Wombats on the "scurrilous" hunt

Anatomy of an Idol Smear Campaign by James Shepherd (2006/03/30)

This is a follow up to my previous treatment of this subject - Clay Aiken and ClayNation Undergo New Round of Attacks.

Since that time, that National Enquirer piece has inspired even the reputable newspapers to begin to refer to the alleged sexual encounter between Clay Aiken and one John Paulus. But also, the alleged complaint to the FTC by nine ClayMates has somehow fueled the flames even more by giving more credibility to the story, and the reputable newspapers and other forms of media are beginning to refer to the incident as if there is something factual at the basis. (As for writing a rag-story, here are some interesting tips - link.)

Where there's smoke there's fire! Right? Or, maybe where there is smoke, it just means that there is a smokescreen in operation and there is no fire at all. But if people keep seeing smoke, what else should they think? What I will attempt to do in this article is walk right through the smoke and expose what is behind this whole mess.

Clay Aiken is a singer/performer about whom many are obsessed. Obsession is natural for those in his fan base - the term "fan" is derived from "fanatic." Therefore, Clay's fan base contain members at various levels of obsession to just mild interest. However, there are also what are called "anti-fans" of Clay Aiken. These are fans from other Idol fan bases who hate Clay's fans, for a variety of reasons, and center their hated upon Clay and his fan base. These anti-fans are obsessed with Clay too, but in a very negative direction. Fortunately, there are very few of these people.

However, there is another group of people sometimes overlooked as being obsessed with Clay Aiken. These people come from a portion of the gay community. They are huge fans of Clay, and sometimes they unite to share with one another their Clay Aiken obsession. The discussion board "Openly Clay" has been around for a long time. Some of its members are gay, and also, some of its members have this minor obsession about "outing" Clay, assuming that Clay is gay. They don't seem to believe Clay Aiken when he has stated that he is not gay. Most certainly it is their right to disbelieve Clay, but why be obsessed with an Idol who is a liar? It doesn't make much sense to me.

There simply seems to be this natural tendency to want to "out" Clay from some of his fans in the gay community. What makes it even more appealing to "out" Clay Aiken is that Clay has an evangelical Christian background. However, according to his autobiography, Learning To Sing, Clay has strong leanings towards the more liberal side of Christianity, so it would be a mistake to paint Clay Aiken with an evangelical Christian brush. In any event, it should be no secret that many evangelical Christians are known to be greatly opposed to the homosexual lifestyle. Some extremists from this group of people have gained a very unsavory reputation.

John Paulus, the source behind the National Enquirer article about Clay Aiken, seemed to have received his push into the limelight through Perez Hilton's website. Now if you peruse Hilton's website, you will find that it blends in quite well with the mentality behind the Enquirer - scandal, gossip, rumours and innuendo.

Recently, an alleged webcam shot of Clay Aiken was put up on Terry Goldman's very influential blog. The source is Paulus who claimed that this was a shot of Clay Aiken:

A photoshop expert duplicated the layer and used the "Exclusion" setting in Paint Shop Pro to bring up the manipulation that had been done. Now, when viewed, you will see a white line around the head indicating an insertion. When the photo is blown-up, the white line is even more noticeable:

John Paulus insists that this webcam is legitimate, but it's an obvious fake - (Paulus' comments from the Hilton website). This is simply a very poor photoshop job, but we shouldn't expect those who appear to want to maintain a scandal going to all have superb technical skills. Besides, where did Clay's big ears disappear to? Did he get an ear job recently?

There have been other gay columnists, like Billy Masters, who appear to have shown a "slight" obsession with Clay Aiken. This is not really a conspiracy but simply a reality in that some gay men in influential positions within the entertainment industry are more than willing to play along with the speculation of Clay Aiken and his alleged gayness. However, as for those they might support, as in Hilton supporting John Paulus, they might not be too scrupulous. But when it comes to scandal, rumour and innuendo, why be picky about one's sources.

This, of course, brings us back to the National Enquirer article that exposed Paulus' story about his alleged sexual encounter with Clay Aiken. How reliable is the reporter, Alan Butterfield of the National Enquirer? He allegedly has been the subject of several lawsuits, with at least one pending. And as for the kind of polygraph tests that the Enquirer administers, there is some question about their reliability since sometimes, allegedly, the test is taken more than once and the subject may sometimes receive anti-anxiety drugs to ensure that, for the second time, better results come about. (see link)

Some of the media picked up the Enquirer piece and made references to it. However, when those nine alleged Clay Aiken fans issued a press release that they were filing a complaint against BMG and RCA, more of the media treated the source of the story as having some sort of validity.

What people seem to be missing in this alleged lawsuit is that it is not a lawsuit but simply a complaint filed with the FTC, which by the way, would not even be considered by the FTC since the complainants' identities can not be confirmed. But when it comes to rags like the National Enquirer and lawsuits, it's usually the case that the Enquirer gets sued. But in this case, nine people are only filing a complaint based upon the strength of an article from this rag. How silly can these nine people be? However, anyone can issue a press release. Personally, I find it hard to believe that even one person would take any serious action based upon "facts" from a National Enquirer article. But if there are nine of them, how in the world did they find each other, considering that their combined IQ must be far less than their shoe size?

Up to now, all we have heard are allegations from a few scandal websites and a scandal magazine, and a press release that a complaint has been filed with the FTC. So, sometimes where there is smoke, there is a fire; sometimes it's just a smokescreen where there is no fire at all; and sometimes, the source of the smoke is just a burning dung-hill.

http://beaversonidol.com/articles/anatomyofasmearcampaign.html