|
The definition of propaganda is as follows: Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people, rather than impartially providing information.
An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, the more obvious propaganda
method, but there are varied other more subtle and insidious forms. On
the other hand, a most common characteristic of propaganda is volume
(in the sense of a large amount). Individually propaganda functions as
self-deception. Culturally it works within religions, politics, and
economic entities like those which both favor and oppose globalization.
Commercially it works within the (mass) market in the free market societies.
A great example of propaganda in the political world is the website operated by Ron Gunzburger who is based in Florida. Over the years since the site has been in existence, it has garnered the accolades of many. Go to Politics1 at http://www.politics1.com and review the many awards received by the site.
Posted below are recent emails between Bill Murawski and Ron Gunzburger regarding the listings of Bill Murawski and Donald Winkfield on the Politics1 website.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Murawski
To: Ron Gunzburger
Cc: Donald Winkfield
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 9:12 PM
Subject: A message regarding Politics1.com
September 28, 2006
Ron Gunzburger
409 NE 17 Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-1345
Mr. Gunzburger:
I hope this email message greets you and your family in good health.
If memory serves me correctly, it has been some five years since we last communicated regarding an election campaign in which I entered in New York. At that time we went round and round on the descriptions you used to describe me, which at the time were tolerable.
As you are well aware, I am entered as a candidate for Governor of the State of New York. When I recently visited your website I could see that you were up to your "old tricks". Although you list VOP as a party designation in the State of New York, you failed to list my candidacy for Governor and Donald Winkfield as Lt. Governor for the State of New York for the Voice of the People Party. And since the Board of Elections of the State of New York has not officially notified either myself or Donald Winkfield that we are not on the ballot, I strongly suggest that you list the site for mine and Mr. Winkfield's candidacy. Further, I also respectfully request that in the event we are "knocked off the ballot" in the State of New York, that you list our election site (www.billmurawski.com) and especially since New York State permits a write-in ballot. And now to the most important reason for my email message to you.
Just for the fun of it, I conducted a search of my name today on ask.com and found the following statement about me on your site: "College Student & Communist Political Organizer Bill Murawski (VOP) - Computer Consultant, Community Activist & Frequent Candidate ..." and this time you've gone way over the line with a libelous and false accusation against the good name that my father provided me (see the cut and pasted message from ask.com below this email message).
First of all, I never entered into any college for one second in my life. Secondly, the "Communist Political Organizer" part of the statement is not only an attack on the good name my father provided me and it is an outright lie, it also flies in the face of every veteran who served our country in the name of democracy fighting wars in far away lands, and there are three Purple Hearts in my family from WWII
|
With all of that stated, Mr. Gunzburger, I demand an immediate apology in writing from you with your signature. My address is 530 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019. Should I not receive such an apology in writing within ten days of your receipt of this email (barring internet rejects that date is today) you will find yourself in federal court on a myriad of charges that include but will not be limited to defamation of character.
Thank you in advance for you anticipated and immediate attention in this very serious matter. And I strongly urge and advise you to be extremely careful about anything further that you write about me because the "computer consultant" and "community activist" do not apply and are also outright lies -- so much for your "fact" checking.
I do so look forward to speaking with you. My telephone number is (212) 246-7811.
Yours truly,
William E. Murawski
Candidate for Governor
New York State
cc: Donald Winkfield
Since I've had a similar experience with Mr. Gunzburger in a past election, I was not shocked at his response to the above email, which is listed below.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Gunzburger
To: Bill Murawski
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: A message regarding Politics1.com
Apparently you are an idiot in your ability to search the web. The statement you strongly objected to in what you thought was your description actually read:
Maura DeLuca (SWP) - Garment Worker & Communist Political Organizer
& Ben O'Shaughnessy (SWP) - College Student & Communist Political Organizer
You were listed on the next line, as VOP alpha followed the SWP. Thus, if you read the section you yourself pasted into the email:
College Student & Communist Political Organizer Bill
Murawski (VOP) - Computer Consultant, Community Activist & Frequent Candidate ...
Did you happen to notice your description FOLLOWED your name and that our site does not list any descriptions BEFORE a name? No need to apologize. I'll accept you're an idiot based solely on the content of your email.
Next, as for why you are no longer listed as a candidate: I read a news article reporting the state disqualified you from the bllot.
- Ron
I sometimes say that if someone messes with me or one of my friends they had better be paying attention, which Gunzberger obviously was not and does not. Therefore, the war of the words continued. The email below is informing him that we were not "on the ballot". It did not come from the Board of Elections of the State of New York but from another political site www.ballot-access.org to which I was a subscriber a few years back.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Gunzburger
To: Bill Murawski
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 1:31 AM
Subject: Re: A message regarding Politics1.com
See http://www.ballot-access.org/2006/09/25/two-statewide-new-york-petitions-invalidated-third-pending/
Ron Gunzburger
Publisher, Politics1.com
409 NE 17 Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
And here is my response.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Murawski
To: Ron Gunzburger
Cc: Donald Winkfield
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 10:03 AM
Subject: Re: A message regarding Politics1.com
Thank you Ron.
