BRIEF OUTLINE
PART I: BACKGROUND
A. CONSERVATIVE DISINFORMATION NETWORK
B. VIRAL DISTRIBUTION
C. MAINSTREAM MEDIA
D. SCOPE OF ANALYSIS
PART 2: THE 'SOCIALIST" CLAIM
A. DISINFORMATION OBJECTIVE
B. EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE
1. Expert Opinion (Tidwell):
2. Joining the CPUSA
3. Poems Attacked Stalin
4. Newspaper Column (Frank-ly Speaking)
C. CREATING THE "SOCIALIST" MYTH
1. Origins
2. Disinformation Operations
3. AIM's Disinformation Campaign
PART III. "SEX REBEL: BLACK" DISINFORMATION
A. BACKGROUND:
1. Telegraph.uk (Hamden) and Enquirer stories
2. Similarities with "Lolita"
3. Pattern fits "Protocols"
B. DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN:
1. False Attribution:
2. Escalation #1
3. Escalation #2
4. Summary:
C. EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE:
1. The Memoir-Novel Genre
2. Scandalous Memoirs
3. Fictional Character Greene
4. Tidwell's opinion
5. Honest Evaluation
6. Other Autobiographical Novels
D. DISCUSSION
1. Core Issues:
2. Porn in the U.S.
3. Porn Double Standards
E. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELS
1. Fanny Hill excerpt
2. Gulliver's Travels excerpt
3. Other Autobiographical Novels
(NOTE: Expanded outline at end of post)
PART 1: BACKGROUND
A. CONSERVATIVE DISINFORMATION NETWORK: American conservatives created a viral disinformation network to sell the Iraqi “threat,” and used it again to defeat John Kerry through “swiftboating.” More recently, the disinformation network spread falsehoods about Barack Obama. A recent Newsweek article highlighted the results:
“The outlandish stories about Barack Hussein Obama are simply false: he wasn’t born outside the United States (the tabloid “proof” has been debunked as a crude forgery); he has never been a Muslim (he was raised by an atheist and became a practicing Christian in his 20s); his policies are not “socialist” (he explicitly rejected advice to nationalize the banks and wants the government out of General Motors and Chrysler as quickly as possible); he is not a “warmonger” (he promised in 2008 to withdraw from Iraq and escalate in Afghanistan and has done so); he is neither a coddler of terrorists (he has already ordered the killing of more “high value” Qaeda targets in 18 months than his predecessor did in eight years), nor a coddler of Wall Street (his financial-reform package, while watered down, was the most vigorous since the New Deal), nor an enemy of American business (he and the Chamber of Commerce favor tax credits for small business that were stymied by the GOP to deprive him of a victory). And that’s just the short list of lies" [1].
B. VIRAL DISTRIBUTION: While originators' culpability is irrefutable, they cause unwitting people to spread such disinformation throughout the blogosphere. Such recycling may be attributed to "confirmation bias," wherein people are predisposed to believing falsehoods that reinforce an existing bias (e.g., "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"). When unwitting people spread such lies, disinformation becomes simple misinformation. Although their motivation may differ, the result is just as rancid. Unfortunately, such myths may be exaggerated with each retelling, in an expanding spiral of viral disinformation.
C. MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Mainstream media (MSM), and others of integrity who subscribe to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics [2], are increasingly reluctant to share the yellow journalism of fringe outlets. MSM were complicit in spreading disinformation regarding the Iraqi threat, Dr. Hatfill’s involvement in the anthrax case, and Mike Nifong’s railroading of the Duke lacrosse team. Those of integrity have learned from their mistakes. Those without, have constructed a guide to Right-Wing Fantasyland. They named it “Conservapedia.”
D. SCOPE OF ANALYSIS: Although President Obama has been smeared in numerous ways, we will concentrate on CDN misrepresentation of his relationship with Frank Marshall Davis (1905-1987), an African-American writer mentioned as “Frank” in Obama’s 1995 book, Dreams from My Father [30]. The disinformation campaign against the Obama-Davis relationship is the epitome of contemporary political deception. Obama's book indicates that “Gramps” introduced 11-year-old Obama to his friend Davis in Hawaii, soon after Obama returned from Indonesia. Dreams indicates that Obama occasionally visited Davis with Gramps as a young teen, but only twice on his own thereafter: once after his grandmother’s bus stop incident (1976?), and again three years later before leaving for college in 1979 [31].
PART 2: THE “SOCIALIST” CLAIM:
A. DISINFORMATION OBJECTIVE: Despite empirical evidence to the contrary (e.g., Frank's "horror of socialism" column [5]), Obama's critics launched a disinformation campaign against the Davis-Obama relationship in early 2008. Initially titled "Obama's Communist Mentor" [33], this disinformation consisted of a series of small lies fabricated to support the big lie that "His values, passed on to Obama, were those of a communist agent who pledged allegiance to Stalin" [3]. To sell this hoax, propagandists would sell two underlying falsehoods: (a) That Frank Marshall Davis had the "values of a communist agent who pledged allegiance to Stalin." (b) That Davis had passed these values to Obama. The inescapable implication was that Obama has "Stalinist values." AIM proceeded with this deception despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
B. EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE:
1. Expert Opinion:
a. University of Kansas Professor Edgar Tidwell:
(1) Although “I'm hardly interested in proving my research to Kincaid or any of those whose work is a travesty to scholarship," Professor Tidwell, whom AIM's Cliff Kincaid cites as "an expert on the life and writings of Davis," dismisses misrepresentation of Davis's influence in one simple paragraph:
"Although my research indicates that Davis joined the CPUSA as a "closet member" during World War II, there is no evidence that he was a Stalinist, or even a Party member before WWII. Further, to those attempting to make the specious stand for the concrete, there is no evidence that he instructed Barack Obama in communist ideology. Frank Marshall Davis did NOT believe in overthrowing the USA. He was committed to what the nation professed to be. For him, communism was primarily an intellectual vehicle to achieve a political end-a possible tool for gaining the constitutional freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ALL Americans"[26].
