Sunday, February 22, 2015

Dave Workman: ‘Astroturf’ lobby group attacks lawmakers who support campus carry



Everytown for Gun Safety, the national lobbying group identified earlier this week as one of the “Top Ten Astroturfers” by award-winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson, is today demanding an apology from two state lawmakers for supporting concealed carry on campus as a defense against sexual assault.

Their e-mail demand was sent Friday morning over the name of Kirsten Moore, director of partnerships for Everytown, the $50 million so-called “grassroots” lobbying group set up by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Everytown and its companion, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, share the No. 1 spot on Attkisson’s “Top Ten” list of “astroturfers.”

Attkisson defines “astroturf” as “fake grassroots.” She adds this: “The whole point of astroturf is to try to convince you there’s widespread support for or against an agenda when there’s not.”

“The language of astroturfers and propagandists,” Attkisson writes, “includes trademark inflammatory terms such as: anti, nutty, quack, crank, pseudo-science, debunking, conspiracy theory, deniers and junk science. Sometimes astroturfers claim to ‘debunk myths’ that aren’t myths at all. They declare debates over that aren’t over. They claim that ‘everybody agrees’ when everyone doesn’t agree. They aim to make you think you’re an outlier when you’re not.”

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