Secrets man was not meant to know?

Nope, nothing to do with Cthulhu at all - this time.

So it turns out that some budding mad scientists have been studying the effects of negative political ads on the brain. Turns out that they work by reducing empathy for favored candidates, making it less likely that a supporter who has viewed the ad will vote. Apparently, negative ads don't get people to switch sides. They also don't work on independents, though the article doesn't go into the effect of the negative ads on the independent brain. The article doesn't say whether the test subjects had to be restrained in order to get them to view all the ads.

This whole situation bothers me. If I directly prevent one person from voting by fraud or other means, I'm fairly confident that would be a crime. If I have enough money though, I can air an ad (if it's an effective one) that will prevent hundreds from voting. The person who does that isn't a criminal; he's a campaign manager! It doesn't seem right, but any sort of move to prohibit negative ads would interfere with freedom of speech.

I guess the best solution is to exercise your free will, study the facts, and don't watch the ads.

This article was in the Boston Globe on 11/4.