(2) Professor Tidwell wrote that THESE were the “radical” goals of Frank Marshall Davis: (1) integration of armed forces; (2) integration of AFL and CIO; (3) fair wages and other benefits for workers; (4) general dismantling of all laws supporting racial segregation; (5) end to laws supporting anti-Semitism; (6) end to atomic warfare; (7) rights for soldiers in combat zones to vote in national elections; (8) support for Fair Employment Practices Act; (9) support for a broad United Nations (not just US and Great Britain forming a world power union); (10) end to restrictive covenants in real estate [32]. PLEASE NOTE: These have mostly become mainstream standards by the 21st century. Frank Marshall Davis was not out of line. He was just ahead of his time!
b. Leonard Ray Teel, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Georgia State University: "Alliance with the Communist Party, even from a distance, was too radical for some black editors, among them Frank Marshall Davis. While he was as ardent as any editor against injustices — in jobs, housing, education, the laww — Davis warned against reliance upon a non-American system for solving American problems.In 1932, a year after becoming managing editor of the Atlanta World, Davis was invited to a national symposium of prominent black editors, including Murphy of the Afro-American and Robert S. Vann of the Courier. There, he warned aginst reliance on the Communist system to achieve racial justice. To Davis, the black protest movement was not compatible with the communists “crude and noisy militancy.” He saw “no fear of the rainbow brotherhood going red in wholesale numbers — at least not until white America takes long steps in that direction" [36].
2. Joining the CPUSA: Frank Marshall Davis rejected the "horror of socialism." He was a capitalist who supported free enterprise by small business, which he believed were being ruined by monopolies. He owned two paper companies, and sold advertising specialties, in Hawaii.
a. Nevertheless, he joined the CPUSA during WWII, just as the United States joined the Soviet Union during WWII, not because they shared the delusion of a communist utopia. Each was a marriage of convenience. He joined because membership had its privileges, such as professional and social opportunities. He considered membership in the CPUSA as a "vehicle and tool" because, according to "The New Red Negro" (cited by AIM's Cliff Kincaid as a source) [25]:
"ONLY the Communist left had any significant institutional impact on African-American writing during the 1930s and 1940s. This support was crucial as the institutions that had maintained the New Negro Renaissance faded. And for better or for worse, the leading CPUSA functionaries involved in "Negro work" took a direct interest in African-American cultural production in a manner that was unusual, if not unique."
b. Vilifying a writer for continuing to publish in CPUSA-supported publications, when they provided his only significant institutional support, is completely unfair. Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Frank Marshall Davis all took advantage of this institutional support.
c. Further, as The New Red Negro makes clear, there was no monolithic Stalinist doctrine within the CPUSA:
(1) "This is not to say that the impact of the Communist Left on African-American writers in the 1930's and 1940's flowed from absolute unity of ideology and practical application of that ideology. As mentioned before, the CPUSA itself, despite the claims of both the party leadership and its most ardent detractors, contained various, often conflicting tendencies. This conflict appeared within top leadership, where Earl Browder and William Z. Foster and their supporters were frequently at odds. They also surfaced in the regional leadership of important districts that were occasionally, and in the case of southern California frequently, in opposition to the national leadership. Finally, at the rank-and-file level, when leadership debates broke out into the open (as they did in 1929, 1956-1946, and 1956), the were replayed in almost every CPUSA unit, often serving as the vehicle for the expression of a wide range of "unorthodox" political beliefs (ranging from social democratic to anarcho-syndicalist."
(2) "A huge proportion of African-American poets (and writers and intellectuals generally) remained engaged with the Communist Left and cultural institutions from at least the early 1930's until at least the early 1950's. With the partial exception of the period from the German invasion of the Soviet Union to the end of the Second World War, the CPUSA placed the issue of race and the fight against Jim Crow near the center of all its work."
d. The bottom line is that communist ties were common for African-
American poets and civil right activists during that period. Such ties did not mean that they internalized Marxist values, much less Stalinist values, even if they were aware of the distinction. To them, the CPUSA provided safe harbor from the ravages of Jim Crow America.
e. For those who question whether anyone would join the CPUSA without internalizing collectivist values, examples abound in more recent developments. Russians and Chinese joined their respective Communist parties because membership was important to professional advancement. Mikhail Gorbachev rejected these values in dismantling the Soviet Union. Leaders of the PRC's capitalist boom are nevertheless pro forma Party members. According to CNBC's "The People's Republic of Profit," the PRC now has over 100 billionaires - second only to the United States. Some Communist Party members are VERY successful capitalists! China's ruling Communist Party once condemned entrepreneurs and private business people as capitalist exploiters, but now welcomes them since late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping began landmark economic reforms in the 1970s. One third of the people on the 1,000-name rich list are estimated to be Party members, according to the report [4]. Do you consider these rich CCP members to be "communists" or "capitalists"? Depending on your definitions, these categories are not mutually exclusive.
f. Even today people join some organizations, such as churches and the YMCA, without internalizing their core values because membership has its advantages. I believe everyone will agree that many so-called "Christians" have not internalized Christian values. Some could argue that Stalinism perverted the core values of Marxism, just as the Spanish Inquisition and pedophile priests perverted the core values of Christianity.
3. Poetry Attacks Stalin: Evidence against the “Stalinist” claim also comes from AIM's historical reference, "The New Red Negro": "Frank Marshall Davis wrote poetry attacking Stalin by name, which appeared in his collections "I Am The American Negro" (1937) and "47th Street Poems" (1948)" (see page 48 of "The New Red Negro" [27].
