Kevin Husted, candidate for Medford School Board, makes a strong first impression.
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| Kevin Husted, candidate for School Board |
His candidacy has finally gotten noticed, big time.
He's the guy giving "the finger" saying he would like to rape and pillage and have people be fine with it.
It is a case study in how to do it very well, and we can see it executed in real time.
He's the guy giving "the finger" saying he would like to rape and pillage and have people be fine with it.
Damage Control is underway.
It is a case study in how to do it very well, and we can see it executed in real time.
Step One: Get out of sight. I contacted Husted two days ago, told him his Instagram post was up, and that I considered it "troubling" and "immature", as well as noting it had bad grammar. He responded by a brief text saying he agreed it was immature and ungrammatical and that I should contact his campaign consultant, Reagan Knopp, for more details.
Husted then took down the Instagram post and made his Twitter and Instagram feeds private. His Facebook page has been scrubbed of comments and questions from citizens on this issue. He isn't saying anything, not explaining, not being "transparent," nothing. Radio silence.
That is smart.
Step Two: Let a competent surrogate do the talking. He has a spokesperson, Reagan Knopp, whose business is campaign consultancy. Knopp talked with me, said he would write me a statement, and then did so. If Knopp were doing the talking he could be asked the simple question "What in the world were you thinking?" which puts onto center stage the Instagram post, but a spokesperson can stick to exactly what he wants to say and by controlling the subject, controls the message.
Also, smart.
Step Three: Minimize the error. Knopp used a very clever adjective in his one sentence explanation: "unwise." The notion of unwise is that what Husted did was less than ideal. Not stupid. Not vulgar. Not juvenile. Not wacky. Not grounds for termination by an employee. Not disrespectful. Not shameful.
Knopp moved the frame to "unwise," something less than ideal and then conceded that point, because after all, less than ideal happens all the time. It's nothing to get upset over.
Plus, Knopp noted that it happened back in 2015. Old business. Move on.
Smart.
Step Four: Pivot to attack the opponent. If the subject of public attention is Husted's post, and whatever mental state was going on that had him post it and leave it up through two campaigns, then Husted loses the debate. Either he is nasty or reckless or awesomely immature--or "unwise"--but in any case, surely his family and friends and he himself are less than proud of his Instagram post. Husted is supported by people despite the post, not because of it.
So, Reagan Knopp immediately changed the subject to Husted's opponent. What about her. "She is wrong for students and wrong for Medford," he wrote. Smart.
Husted has an advocate currently serving on the Medford School Board, Jim Horner. I inquired whether he would be troubled by such a post, were it created by the employee the Board manages, the School Superintendent. He responded:
"I’m unable to respond specifically to the rest of your question as it concerns possible board action regarding a district employee, not a four year old posting by a private citizen."
The focus of Horner's response to me was on-message for damage control, and well-executed. He, too, pivoted the subject to Husted's opponent. Forget Husted. What about his opponent???
"Kevin’s unfortunate image reminds me of the unfortunate image created when Kevin’s opponent, Karen Starchvick, then board chair, gathered a quorum of the board (not including Cynthia Wright and myself) at a local pub to imbibe alcoholic beverages and review the results of the CTE bond election."
He enclosed a photo from a local newspaper showing five board members looking at screens showing election results. He said,"Wow, talk about questionable mature judgement!"
This is adept damage control. Stop the focus on Husted. Knopp and Horner are asserting that the real issue is Karen Starchvick's behavior. We accuse her. Look at her!
Kevin Husted may get through this. He has professional help and loyal allies. Additional ones are speaking up for him within the comments sections of social media. Those unscripted volunteers are taking the position that his post was long, long ago, clear way back in 2015, and he has since matured.
But this is a hard PR problem. So far some 12,000 people have seen and shared photos of Kevin flipping The Finger at the camera, and that is based on my posts alone and in the past 22 hours alone.
People who shared my post, who then shared it, would be uncounted and in addition. It isn't that the post is so powerful. It is the image of Husted.
There is power in an image. People see a guy giving them The Finger, and they click to see more.
Husted is click-bait. What's with this guy?
It is body language, an ongoing theme of this blog. Direct, un-mistakable, powerful. Reagan Knopp and Jim Horner are doing what they can, but it may not matter, because it is hard to re-define or minimize some images, and hard to change the subject from the image here.
It isn't about Karen Starchvick. It is about what in the world is going on in the head of the guy giving them The Finger.
