By Martijn Icks Social media have made public shaming all too easy. With great frequency, cries of moral indignation resound on the Internet, aimed at persons who have allegedly misbehaved or uttered disgraceful statements. These people suddenly find themselves beleaguered by digital torch-and-pitchfork mobs, ready to slaughter their good name. They are lambasted in furious …
Continue reading Shame on You: Public Humiliation as Punishment
Fairfax, VA – George Mason University’s Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP) Research Lab hosts its second international conference “Character Assassination and Populism: Challenges and Responses” on March 15-17, 2019. One primary characteristic of today’s global society is the growing public distrust in traditional authorities. In the context of institutional legitimacy crisis, there is a great demand for …
Continue reading CARP 2019 Conference “Character Assassination and Populism”
By Sergei A. Samoilenko In March 2012, Teju Cole, an American writer, photographer, and art historian, wrote on his Twitter account, “The fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex. The white saviour supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.” It …
Continue reading On Western Paternalism, Suffering Others, and White Knight Syndrome
By Sergei Samoilenko This past Friday, Jennifer Keohane, Eric Shiraev and I participated in a panel on the topic of “Perspectives on Character Assassination at the Institute of World Politics in the historic red brick Marlatt Mansion just a few blocks from the White House. Our event was apparently “sold out” online, and we had …
Continue reading Highlights from Perspectives on Character Assassination
By Martijn Icks Few names in history hold as much terror as that of Vlad Dracula, “Little Dragon”, also known as Vlad the Impaler. Many people are aware that the blood-curdling stories about the man’s cruelties inspired the Victorian novelist Bram Stoker to name his vampiric creation Count Dracula. What is much less well known …
Clearly, a brandjacked and counterfeited social cause is a serious issue. When pinpointing and punishing a few guilty scapegoats is generally prescribed as a solution to a complex issue, there is less urgency to promote real structural changes. By trivializing the campaign, multiple influencers with vested interests stonewall the necessary development of numerous matters such as women’s autonomy, broken legal systems, and institutionalized structural violence in Hollywood.
By Sergei Samoilenko Many media and political analysts struggle to adequately explain today’s reputation scandals. Oftentimes, they attempt to grasp the recent downfall of powerful public figures only in terms of causes and effects of human activity. Clearly, personal motifs and emotions partially explain the nature of many scandals and accusations. In 2018, it will …
Continue reading The Declining Importance of Character and Other 2018 Trends
By: Jennifer Keohane In a previous post, I noted that while hypocrisy surrounding gun policy has not been enough to cast doubt on the characters of our representatives in Congress, sexual impropriety often has been something serious enough to land one on top of a news cycle, if only briefly. The tide seems to be …
Continue reading Sex and Smears: Can Character Assassination Be Good?
By Martijn Icks Character assassination is an eye-catching word. It triggers associations with murder and violence, with slashed throats and dripping poison. It’s a word that lends itself well to being spoken with righteous indignation: “My character has been assassinated!” Immediately, we’re prompted to sympathize with the victim and despise the dastardly perpetrator who committed …
Continue reading Why Character Assassination Is A Misleading Term (But we continue to use it anyway)
Character Assassination and Reputation Politics Research Lab 