4. Newspaper Column (“Frankly Speaking”) [5]:
a. Conservative Misrepresentation: AIM indicates that Davis SUPPORTED socialism, when in fact Davis REJECTED both Marxist socialism (i.e., letting "the government own and operate our major industries") and “national socialism” (i.e., fascism: government collusion with monopolistic industries). In fact, Davis SUPPORTED the free enterprise system and championed small businessmen, of which he was one himself! Ironically, Davis’s opposition to socialism predates conservative opposition to the “socialist” TARP bailouts of 2008! Nevertheless, conservative critics claimed Obama’s support of Wall Street was due to Davis’s radical influence, when the (Honolulu) Record shows that Davis was opposed to such support! This is just another piece of the Body of Lies against Frank Marshall Davis.
b. In his January 26, 1950 Honolulu Record column “Free Enterprise Or Socialism,” Davis said that socialism was a "HORROR"! He said that we didn't have free enterprise any more, and that collusion between monopolies and the Truman administration was "fascist." Davis supported small businessmen, which he considered a "casualty" of monopolies. He said they are the BACKBONE of free enterprise. He said we had to decide to OUST the monopolies, which were driving us down the road to ruin, and restore a competing system of free enterprise. From the ACTUAL Davis column:
(1) "As for free enterprise, it doesn't live here any more. At the same time we have manufactured a national horror of socialism. Meanwhile, the dictatorship of the monopolies is driving us down the road to ruin. And so, with still rising unemployment and a mounting depression, the time draws nearer when we will have to decide to oust the monopolies and restore a competing system of free enterprise, or let the government own and operate our major industries."
(2) "Backbone of Free Enterprise Broken: In this control by monopoly, the small businessman, the backbone of free enterprise, has been a casualty. He cannot compete against the tremendous financial reserves of the huge monopolies, and thus we find more and more forced into bankruptcy or absorbed by the monopolies. Those small businessmen who supported the Marshall Plan have been unable to get but a pittance of orders, for here it's the Big Boys Who, through their contacts with official Washington, walk off with the fat contracts" [5].
C. CREATING THE "SOCIALIST" MYTH
1. Origins: Forensic deconstruction of the “socialist” canard will probably identify one major and four minor disinformation sources: Cliff Kincaid’s so-called “Accuracy In Media” (AIM – the conservative Ministry of Truth), authors Jerome Corsi and David Freddoso, and bloggers Andy Martin and Trevor Loudon. Fringe media outlets effectively circulated this propaganda within the conservative blogosphere. Cliff Kincaid spearheaded the guilt-by-association disinformation campaign against the Davis-Obama relationship. By virtue of his continuing disinformation campaign against Davis, Cliff Kincaid’s office may truly be the Cradle of Disinformation.
2. Disinformation Operations: Disinformation easily creates urban myths based on "secret knowledge" from anonymous sources. The Internet's viral nature lets myths emerge fully-grown from propagandists, or they may perversely grow from a kernel of truth, nurtured by confirmation bias. A disinformation campaign is like a house of cards, or an illusion fabricated over a framework of falsehoods. When enough support is withdrawn, the disinformation reveals its true colors. So it was with the Bush administration's Iraqi "threat" myth, which falsely claimed WMD stockpiles and mobile weapons labs, largely based upon false reports from bogus Iraqi source "Curveball" and others. So it is with disinformation regarding the Davis-Obama relationship myth, largely based upon false reports from the conservative "Ministry of Truth" source, Cliff Kincaid's so-called "Accuracy In Media" (AIM). Their parallel functions belie any coincidence in their parallel names.
3. AIM’s Disinformation Campaign: Cliff Kincaid and his colleagues designed an elaborate scam. Instead of fake jewelry, they fake opposition research. They present false information about Frank Marshall Davis, like the Bush administration presented false information about the Iraqi threat. Both were the product of disinformation campaigns designed to frame their targets for imaginary offenses, because their actual behavior was insufficient. They combined fact with fabrication to create a tapestry of historical fiction, not unlike "The Da Vinci Code" or the persecution of Dr. Steven Hatfill during the anthrax scare.
a. Initial Attack: Fraudulent memes, unwittingly propagated by well- intentioned bloggers, have spread throughout the blogosphere, which proves the effectiveness of viral disinformation campaigns. Even the title of Kincaid's initial attack, "Obama's Communist Mentor," is itself a masterful deception. Through the "fallacy of equivocation*," it implies three enduring falsehoods:
(1) That Davis was an avowed or known communist who advocated collectivist principles. The evidence, however, indicates that Davis was a closet communist who never advocated communism.
(2) That Davis had a continuing mentorship with teenage Obama, "almost like a son." Evidence, however, indicates that Davis was an occasionally visited family friend whom Obama visited only once in the three years before Obama left for college.
(3) That Davis taught communism to young Obama. The evidence, however, supports nothing of the sort. "Dreams" indicates that although Davis offered advice on racial issues, Obama did not even trust that advice.
(*The "fallacy of equivocation" is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning or sense, by glossing over which meaning is intended at a particular time. It occurs when an equivocal word or phrase makes an unsound argument appear sound. It deceives through ambiguity.)
(4) Such rhetorical deception was highlighted in the story of Alice's adventures in "Through The Looking-Glass":
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
- Lewis Carroll, English author & recreational mathematician (1832 - 1898)
b. Continuing Disinformation Campaign:
(1) This misrepresentation of Frank as Obama's mentor was only the first deceptive step in building a house of cards against Obama. Their scam misrepresented Frank as a virtual Dr. Frank-enstein who created a Marxist Obama. In doing so, opponents may have thought they had a silver bullet. After all, who would bother to defend an obscure dead black poet? The Dead Poets Society? Not likely, so the scam developed. Slander ensued.