That is smart.
Step Two: Let a competent surrogate do the talking. He has a spokesperson, Reagan Knopp, whose business is campaign consultancy. Knopp talked with me, said he would write me a statement, and then did so. If Knopp were doing the talking he could be asked the simple question "What in the world were you thinking?" which puts onto center stage the Instagram post, but a spokesperson can stick to exactly what he wants to say and by controlling the subject, controls the message.
Also, smart.
Step Three: Minimize the error. Knopp used a very clever adjective in his one sentence explanation: "unwise." The notion of unwise is that what Husted did was less than ideal. Not stupid. Not vulgar. Not juvenile. Not wacky. Not grounds for termination by an employee. Not disrespectful. Not shameful.
Knopp moved the frame to "unwise," something less than ideal and then conceded that point, because after all, less than ideal happens all the time. It's nothing to get upset over.
Plus, Knopp noted that it happened back in 2015. Old business. Move on.
Smart.
Step Four: Pivot to attack the opponent. If the subject of public attention is Husted's post, and whatever mental state was going on that had him post it and leave it up through two campaigns, then Husted loses the debate. Either he is nasty or reckless or awesomely immature--or "unwise"--but in any case, surely his family and friends and he himself are less than proud of his Instagram post. Husted is supported by people despite the post, not because of it.
So, Reagan Knopp immediately changed the subject to Husted's opponent. What about her. "She is wrong for students and wrong for Medford," he wrote. Smart.
Husted has an advocate currently serving on the Medford School Board, Jim Horner. I inquired whether he would be troubled by such a post, were it created by the employee the Board manages, the School Superintendent. He responded:
"I’m unable to respond specifically to the rest of your question as it concerns possible board action regarding a district employee, not a four year old posting by a private citizen."
The focus of Horner's response to me was on-message for damage control, and well-executed. He, too, pivoted the subject to Husted's opponent. Forget Husted. What about his opponent???
"Kevin’s unfortunate image reminds me of the unfortunate image created when Kevin’s opponent, Karen Starchvick, then board chair, gathered a quorum of the board (not including Cynthia Wright and myself) at a local pub to imbibe alcoholic beverages and review the results of the CTE bond election."
He enclosed a photo from a local newspaper showing five board members looking at screens showing election results. He said,"Wow, talk about questionable mature judgement!"
This is adept damage control. Stop the focus on Husted. Knopp and Horner are asserting that the real issue is Karen Starchvick's behavior. We accuse her. Look at her!
Damage Control has limits. This is a hard case.
Kevin Husted may get through this. He has professional help and loyal allies. Additional ones are speaking up for him within the comments sections of social media. Those unscripted volunteers are taking the position that his post was long, long ago, clear way back in 2015, and he has since matured.
But this is a hard PR problem. So far some 12,000 people have seen and shared photos of Kevin flipping The Finger at the camera, and that is based on my posts alone and in the past 22 hours alone. People who shared my post, who then shared it, would be uncounted and in addition. It isn't that the post is so powerful. It is the image of Husted.
There is power in an image. People see a guy giving them The Finger, and they click to see more.
Husted is click-bait. What's with this guy?
It is body language, an ongoing theme of this blog. Direct, un-mistakable, powerful. Reagan Knopp and Jim Horner are doing what they can, but it may not matter, because it is hard to re-define or minimize some images, and hard to change the subject from the image here.
It isn't about Karen Starchvick. It is about what in the world is going on in the head of the guy giving them The Finger.
1 comment:
The tactics you outline are skillful, and have evolved over time immemorial as a way to defend the indefensible. It works because in many cases people want to believe, desperately, what they want to believe, regardless of reality, and will do so if given even the thinnest of excuses.
The "what about" defense has become ubiquitous, but it's not particularly sophisticated. I don't think it works at all in a properly functioning court of law. Imagine a defendant accused of car theft being acquitted after saying "Yes, I took the car but what about the banks and those ATM fees?" No, wrongs are judged without context, and should be. After that, other considerations can be applied, appeals can be made, and so on, but only after.
Anyway, it's a social media phenomenon tactic that probably wouldn't be as effective if one couldn't erase the misdeed. How easy it is to hit the delete button, and then start a campaign declaring it never happened. 1 out of 3 will go along with it, reality be damned. Children these days are taught that whatever they do on the internet is there forever, which I find an interesting and novel societal norm.
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