I am quite familiar with Ballot Access News. In fact I became a subscriber because I was excited that it appeared there was a person who was truly interested in fixing the ballot process. And as you may imagine, I have long stopped paying for Winger's newsletter and for many reasons, ESPECIALLY after speaking directly regarding the New York State election scheme and some of the insider-only cigar-room beliefs.
Providing this information only serves that you base information posted on Politics1.com using second or third party sources. To reiterate, neither Mr. Winkfield nor myself have received any official and or legal document from the Board of Elections regarding the matter of us being on the ballot.
Since you have only concerned yourself with covering your rear end, and justifiably so, and still have not responded to the issue at hand here -- placing the names of William E. Murawski and Donald Winkfield on the site and ESPECIALLY considering that the New York State Election Law permits a write in ballot for any candidate for any office!
I believe now is the time to consider what the various options are available to you to come to a settlement with me regarding the posting of mine and Mr. Winkfield's names on your website for our candidacy. I already know what steps I am going to take should you not honor my request to the aforementioned postings to Politics1.com and the apology letter in writing with an original signature.
Your decision in this matter will greatly influence what the next steps are (we can agree to this in writing if you'd like) to be taken by me in the event that my two simple requests are not honored. You have ten (10) days to decide.
In closing, Ron, the bottom line is that it's your site and you must take responsibility for the information that is posted and held accountable in one way or another for causing harm to others. I leave THAT ball (decision) in your court.
Yours truly,
William E. Murawski
Candidate for Governor 2006
New York State
Since I was unable to check the Politcs1 website, Gunzburger decided to write a short email indicating I won round one. See the email that follows.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Gunzburger
To: Bill Murawski
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 1:03 PM
Subject: Re: A message regarding Politics1.com
You were already re-listed again as a write-in as of last evening. Didn't you check before writing again to complain?
To which I replied as follows . . .
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Murawski
To: Ron Gunzburger
Cc: Donald Winkfield
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: A message regarding Politics1.com
Ron,
My PC went out so I took off for the weekend and didn't have the time to check all of my messages because I had to get the website functioning so as not to have missing pages (error 404).
Thank you for listing Donald and I as write-in candidates (we already received 6 hits from your site) but as of yet the write-in tag is premature because we still have not received anything official from the Board of Elections. However, according to the political calendar of the BOE -- and its special counsel -- the BOE is deciding today October 2nd. And I am certain if they do decide we are not "on-the-ballot" we will prevail in court.
On another matter, Donald Winkfield is a lead investigative reporter for the Black Star News. You can read some of his stories at www.blackstarnews.com -- enter the name Winkfield in the search box at the top of the home page. As far as my listing goes, as I explained, I retired from the computer field many years ago (1997) so I am not a computer consultant any more and if I had my way, I would never want to see another computer again in my life but unfortunately, it's the sign of the times.
Please see the attached business card for my title -- one that I've been using for at least the last two years -- it states "Journalist, producer and a public advocate". And I must say I have to thank you for helping select the title for me because if it wasn't for you as a result of our last go around some years back, I wouldn't have thought that a title or description was so important during an election campaign. For instance, although it is a fact I've been a "frequent candidate" (this is the seventh election -- one state-wide, one city-wide and four local elections -- one a "special election") the phrase indicates a "loser who has never won". So for your edification, I am taking this election as serious as if it were the seventh and final game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (I was one of the best goalies around in my youth and had to pass up the opportunity for a scholarship to Boston College because of family issues -- you can read about it in my profile on the website) -- the only reason I entered into those elections was to learn the rules of the political game as it is played in New York to prepare for this election. After all, if a person wants to win in any game, they must first learn the rules of the game otherwise they will never win.
In any case, you are not the only one with whom I am discussing the listing of our candidacy in their literature and website. And because of the fact that it is difficult to educate people on ballot issues such as the write-in vote, all of the issues that tend to present a negative connotation of candidates like your listing, I have no other choice than to post the various scenarios on my website at the Voting Rights page under the Propaganda button. But at least you've redeemed yourself from me posting our email conversations there. Although I do believe your mission is an important and vital one to our democracy, good things like education does take some time.
With all of that stated In larger scheme of life, my purpose is that of an educator -- I educate those who want to learn and for those who don't (the politicians mostly) I teach them whether they like it or not. ;))))
Again, thank you for the posting. Since Politics1.com is your site, you can list the candidates as you wish. I am just providing you food for thought for those listings. Oh, and BTW, the League of Women Voters were sued in federal court some time ago because they did not list candidates in alphabetic order and as far as I am aware, they list candidates alphabetically -- just thought I'd let you know.