(2) Through innuendo, half-truths** and outright fabrication, Obama’s opponents deliberately misrepresented a casual family friendship as political indoctrination sessions, or worse. In their rush to malign Obama, their scam transformed the legacy of a relatively obscure leftist poet into a “Stalinist agent” who corrupted Obama’s values. Slander and libel were their tools of their trade, because truth was irrelevant. Their perverted ethics find nothing wrong with such lies. Destroying Davis’s reputation was collateral damage. Cliff Kincaid may rationalize his deceit as a Leo Straussian "noble lie," but in reality it is a dishonorable attack [6].
(**A half-truth comes in several forms, and is a deceptive statement that includes some element of truth. The purpose and or consequence of a half-truth is to make something that is really only a belief appear to be knowledge, or a truthful statement to represent the whole truth, or possibly lead to a false conclusion.)
c. Other Attacks:
(1) 1949 Honolulu NAACP Incident [7]:
(a) Ironically, Cliff Kincaid has himself posted proof of AIM disinformation. One of the most flagrant examples is AIM's misrepresentation of the 1949 Honolulu NAACP incident involving Davis. Fortunately for researchers, and unfortunately for his colleagues, Kincaid posted the Congressional testimony of Board member Edward Berman online [8]..
(b) As you can clearly read, Berman stated that Frank Marshall Davis appeared at ONE meeting to “propagandize the membership about our ‘racial problems’,” and Davis was supported by the “Stalinist” group. Based on Berman’s one letter to the NAACP describing the situation, AIM fabricated four different versions of Davis’s encounter with the Honolulu NAACP:
1. Fabricated Version #1: In this falsehood, Berman supposedly criticized Davis for allegedly sneaking into NAACP meetings, while allegedly having the “avowed intent” of converting the same meetings. Berman said nothing of the kind [9].
2. Fabricated Version #2: In this falsehood, Davis allegedly tries to take over meetings instead of sneaking into them. Berman said nothing of the kind [10].
3. Fabricated Version #3: In this falsehood by the “honorable” Dr. Paul Kengor, Roy Wilkins supposedly criticized Davis directly when he “rightly noted of Davis and his comrades: they would now destroy the local branch of the NAACP." In reality, Wilkins made no criticism of Davis [11].
4. Fabricated Version #4: In this falsehood, Davis tried to take over the NAACP itself! Berman made no such statement [12].
(c) Obviously not all accounts can truly represent Berman's testimony, but all four accounts have something in common: All four MISREPRESENT Berman’s testimony regarding Frank Marshall Davis. Even without reviewing the testimony, it should be readily apparent to an objective observer that some versions must be misrepresentations. In fact, ALL are misrepresentations. Read the testimony, then see how widely AIM's falsehoods, based on this testimony, have permeated the blogosphere. Misrepresenting Berman's testimony was only one piece in AIM's body of lies regarding the Davis-Obama relationship.
(2) Another piece in AIM's web of lies is the post "Obama's Red Mentor Praised Red Army" [13]. This is a double deception because it contains a half-truth built on the falsehood of mentorship. It is a half-truth because Cliff Kincaid neglects to mention that although Davis did praise the Red Army during WWII, many Americans, including President Roosevelt, praised the Red Army. The Soviet Union was our ALLY [14]. The whole truth is that praising your allies is NORMAL for leaders during wartime! By only telling half the truth, AIM ignored the context of his praise. Through their scam, opponents created the illusion of Davis praising a hostile Red Army rather than an allied Red Army. They even accused Davis of being a Stalinist without evidence.
d. A painstakingly documented analysis of Kincaid's falsehoods is posted as "specific misrepresentation" in my "Redbaiting Barack Obama" post [15]. I invite any person of integrity to refute my evidence against his body of lies. If he had authentic evidence of Davis's radical influence, he would not need to fabricate such evidence.
III. “SEX REBEL: BLACK”
A. BACKGROUND:
1. Davis undeniably wrote a scandalous memoir-novel (Sex Rebel: Black) under the pseudonym Bob Greene, one chapter of which is devoted to fictional character Bob Greene and his wife having sex with a thirteen-year old girl [34]. This fact was accurately reported on August 24, 2008 by Toby Hamden on a British website [16]. A similar story was published by The Enquirer on October 20, 2008 [17]. Both articles, however, misrepresented the scandalous escapades of fictional author Bob Greene as actually occurring in Davis's life. Thus they smear Davis, and through guilt-by-association smear Barack Obama.
2. In "Sex Rebel," Davis's Bob Greene (not unlike Nabokov's Humbert Humbert) hesitates at a pubescent girl's sexual invitation, but foolishly relents. Like "Lolita," this faux foreword is written by a PhD impersonator who details the psychological significance of the memoir. Like Nabokov, Davis wanted to write under a pseudonym to shield his reputation, but felt compelled to reveal his authorship. As a result, however, Davis has been posthumously accused of pedophilia, while "Lolita" is "considered by many to be one of the finest novels written in the 20th century." In 1998, it was named the fourth greatest English language novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library," despite also being initially dismissed as pornography, according to Wikipedia. The rampant misrepresentation of Davis, with scarcely a whisper towards Nabokov, proves the issue is politically motivated.
3. This disinformation campaign fits the pattern epitomized by "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," in which targets are smeared through deliberate misrepresentation. In both cases master propagandists falsely claimed that works of fiction were authentic accounts of their targets, in order to provoke further attacks. Both cases depended upon gullible members of the general population, who were predisposed to believing such disinformation, and who could be counted upon to spread such smears even further. In the absence of credible evidence, both cases fail miserably under close scrutiny. As cesspools of slander, innuendo, and trumped-up charges, such unsubstantiated accusations reflect the perverse nature of their accusers more than their targets.
B. DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN: Forensic study may reveal that Hamden and others skillfully built a slanderous house of cards in framing Davis as a pedophile based solely on his novel. To wit:
1. False Attribution: According to Hamden, "Mr. Davis (writing as Greene) explains that although he has “changed names and identities…all incidents I have described have been taken from actual experiences."
a. Please note that the fictional character Bob Greene, not author Davis, alleges that incidents were taken from actual experiences. Even Hamden's travesty of journalism only stated that Mr. Davis confirmed that he was the author, not that Davis said the events actually occurred in his own life.
b. Casual readers of Hamden's story may not have noticed this sleight of hand (fallacy of equivocation) when substituting author Davis for fictional character Bob Greene as the subject of experiences in the book. In this one maneuver, Hamden cleverly shifted the identity of subject "he" from Greene to Davis, thereby indicating that Greene's fictional story actually happened to Davis in real life. This deception, however, reveals Hamden's intent to directly smear Davis and thereby indirectly smear Obama through guilt-by-association.
2. Escalation #1: On the same day (August 24) Hamden’s report was published, so-called "Accuracy In Media" (AIM) published a new report citing Hamden’s story. (AIM had already published numerous reports defaming Frank Marshall Davis starting in February 2008.) AIM now reported that Edgar Tidwell, an "expert in the life and writing of Davis," confirmed that Frank Marshall Davis wrote "Sex Rebel: Black" as a semi-autobiographical novel. Despite Tidwell's expert opinion that the novel was SEMI-autobiographical, AIM escalated accusations against Davis by claiming he was a sex pervert [18] based on Hamden’s same-day report. Kincaid falsely attributed the "pervert" claim to Hamden’s report.
3. Escalation #2: On 14 October, AIM again escalated the charges by falsely claiming Davis was an "admitted child molester" [19].
4. Summary:
a. Collusion: Evidence strongly suggests that Hamden and AIM worked together on this story before either post was published on August 24: AIM’s post referenced Hamden’s story although both were published the same day. Further, AIM’s false attribution of the “pervert” claim to Hamden’s story suggests AIM referenced Hamden’s draft rather than a final version. As a result, the "pervert" claim may be attributed to a coordinated disinformation effort.
b. Analysis: Toby Hamden's telegraph.uk story (also reported by the National Enquirer) is a masterpiece of propaganda. Through clever wording, it falsely attributes the statements of fictional character Bob Greene to actual author Frank Marshall Davis, including the adventures with the 13-year old girl, then claims Davis was a pervert based solely upon this novel. This misrepresentation was succinctly analyzed on another website as follows:
"I think it’s important to say this often and in full — The Enquirer has no evidence that Frank Marshall Davis was a “sex pervert.” They absolutely don’t have evidence that he raped anyone, child or no. The entirety of their claimed “proof” is that Davis admitted to authoring a pulp novel in which these acts are committed, and that the novel in question was promoted and written as a shocking tell-all memoir about some anonymous black rebel.
In case you’re not familiar with the genre, pulp/exploitation novels were almost invariably “based on a true story,” “autobiographical,” etc. This both helped them sell better and supposedly shielded them from some legal attacks. In addition, quite a few authors in that era made a living writing pulp anonymously. It was the equivalent of today’s acres of ghostwritten romance/Tom Clancy novels.
The Enquirer’s claim has no credibility — not because it’s the Enquirer, but simply because their assertion that “Sex Rebel: Black” is documentary evidence is invalid" [20].
C. EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE: There are at least four conditions that protect Frank Marshall Davis from literal attribution of this novel:
1. The Memoir-Novel Genre:
a. All memoir-novels, whether pornographic (e.g., John Cleland's "Fanny Hill"), satirical (e.g., Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"), or other genre (e.g., Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders"), are allegedly true but nevertheless fiction. The fictional authors of memoir-novels, such as "Bob Greene," claim that such incidents actually occurred although they, too, are fictional. In a broader sense, ALL first-person narrative novels, such as Nabokov's "Lolita" and Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," claim authenticity despite obviously being fiction. To claim that some memoir-novels are literally true (if convenient for one's political agenda), while acknowledging that other memoir-novels are truly fiction, is intellectual dishonesty.
b. Please note that Jonathan Swift (writing as fictional character Gulliver in memoir-novel "Gulliver's Travels") described various encounters with Lilliputians and other characters, and Vladimir Nabokov (writing as fictional character Humbert Humbert in memoir-novel "Lolita") described various encounters with Lolita and other characters. Upon what rational basis can someone claim that Davis's story is history, while other first person narrative memoir-novels are fantasy? To literally attribute memoir-novel character Bob Greene's encounters to Davis, but not attribute the encounters of memoir-novel characters Gulliver and Humbert Humbert to their respective authors, indicates a flagrantly biased double standard to smear Barack Obama through guilt-by-association.
c. Samuel Clemens' "Mark Twain" Example:
(1) Davis's book is like Samuel Clemens "Roughing It," in that they were both written under pseudonyms that were also fictional characters in their stories:
"Samuel Clemens wrote autobiographical novels under the pseudonym "Mark Twain," including "Roughing It," which "follows the travels of young Mark Twain through the Wild West during the years 1861–1867. After a brief stint as a Confederate cavalry militiaman, he joined his brother Orion Clemens, who had been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory, on a stagecoach journey west. Twain consulted his brother's diary to refresh his memory and borrowed heavily from his active imagination for many stories in the novel" [28].
(2) In both cases authors used pseudonyms to publish autobiographical novels that were "fictionalized but still based upon actual occurrences." In both cases these novels presented fictionalized adventures of their pseudonymous characters. Does anyone claim that the adventures of "Mark Twain" literally occurred in the life of Samuel Clemens, because "Mark Twain" said they happened? If not, then why should anyone claim that the adventures of Bob Greene literally occurred in the life of Frank Marshall Davis, because "Bob Greene" said they happened? Fair weather principles indicate bias.
