According to thier Facebook page, Mothers Opposing McMahon is "a group of concerned mothers and others that have joined together to give light to the graphic, steroid-fueled violence and sexually explicit WWE content marketed to kids under Linda McMahon’s watch as WWE CEO." These people feel very passionate about how they feel and are trying hard to get thier message out. Now, while I do not exactly find their views to be accurate or relevant to the Senate race, I believe that they have every right to do whatever they feel is nesscessary to win. These reasons below are the main points as to why I feel they have that right to use this method.
Their Facebook page, the extent of their officiality. We'll get back to that, hold on.
1.) It's Politics
In the world of politics, the people involved will use anything and everything to try and hurt the opponent's campaign. Everybody that has won a seat in office has had to go through certain political controversy, wether it be our current president Barack Obama when he had to deal with the entire Jeremiah Wright situation. Or, Spokane's former mayor, Jim West's sexual abuse charges in an attempt to try and get him out of office. People will spin things, bend the truth, and flat out lie to get what they wanted in the office.
Sure, a lot of shit happens in politics, but by no means does that make this ok. A lot of the stuff that people do when it comes to politics is slimy and illegal. This group certainly doesn't have to right to perform the same activities, just because other dirtbags have done the same things.
2.) It's not against the Law
Mothers Opposing McMahon is protected by the first amendment plain and simple. As long as they aren't causing physical harm or threatning anybody, the organization has every right to say what they want. For example, my favorite wrestler at the moment is John Cena. Now you can go on the website and find probably hundreds of anti-Cena sites that try to get him off of the show or out of the main event. These anti-Cena sites slander, degrade, and are just terrible sites that are very misguided. However, we can't say that they don't have the right to share their opinion on the man and it's the same thing in Linda's case. She pretty much knew what she was getting into and I'm sure is well prepared to counter those arguments.
Now I'm no lawyer, so it's not like I'm going to go about this perfectly, but the first amendment doesn't mean you can say whatever the fuck you want to without no reprocussions. It's not like people are saying Cena killed babies or anything, they're just saying he isn't a good wrestler, which is an opinion that can't be proven either way.
Take a look at this list of what defines libel and slander.
1. Actionable words, such as those imputing the injured party: is guilty of some offense, suffers from a contagious disease or psychological disorder, is unfit for public office because of moral failings or an inability to discharge his or her duties, or lacks integrity in profession, trade or business;
2. That the charge must be false;
3. That the charge must be articulated to a third person, verbally or in writing;
4. That the words are not subject to legal protection, such as those uttered in Congress; and
5. That the charge must be motivated by malice.
I'd say what this radical group is doing fits the bill for all of these requirments. For instance, the MOM group mentions how Linda promoted pornography to children as head of the WWE. Wrestling certainly isn't pornographic material, and to suggest that Linda participated in such activity is certainly slanderous.
The fact that it's a fake show that they're more or less portraying as real may fit fall under the slander/libel umbrella as well. Like I said, I'm not lawyer, but I'm pretty sure there's a good chance that what these women are doing it illegal.
Most campaign ads are highly organized and run by people with a bunch of experience in the political game. This group? Not so much. It's just a group of suburban housewives who thought it'd be cool to make a Facebook page. Do you think they safeguarded against any legal action that may come to them before they made their ridiculous claims? I don't think so.
The McMahon's have a history of libel suits as well, successfully filing them back in 1992 regarding molestation charges from former employee Tom Cole, meaning they certainly know what they're doing when it comes to this kind of stuff.
Like the title says in my opinion, Mothers Opposing McMahon is wrong in their views towards Linda but, they have the right to say pretty much whatever they want.
The law doesn't give people the right to say
anything they want, as I said above. We both agree this is a ridiculous, makeshift group making slanderous claims against Linda. Based on all the information surrounding this group and their goals, it's entirely possible, in fact, rather likely, that they are breaking the law and have no right to be making such claims.
