Mud slinging

This headline has been generating a lot of attention recently: US politician Colleen Lachowicz is in the running for Democrat candidate for the State Senate of Maine. But her election campaign has hit a snag with some dirt being dug up by some Republican rivals. What kind of dirt? Apparently Lachowicz is a big fan of World of Warcraft so her political rivals have fashioned site displaying images of her Orc charatcer and the posts she made on the Blizzard forums.

For the full story click here.

Whilst mud-slinging is nothing new in a political campaign, I find this hilarious. I will admit that yes this could result in some people seeing doubt in Lachowicz's ability to make crucial decisions (part and parcel of being leader - playing Peace Maker would do that to you) the rest of the smear campaign is just absurd: It's scare-mongering by people who don't know what they're talking about. Worse still, it's big step backwards when I thought we were all moving away from the incorrect notion of 'games are evil things played by psychotically damaged misanthropes'. Hate to back this to you losers but computer and console games are enjoyed all kinds of people from all walks of life - including politicians.

Still, whilst it may be far too early to call, I can see this backfiring in spectacular fashion - for now that a politician is a keen user of WoW, no doubt this will work in Lachowicz's favor as many people will be getting behind her. 
And it doesn't sound far-fetched that people will back someone who's a step away from the straight-laced politicians that keep running for government. After all, this story takes place in the US - where it's president, Barack Obama, is a fan of Spiderman comics.