Of late the word “Astroturf” has taken on new popularity. The word itself, referring to artificial turf, was coined in 1967 after its first major use at the Houston Astrodome sports stadium. Before that, the synthetic sod had been known as Chemgrass. The term was borrowed quite some time later to both describe and denounce protests and the like which are inorganic but designed to look genuine, whipped up by some major political mastermind behind the curtain.  Examples of “Astroturfing” internationally have been found in countless anti-Western rallies in countries such as China, North Korea, and Iran.

The more popular use of the term, however, has been in its domestic application within the US. This tends more often to be abused than properly implemented. This is partly the result of hyper-exposure by the media during the Tea Party protests and Town Hall events that followed. In many instances, Congressmen who planned to vote for Barack Obama’s much derided healthcare bill were horrified to encounter large numbers of constituents, many of whom retirees, vocally angry about the bill, and, instead of responding thoughtfully, reacted with accusations. Abuse of the word “Astroturf” is partly no doubt also a result of its snappy sound; one wonders what it might have sounded like to hear Congressman Barney Frank denouncing Republican “Chemgrassing” at town hall events.

The largely pro-Obama American news media, following the administration’s lead and that of various offended congressmen, was quick to take up the growing use of the word and apply it to the protesters. This, despite the fact, as Ryan Sager of the New York Times writes, half of the country opposes the current legislation, which means opponents speaking out against it actually represent a sizable number of Americans.  

Interestingly, there has been historically little discussion of Astroturfing as a factor in protests by the media when covering the rallies in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens back in 2006 or other memorable leftwing protests dating back to the Vietnam War. Instead, such protests were often treated as entirely spontaneous and organic events despite heavy recruitment by labor unions, center-left and hard-left organizations, including some communist groups and foreign actors.

Thus, it was easy for Sager to also counter the claim made by detractors that such Town Hall and Tea Party protests were illegitimate because some involved members of political organizations. Indeed, the reality is that such organizations are part of the social and political mechanism through which people can often become informed and come together about a particular cause. Further, involvement by various organizations began to appear after the protests had already gathered sufficient momentum to attract the attention of political strategists and partisans, which would seem to suggest proof of the protests’ success rather than contrivance. As Sager points out, “If [protesters] believe what they’re saying, no matter who helped organize them, they’re citizens and activists.”

What instead should be of concern is when the government or its officials step in and insert what are called “sock puppets” into the crowd, as we saw during President Obama’s highly structured town hall meetings last week, when a little girl who was able to ask the President a question during the meeting and became an instant celeb among those favoring Obama’s plan turned out to be the daughter of a top Obama campaigner from 2008. Of course, the White House failed to disclose her background at the time. Another example of Astroturfing could also arguably be when Congressmen call up labor union members to have them show up at town hall meetings, let them in early, and deny entry to constituents in order to create an artificially favorable crowd. If artificial is the key difference between grass and Astroturf, then this would certainly apply. Another is when politicians work with labor unions and giant pharmaceutical firms to create campaign-style ads hyped with politically-charged rhetoric. The last, and perhaps most disturbing way in which Astroturfing can occur is when officials employ agent provocateurs to perform some outrageous stunt that is intended to be perceived by media as indicative of the mindset of the entire protest. One example is a man who was seen with a sign branding Obama as a Nazi at one town hall meeting, who later turned out to have been a plant by the Democrat congressman at the event to smear his opposition.

However, Astroturfing takes on a much more sinister role elsewhere in the world. In places like Iran, government officials bus in pro-regime thugs to use violence against anti-regime demonstrators, shout them down, and to demonstrate to domestic and foreign media that the reformers do not represent the country. They also have been used on occasion in China to create the appearance for the media of widespread dissatisfaction with a given US policy, the most famous example of which was after the accidental 1999 US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Of course, such examples of Astroturfing are always fairly easy to spot in such regimes; after all, if you know it is illegal to protest against the government and you see protesters outside protesting unmolested by government security forces, you can safely assume you’ve been astrotufed.

In point of fact, under such conditions, any pro-regime rallies will immediately lose credibility, even if on occasion they may have been in some part genuine. Instead, they will simply get written off by the world because it becomes impossible determine the organic from inorganic. Indeed, government censorship and repression is a two-edged sword. While on the one hand, government leaders aren’t forced to listen to realities which make them uncomfortable, on the other, anyone who speaks up in support of the government automatically loses credibility.