Character assassination

Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration, misleading half-truths, or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation and can be a form of ad hominem argument.

For living individuals targeted by character assassination attempts, this may result in being rejected by his community, family, or members of his or her living or work environment. Such acts are often difficult to reverse or rectify, and the process is likened to a literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can last a lifetime or, for historical figures, for many centuries after their death.

In practice, character assassination may involve doublespeak, spreading of rumors, innuendo or deliberate misinformation on topics relating to the subject's morals, integrity, and reputation. It may involve spinning information that is technically true, but that is presented in a misleading manner or is presented without the necessary context. For example, it might be said that a person refused to pay any income tax during a specific year, without saying that no tax was actually owed due to the person having no income that year, or that a person was sacked from a firm, even though he may have been made redundant through no fault of his own, rather than being terminated for cause.

In politics

In politics, perhaps the most common form of character assassination is the spread of allegations that a candidate is a liar. Other common themes may include allegations that the candidate is a bad or unpopular member of his family, has a bad relationship with his spouse or children or is not respected by his colleagues. Another theme claims that the person routinely engages in disturbing, socially unacceptable behavior, such as sexual deviancy. The person may also be portrayed as holding beliefs widely considered despicable within society, such as supporting racism or other forms of bigotry.

Charging an opponent with character assassination may have political benefits. In the hearings for Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, supporters claimed that both Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill were victims of character assassination.^[1]

See also

• Mudslinging
• Fair Game (Scientology)
• Pittura infamante
• McCarthyism
• Hollywood blacklist
• Damnatio memoriae

References

1. ^ Walkowitz, Rebecca L.; Garber, Marjorie B.; Matlock, Jann (1993). Media spectacles. New York: Routledge. pp. 32. ISBN 0-415-90751-9. 

This sociology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Aggression Abuse Bullying Political metaphors Sociology stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая? Model (physical) Princess Mafalda of Savoy Look at other dictionaries: character assassination — character assassinations N VAR A character assassination is a deliberate attempt to destroy someone s reputation, especially by criticizing them in an unfair and dishonest way when they are not present. A full scale character assassination of the …   English dictionary character assassination — index slander Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary character assassination — UK / US noun [countable/uncountable] Word forms character assassination : singular character assassination plural character assassinations the deliberate and unfair destruction of someone s reputation …   English dictionary character assassination — noun an attack intended to ruin someone s reputation • Syn: ↑assassination, ↑blackwash • Derivationally related forms: ↑assassinate (for: ↑assassination) • Hypernyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary character assassination — saying things that ruin a person s reputation, muckrake    What did they say about him? It was mainly gossip and character assassination …   English idioms Character Assassination (album) — Character Assassination Studio album by Ed Kuepper Released August 1994 Recorded …   Wikipedia character assassination — character assassi nation noun count or uncount the deliberate and unfair destruction of someone s reputation …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English character assassination — Synonyms and related words: attack, backbiting, backstabbing, belittlement, blackening, calumny, defamation, defamation of character, defilement, denigration, depreciation, dirt, dirty politics, disparagement, gossip column, juicy morsel, last… …   Moby Thesaurus character assassination — noun Date: 1944 the slandering of a person usually with the intention of destroying public confidence in that person …   New Collegiate Dictionary character assassination — a slandering attack, esp. one intended to damage the reputation of a public or political figure. [1945 50] * * * …   Universalium 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”