2. Scandalous memoirs such as "Sex Rebel: Black (Memoirs of a Gash Gourmet)" have been a literary genre for centuries. According to Wikipedia, such scandalous memoirs are allegedly factual, but are largely invented. The title, alone, qualifies it as a "scandalous memoir." It is the epitome of dishonesty to claim, without empirical evidence, that fictional characters' experiences actually occurred in their author's real life.
3. Fictional character Bob Greene, not author Frank Marshall Davis, "changed names and identities" of other characters. According to dictionary.com, "identity" means "condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is: a case of mistaken identity." Changing name AND identities means changing names AND other "condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is," which may include biographical data such as age. Further, "taken from actual experiences" does not mean they are accurate representations of any experiences.
4. Edgar Tidwell, the expert on the life and writing of Frank Marshall Davis, says the book is "semiautobiographical," which (according to dictionary.com) means "1. pertaining to or being a fictionalized account of an author's own life. 2. pertaining to or being a work of fiction strongly influenced by events in an author's life." "Sex Rebel: Black" is therefore a fictionalized account of events in Davis's life.
5. In an honest evaluation, any of these conditions should protect the author from literal attribution. The combination of all four should provide absolute protection from any such claims made in good faith.
D. DISCUSSION:
1. Core Issues:
a. Contrary to fairy tales drifting around the blogosphere, Davis never "admitted" that any of the events from his novel actually happened in real life. You will find that critics are trying to railroad Davis with trumped-up evidence, just like Mike Nifong tried to railroad the Duke lacrosse team, Andrew Brietbart tried to railroad Shirley Sherrod, and Dr. Hatfill was railroaded in the anthrax letters case.
b. Calling Davis a pedophile based on his novel makes no more sense than calling David Letterman a pedophile based on his joke. Both accusations were widespread in the right-wing blogosphere, and reflect the pinnacle of intellectual dishonesty. Both misrepresent the core values of artists by spreading falsehoods that gullible readers accept as truth, and who then spread further in good faith.
c. Like Mike Nifong, the disgraced ex-D.A. in the Duke lacrosse case, their campaign to demonize their target ignores exculpatory evidence in their reckless rush to judgment. Just as Nifong tried to railroad Duke lacrosse players, so too are Hamden, Kincaid, and others railroad Davis for political purposes. In order to smear Barack Obama through guilt-by-association with Frank Marshall Davis, they are virtually lynching Davis by grossly misrepresenting his character and influence. By misrepresenting fictional activities described in "Sex Rebel" as Davis's actual activities, they have trumped-up evidence to frame Davis. Such misrepresentation may be symptomatic of the accuser's own psychological disorder, indicated by projection of the accuser's own pedophilic fantasies onto the author.
d. The issue is rather simple: Either you literally attribute fictional characters' stories to their authors' real lives, or you accept that fictional characters' stories are fiction. By definition, even semi-autobiographical novels are fictionalized accounts of their authors' own lives. Research should reveal that ALL fictional narrators of such novels claim the events are true, although their actual authors make no such claims!
2. Pornography in the United States:
a. Pornography is becoming mainstream entertainment. To keep things in perspective, "Sex Rebel: Black" is no more pornographic than the majority of R and TV-MA programs available on premium cable (e.g. HBO, Cinemax), not to mention pop music, because it uses the same sexually explicit language. According to "Frontline": AT&T has been in the business. Yahoo! has profited from it. Westin and Marriott have made more money selling it than selling snacks and drinks in their mini-bars. And with estimates as high as $10 billion a year, it boasts the kind of earnings that most American businesses would envy" [21]
b Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, according to a report [22]. "Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by." According to Christianity Today [23]:
"Seventy percent of American men ages 18–34 view Internet pornography once a month. This shocking fact is one of many that CT consulting editor John W. Kennedy found during his research for this month's cover story, "Help for the Sexually Desperate" (page 28).
Don't assume that porn isn't a problem in the church. One evangelical leader was skeptical of survey findings that said 50 percent of Christian men have looked at porn recently. So he surveyed his own congregation. He found that 60 percent had done so within the past year, and 25 percent within the past 30 days. Other surveys reveal that one in three visitors to adult websites are women."
c. Another survey [24] found "In a poll of 1,000 respondents, 50 percent of Christian men and 20 percent of Christian women were found to be addicted to pornography. Conducted by ChristaNet.com, a popular Christian marketplace website, the poll asked visitors about their personal sexual conduct."
3. Pornography Double Standards:
a. Question for porn critics: Do you consider ALL writers, producers, actors, promoters, distributors (HBO, Showtime Cinemax, and local cable companies), consumers, and others involved in the porn market to be perverts? Or do you just target those whose politics you disagree with?
b. Although pornography may be mainstream, the pornography disinformation against Frank Marshall Davis is just as heinous as the political disinformation. At a minimum, it indicates a cognitive disorder manifested by an inability to distinguish fact from fiction, in the manner of soap opera fans who blame actors for their characters' misdeeds. Further, it suggests that those making such false accusations may be projecting their own libidinous psychological disorders onto Davis. Do those spewing such nonsense also believe that John Cleland personally experienced the erotic adventures of "Fanny Hill," or that Nabokov was sexually involved with Lolita? Do they believe that Jonathan Swift personally experienced the adventures of "Gulliver's Travels"?
c. Here we have redbaiting, race-baiting, and now crime-baiting, where Davis is misrepresented as an avowed communist, racist, and criminal monster, in the creation of a straw man through which Obama is easy to attack through guilt-by-association. This disinformation campaign fits the pattern epitomized by "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," where a target is smeared through deliberate misrepresentation.
E. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELS (Fictional Author Claims "Truth"):
1. Introduction to "Fanny Hill":
"I sit down to give you an undeniable proof of my considering your desires as indispensable orders. Ungracious then as the task may be, I shall recall to view those scandalous stages of my life, out of which I emerg'd, at length, to the enjoyment of every blessing in the power of love, health, and fortune to bestow; whilst yet in the flower of youth, and not too late to employ the leisure afforded me by great ease and affluence, to cultivate an understanding, naturally not a despicable one, and which had, even amidst the whirl of loose pleasures I had been tost in, exerted more observation on the characters and manners of the world than what is common to those of my unhappy profession, who looking on all thought or reflection as their capital enemy, keep it at as great a distance as they can, or destroy it without mercy. Hating, as I mortally do, all long unnecessary preface, I shall give you good quarter in this, and use no farther apology, than to prepare you for seeing the loose part of my life, wrote with the same liberty that I led it.
Truth! stark, naked truth, is the word; and I will not so much as take the pains to bestow the strip of a gauze wrapper on it, but paint situations such as they actually rose to me in nature, careless of violating those laws of decency that were never made for such unreserved intimacies as ours; and you have too much sense, too much knowledge of the ORIGINALS themselves, to sniff prudishly and out of character at the PICTURES of them. The greatest men, those of the first and most leading taste, will not scruple adorning their private closets with nudities, though, in compliance with vulgar prejudices, they may not think them decent decorations of the staircase, or salon.
This, and enough, premised, I go souse into my personal history. My maiden name was Frances Hill. I was born at a small village near Liverpool, in Lancashire, of parents extremely poor, and, I piously believe, extremely honest" [29].
2. Introduction to "Gulliver's Travels":
"FROM
Capt. GULLIVER
To His
Cousin SYMPSON
I HOPE YOU will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels; with direction to hire some young gentlemen of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin, Dampier did by my advice, in his book called, A Voyage round the World. But I do not remember I gave you power to consent, that any thing should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted: therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that kind; particularly a paragraph about her Majesty the late Queen Anne, of most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem her more than any of human species. But you, or your interpolator, ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination, so was it not decent to praise any animal of our composition before my master Houyhnhnm: and, besides, the fact was altogether false; for to my knowledge, being in England during some part of her Majesty's reign, she did govern by a chief minister; nay even by two successively; the first whereof was the Lord of Godolphin, and the second the Lord of Oxford; so that you have made me say the thing that was not. Likewise, in the account of the academy of projectors, and several passages of my discourse to my Master Houyhnhnm, you have either omitted some material circumstances, or minced or changed them in such a manner, that I do hardly know my own work. When I formerly hinted to you something of this in a letter, you were pleased to answer, that you were afraid of giving offence; that people in power were very watchful over the press; and apt not only to interpret, but to punish every thing which looked like an inuendo (as I think you call it). But pray, how could that which I spoke so many years ago, and at about five thousand leagues distance, in another reign, be applied to any of the Yahoos, who now are said to govern the herd; especially, at a time when I little thought on or feared the unhappiness of living under them. Have not I the most reason to complain, when I see these very Yahoos carried by Houyhnhnms in a vehicle, as if these were brutes, and those the rational creatures? And, indeed, to avoid so monstrous and detestable a sight, was one principal motive of my retirement hither"[35].
3. Other Autobiographical Novels:
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)
George Borrow, Lavengro (1851)
Leo Tolstoy, Childhood (1852)
Charlotte Brontë, Villette (1853)
Leo Tolstoy, Boyhood (1854)
Leo Tolstoy, Youth (1856)
Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days (1857)
Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater (1857)
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1860), which has many autobiographical elements but to a lesser extent
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)
Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903)
D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers (1913)
Jack London, John Barleycorn (1913)
Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage (1915)
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (1920)
Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time (1927), aka A Remembrance of Things Past
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel (1929)
Louis Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night (1932), as well as "Death on Credit" (also, "Death on an Installment Plan") and subsequent books as well.
Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), a mock autobiography of Stein's secretary and companion purported to be Toklas's views of Stein.
Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (1934)
Ayn Rand, We, the Living (1936)
Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn (1939)
James A. Michener, The Fires of Spring (1949), semi-autobiographical
Graham Greene, The End of the Affair (1951)
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)
Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March (1953)
William S. Burroughs, Junkie (1953)
James Agee, A Death in the Family (1957)
Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)
Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (1958)
Elie Wiesel, Night (1958), sometimes considered an autobiographical novel although classified as a memoir by the author.
Ian Fleming, (1960's) Some of the James Bond experiences are based in his own World War II spy missions.
Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco (1961)
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)
Kenzaburo Oe, A Personal Matter (1964)
Isaac Bashevis Singer, In My Father's Court, (1966)
Frederick Exley, A Fan's Notes (1967)
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)
Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle (1973)
Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1973)
Pat Conroy, The Great Santini (1976)
Samuel R. Delany, Heavenly Breakfast (1979)
Philip K. Dick, VALIS (1981), perhaps the only book that could be considered both an autobiographical novel and a work of science fiction
Isabel Allende, The House of Spirits (1982), includes many elements from her family history
Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye (1982)
J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun (1984)
Marguerite Duras, The Lover (1984)
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985)
Jaan Kross, The Wikman Boys (1988)
Samuel R. Delany, The Motion of Light in Water (1988)
Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (1990)
Davis Miller, The Tao of Muhammad Ali (1996), described as a 'non-fiction novel'.
Homer Hickam, Rocket Boys (1998)
James Frey, A Million Little Pieces (2003), marketed as a memoir before a media controversy questioned its accuracy.
Craig Thompson, Blankets (2003), an autobiographical graphic novel.
Tobias Wolff, Old School (2003), loosely based on Wolff's life although more novel than biography.
