's campaign ads.

We are forced to listen to speeches that make often-meaningless generalities and suffer through the most elementary television and radio ads full of lies and deceit. Then, as a result of our so-called civic duty, we are expected to vote for one of two demons from the lowest ring of hell. And since both parties are essentially spirits from the same ring of hell, there is often not that much difference between the two. They pit themselves in a continual war against one another in order to maintain control and give voters the notion that there is a cause behind all of this. It's kind of like the Iraq war. Of course, my thesis may be more apparent in the presidential races than in the local Senate races.

However, I feel compelled to complain about yet another Wicker campaign ad. In Friday's Reflector, the editorial board published a piece on a Wicker ad degrading gay people. Another Wicker ad plays on racial lines and fails even the remotest test of political dignity.

The radio ad, endorsed by Wicker at the end of the spot, is targeted toward African-Americans. I heard it on Mix 106.1, which plays R&B music. The ad features African-Americans who support Obama but refuse to support Wicker's Democratic opponent, Ronnie Musgrove.

"In the debate, [Musgrove] wouldn't even say Barack Obama's name. He's disrespecting us and taking our vote for granted," says one African-American woman.

Other quotes follow suit, saying basically the same thing.

The ad is the epitome of political manipulation. Musgrove, who supports Obama but has been too chicken to say so in our red state, is drawn out to be someone who doesn't respect "us," which I'm assuming to mean African-Americans in general, as a result of his supposed failure to support Obama. Yet Wicker has been staunch in his opposition to Obama, and anyone who watched the debate mentioned in the ad knows it.

According to the ad's logic, why isn't Wicker also disrespecting black people by not supporting Obama? Interestingly, the ad never says Wicker opposes Obama. In fact, it is almost an endorsement of Obama. If I were an alien from outer space and all I knew about Wicker was this single ad, I would draw the conclusion that Wicker is an avid Obama supporter.

At this point, you can clearly see the ad is completely illogical and is meant solely to gain as most votes as possible by throwing rhetoric down people's throats. That's obvious.

However, perhaps the bigger question is: Why do those who oppose Obama disrespect black people?

Obviously, they necessarily don't. Wicker's devilish strategy is to play off of racial tensions. In our racially divided state, some African-Americans may hold the opinion that anyone who opposes Obama does so because they can't stand the thought of a black man occupying the nation's highest point on the social ladder. Also, African-Americans who oppose Obama may be seen as leaving their roots. The former notion may be true in many cases but is not representative of all people who oppose Obama.

I wonder what the majority of white Republicans in this state would think if they heard this ad. It would be interesting to know, although we never will because of the detailed strategy employed by the campaigns to target specific groups.

I am tired of the blatant propaganda. The candidates we have a so-called responsibility to vote for aren't living up to that responsibility.

Matt Watson is the opinion editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

Article Tools