Sincerely,
Bill
The image of business card below was provided to Gunzburger as an attachment to the above email.
Since Gunzburger did not reply to the above email, I wrote him one final time and have not heard from him since. See the email below.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Murawski
To: Ron Gunzburger
Cc: Donald Winkfield
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 2:24 AM
Subject: So now it's official et al . . . .
Mr. Gunzburger:
It is now "official" that Mr. Winkfield and I are not "on the ballot". The NYS BOE officially decided and placed the official "ballot" on it's website yesterday without officially and legally notifying either myself or Mr. Winkfield. At this point in time I cannot elaborate any more on that issue for reasons that should be obvious. On another matter that must be revisited with you . . .
I would like to think that you somehow had something to do with the fact that the listing results from the search engines -- the "communist" tag -- has disappeared from the radar screen. So I have to consider it was PFM or it was your efforts to have it removed, either way though, I must thank you because it was a result of your efforts and postings that made it possible for me to address the issue in a serious manner.
As far as the current listing on politics1.com for Mr. Winkfield and I, and as I stated to you in me previous email, the description for Mr. Winkfield is Investigative Reporter (Black Star News) and for me it should be Journalist, producer and a public advocate as it has been listed on my business card for the past two years. I am respectfully requesting that you change the descriptions on politics1.com for the following reasons:
1. The listing for me is not factual as far as computer consultant and it may infer to some that I am a computer "geek". As previously explained to you, I gave up my computer career in 1997.
2. I am not a community activist and since 2004, I have not assisted anyone as a "community activist" therefore the listing is not factual.
3. Although I can be considered as a "frequent candidate" the listing is misleading and it abridges my first amendment right because it infers a few things, one of them is "Bill is a loser because he enters into elections and never wins". And since anyone can conduct an internet search with any search engine there is more than enough information listed in the results where people can make up their own mind about Mr. Winkfield and me. They don't need you to influence them in any way, shape or form, which in turn results in you influencing an election, which if you are not aware, is a violation of the Election Law of the State of New York.
As you well know, the clock is ticking and you have five days to correct the listing. It disturbs me greatly to come down on you with this approach but kindness obviously does not have any effect on your decision in the listing of mine and Mr. Winkfield's description on politics1.com.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated attention and cooperation in this very serious matter. I look forward to hearing from you regarding this matter as you ignored my lost recent email to you. And I do trust you are aware of the possible ramifications of not listing myself and Mr. Winkfield as described herein.
In closing Mr. Gunzburger, I will not address the issue of mine and Mr. Winkfield's listing on politics1.com again. If you have not understood the serious nature of this matter by now, I am only wasting my time writing to you. And if you do not believe I will take up the matter in the courts in the event the listing on politics1.com is not corrected, you can always contact former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the current NYC Park's Commission Adrian Benepe and ask them what happened when they illegally and immorally attempted to privatize our local neighborhood park in 1995, of which that issue was only about a local park. And if you do not realize it, I take the issue of the listing on politics1.com for myself and Mr. Winkfield as a far more serious matter.
Yours truly,
William E. Murawski
Since Gunzburger decided not to honor my requests to have Donald Winkfield and me listed correctly (as of October 23, 2006) our war of words is posted on this website since he is still abridging our right of freedom of speech by attempting to inform visitors to his site what we are about. And even further, since our site is visited from external pages (other websites like politics1), 42% of those visits are from Politics1, which is a substantial number but it is nowhere near the 79% of the visits to our website from external links of political websites, which are beleived to follow Gunzburger's lead. In no uncertain terms, Mr. Gunzburger is influencing the election in which Donald Winkfield and I are running as candidates for Lt. Governor and Governor, respectively. And now about the "communist" tag.
Since the posting associating Donald Winkfield and I with the Communist Party was thought to have been addressed and it was not, I've must waste time contacting the major search engines to have the information removed not only because it is an outright lie, it is a disparagement of the good name my father provided to me. And there are many more reasons to address Gunzburger's propaganda.
As a professional involved with the "real" computer industry for 28 years and now another 9 years with the internet, it certainly appears there are few if any elected officials who are willing to take the bull by the horn regarding internet "mischief". It's a dirty and tedious job if you read all of the email correspondence above, but someone has to do it.
If you want to contact Mr. Gunzburger they can send him an email to publisher@politics1.com. And if you would like to contact me to discuss this matter or make a comment, you can do so at the contact page of this website.
The truth is the absolute defense to libel and all I write is the truth as I know it to be.
Sincerely,
Bill Murawski
|
