Less than a month into her candidacy for Erie County Executive, Republican Chrissy Casilio-Bluhm has wandered into controversy. Perhaps she could use some PR help.
The focus of her difficulties has been Twitter posts under her former handle, Chrissycaboom. She passed along comments suggesting the Damar Hamlin near tragedy was a PR stunt; that the 2020 election was stolen; and other conspiracy theories of the far-right.
John F. Kennedy announced his campaign for the 1960 presidential election in January of 1960. When did national political campaigns expand and became a 24/7/365 deal? Maybe in the 1980s or early 1990s. Consider what may be the main causes of that development: the explosion of the internet and the start of cable news networks.
The internet certainly does some wonderful things in providing and sharing information, but it also does a terrible job of separating fact from fiction, much less hyperbole from the outright dangerous. Everyone can get their 15 minutes of fame and then some by posting comments on a variety of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Much of that chatter is just notes to friends and colleagues, but some of it is deliberately designed to go beyond what used to be the lines of accuracy, civility, and decency.
Politics and Other Stuff 