Mohammad Ali wih Hana Yasmeen Ali, The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)
James Frey, My Friend Leonard (2005)
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007)
Daniel Selby Retracing My Steps (2009)
Mona Simpson, Anywhere But Here
EXPANDED OUTLINE
PART I: BACKGROUND
A. CONSERVATIVE DISINFORMATION NETWORK
B. VIRAL DISTRIBUTION
C. MAINSTREAM MEDIA
D. SCOPE OF ANALYSIS
PART 2: THE 'SOCIALIST" CLAIM
A. DISINFORMATION OBJECTIVE
B. EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE
1. Expert Opinion (Tidwell):
a. Dismisses misrepresentation
b. "Radical" goals are mainstream
2. Joining the CPUSA
a. Marriage of convenience (New Red Negro quote)
b. Unfair vilification for associations
c. New Red Negro: No CPUSA monolith
(1) Differences within CPUSA
(2) Black intellectual Communist ties
d. Communist ties normal during era
e. Only some CPUSA members internalize values
f. Even today people join without internalizing values
3. Poems Attacked Stalin
4. Newspaper Column (Frank-ly Speaking)
a. Conservative misrepresentation.
b. 26 Jan 50 column: "horror of socialism"
(1) "As for free enterprise. . ."
(2) "Backbone of free enterprise. . ."
C. CREATING THE "SOCIALIST" MYTH
1. Origins
2. Disinformation Operations
3. AIM's Disinformation Campaign
a. Initial Attack: three enduring falsehoods
(1) Avowed communist
(2) Continuing relationship
(3) Teaching communism
(4) Like "Alice In Wonderland"
b. Continuing Disinformation Campaign
(1) House of cards
(2) Straussian "noble" lies
c. Other Attacks:
(1) 1949 NAACP
(a) Berman's congressional testimony
(b) Four different false AIM versions:
1 Davis allegedly sneaking into meeting
2 Davis allegedly taking over meeting
3 Roy Wilkins allegedly criticized Davis
4 Davis allegedly tries to take over NAACP
(c) All cannot be true
(2) Red Army Poem
(3) Others?
d. Posted "specific misrepresentation" in "Redbaiting"
PART III. "SEX REBEL: BLACK" DISINFORMATION
A. BACKGROUND:
1. Telegraph.uk (Hamden) and Enquirer stories
2. Similarities with "Lolita"
3. Pattern fits "Protocols"
B. DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN:
1. False Attribution:
a. Greene alleges, not Davis
b. Sleight of hand
2. Escalation #1: AIM claims Davis is "pervert"
3. Escalation #2: AIM claims Davis is "admitted child molester"
4. Summary:
a. Collusion between AIM and Hamden
b. External analysis of pulp novel
C. EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE: Four disclaimers
1. The Memoir-Novel Genre
a. All allegedly true
b. Examples: Swift, Nabokov
c. "Roughing It" similarities
2. Scandalous Memoirs
3. Fictional Character Greene
4. Tidwell's opinion
5. Honest Evaluation
6. Other Autobiographical Novels
D. DISCUSSION
1. Core Issues:
a. Davis never "admitted" story is true
b. Calling Davis a "pedophile"
c. Like Mike Nifong
d. The issue is simple
2. Porn in the U.S.
a. Mainstream
b. State consumption
c. Surveys
3. Porn Double Standards
a. Who targeted?
b. Porn disinformation
c. Created straw man
E. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELS
1. Fanny Hill excerpt
2. Gulliver's Travels excerpt
3. Other Autobiographical Novels
"DISINFORMATION AGAINST FMD" REFERENCES:
1. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/28/alter-how-obama-can-fight-the-lies.html
2. http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
3. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/media-excuse-obamas-false-advertising
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1220056/China-second-highest-number-billionaires-world-nations-super-rich-buck-financial-crisis-s.html#ixzz12qumnxnV
5. http://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/clear/HonoluluRecord1/frankblog1950.html
6. http://www.sanford.duke.edu/centers/tiss/pubs/documents/Kiss.pdf
7. http://kaleokualoha2878577.newsvine.com/_news/2011/01/09/5801313-1949-honolulu-naacp-incident
8. Exhibit 4A of http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/hawaii-obama.pdf
9. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-red-mentor-praised-red-army
10. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obama-plays-reagan-in-berlin
11. http://www.aim.org/guest-column/return-of-the-dupes-and-the-anti-anti-communists
12. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/ap-lies-about-obamas-red-mentor):
13. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-red-mentor-praised-red-army
15. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/Kaleokualoha/gGxdvX
16. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2601914/Frank-Marshall-Davis-alleged-Communist-was-early-influence-on-Barack-Obama.html
17. http://www.nationalenquirer.com/obama_sex_perv_scandal/celebrity/65575).
18. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-red-mentor-was-a-pervert/ )
19. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/was-a-communist-obamas-sex-teacher/
20. http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/12703.html/comment-page-2#comment-1105334]
21. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/view/#more).
22. (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16680-porn-in-the-usa-conservatives-are-biggest-consumers.html)
23. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/march/20.7.html):
24. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070605/porn-addiction-flooding-culture-church/index.html)
26. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/Kaleokualoha
27. http://books.google.com/books?id=kt5LMD-OnxoC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22the+new+red+negro%22+communist+davis&source=web&ots=B-HaNJA9HW&sig=ZiOltjxuI1QwdjCAvvEC0f4NnGQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA48,M1)
28. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughing_It)
29 http://fiction.eserver.org/novels/fanny_hill/01.html"
30. http://issuu.com/xinyangge/docs/obama_barack_-_dreams_from_my_father
31. http://cletuswilbury.newsvine.com/_news/2008/04/27/1455786-barack-obamas-friend-frank
32. http://kaleokualoha2878577.newsvine.com/_news/2011/01/10/5809809-closing-the-circle-2009
33. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/
34. http://www.scribd.com/doc/22472003/Sex-Rebel-Black-Memoirs-of-a-Gash-Gourmet-Frank-Marshall-Davis
35. http://publicliterature.org/books/gullivers_travels/1
36. http://thelonggoodbye.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/barack-obama-and-frank-marshall-davis/
OTHER REFERENCES: For objective articles on this issue, please see