Mud treatment

In the article "The Strategy of Mistake" http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2018/3/free/analytics/en/119066.htm the agency noted that this new, worst trend of black PR is gaining momentum. The analysis was presented on the eve of early presidential elections and to some extent was tied to this event. But the next two months showed that this phenomenon is much more strategic than one could imagine.

The apogee of a dirty information war was the so-called desecration of the grave of the father of political emigrant Vidadi Iskanderov, which was inspired by the so-called power ideological group specializing in this direction. The plot, posted on March 2 on Youtube, consisted of two components: a public verbal abuse of Vidadi Iskanderov and his father, and the desecration of the grave of an unknown citizen for the audience, which was represented as the grave of Iskanderov's father. Vidadi Iskanderov demonstrating these shots, knowing that the grave of another person is desecrated, yet did not make this confession. Authorities denied the fact of vandalism of Iskanderov's grave, but, nevertheless, they did not bring to justice those who committed this act of vandalism over the grave of another person and vandalized Vidadi Iskanderov.

Followed by a series of television reports, in fact justifying the actions of vandals, Iskanderov's ultimatums, in which he urged President Ilham Aliyev to punish the perpetrators. "The answer to any insults against me on the part of anyone, I will be forwarded to the president as the head of state," said Vidadi Iskanderov, trying to stop the foul controversy in this way.

It should be noted that the mediation efforts of a number of figures, such as the former political prisoner Gurban Mammadov, who called for the abandonment of insults and the transfer of polemics to the mental channel, gave a temporary effect - political emigration announced a unilateral moratorium. However, the response was followed by a provocative deployment of the next stage of the deterrent campaign. It has become more structured - expanded to the streets of European cities, where supporters and opponents of the regime, armed with Azerbaijani tricolor, spit out aggression on each other in front of an irresponsible enlightened Europe. The same picture is observed in the Internet space, where the aggression is increased by the trolls recruited by the ideologists of the dirty war.

What is noteworthy, as the offensive polemic develops, it becomes more and more noticeable that President Aliyev and his relatives become its object. And there is logic in this. The question arises: either the president is not aware of the fact that he becomes the object of insult and discussion of hundreds of thousands of people, or he is involved in the game of the author and architect of offensive polemics. It is unlikely that Aliyev took upon himself the mission of causing fire on himself and his loved ones. Unlikely, he follows the logic that everything becomes routine over time, and the abusive argument of opponents will cease to act on the audience, and then they will have nothing to do but resign themselves to defeat.

In either case, he is the object of a dangerous intrigue. Let's turn to the disclosure of the term Black campaigning (English negative campaigning; mudslinging). Black PR is purposeful activity, the purpose of which is the destruction or deterioration of the image of a particular person or organization. The term Black PR is of Russian origin and is based more on the method of draining offense. In our case, the colloquial English expression of black PR is more suitable. Mudslinging - mud treatment. Because both sides are not fighting the compromising materials, but they are pouring each other, it can be said, in a literal sense mud. This is a phenomenon not seen on the political foreground of other nations.

Following the logic of the increase in the campaign of mud treatment, it can be assumed that this process will continue. PR is not a spontaneous action, but a campaign. The campaign is a set of activities for the achievement of the set goal and task. Without fail, it has organizers and performers. Hence, there are individuals, an organization, an organized group that implement it. Who develops the strategy and manages the process of destroying Aliyev's image? He himself or someone else? That's the question, Shakespear said.