What is true for you is what you have observed. No government can be the arbiter of truth, nor can it censor its way to the truth.
We hear that misinformation is wrong information, disinformation is deliberate wrong information, and mal-information, a newly coined Orwellian term that hasn’t yet weaseled its way into the dictionary, is true information that goes against the regime narrative and thereby does “harm.”
Example. Biden is a strong president—clearly misinformation. The Hunter laptop is Russian propaganda—disinformation. The Hunter laptop story was true but ran counter to the Biden narrative so the story was suppressed—mal-information.
Disinformation is an important subject to wannabe tyrants. Those who practice the disinformation dark arts wield a double edged sword. With one edge the government apparatus claims their critics and opponents are spreading harmful disinformation and use their considerable power to censor and eradicate dissent. The goal is consensus. Silencing all opposing views creates by default an apparent unity of thought. Claims about climate change crisis is a prime example of censorship creating false consensus.
Censorship is far more than just woke employees at Big Tech companies deciding who to ban and which topics are allowed to be trending. Much like the term “hate speech” opens the door to the suppression of free speech, “disinformation” is the skeleton key of modern domestic propaganda and censorship. With it the regime can target political movements, specific politicians and prominent voices on the grounds that they are influenced by or in thrall to foreign “disinformation.”
Effective censorship requires live-time data. For that reason, our government spies on us continuously, constantly and everywhere. This includes satellites, traffic cams, security cams, cell phones, computers, email, messaging programs, search engines, phone companies, internet providers, banks, and every possible place on the internet that you and I haven’t even thought of. The government claims this is only done to detect foreign or domestic terrorist activity for our protection. You have to appreciate such sincere caring from our superiors.
The grain of truth is that the effective techniques of disinformation were honed by our intelligence branches in foreign arenas, against other governments and peoples. However, considering that you can find parents who talk at school board meetings, Catholics who pray with rosary beads, pro-life protesters and anyone who disagrees with transmania, vaccines, climate crisis or war on government lists of potential terrorists, I wouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet.
The other edge of the disinformation sword is the government directly pushing false narratives. No one in government speaks of this, presumably because the government never lies. The direct assertion of lies requires more coordinated support, especially from media. A prime example was when the government wanted to spy on Trump and his campaign in the phony Russia collusion hoax. The FBI hired operatives to write false reports, leaked stories to media outlets they controlled which was immediately published, and then packaged it all together as the ‘evidence’ to obtain spy warrants. Safe and effective is another example.
Broad scale lies can be pushed out using a form of brute force, where the lie is replicated many thousands of times on hundreds of channels until the lie solidifies in the minds of the target audience. The sometimes hidden, sometimes overt coordination of academics, journalists, and public intellectuals to push a regime-backed political line is now justified as the needed counterbalance to all the “disinformation” narratives out there.
This double-edged attack on truth can be used by anyone or any group, but the government has an overwhelming advantage because it controls regulation, the police branches, and the courts, which together provide tremendous force and leverage no outsider can match. The darkest deed of any tyranny is that it claims its own lies are truth and its opponent’s truths are lies.
Who manages the American government’s disinformation apparatus? The DHS, FBI, DOD, NSA, CIA, just to name a few. The DHS included a list of 374 search words to be tracked in the department's 2011 “Analyst's Desktop Binder” used at their National Operations Center. A senior Homeland Security official claimed the manual “is a starting point, not the endgame” in maintaining situational awareness of natural and man-made threats and denied that the government was monitoring signs of dissent. The talk is always about threats. But the real threat to regime power is dissent. The manual even instructs workers to identify media reports that reflect adversely on DHS.
The US government has been issuing secret “keyword warrants” to Google for anyone who looks up certain phrases and names, allowing police and other spy agencies to dig through Google’s search history database to identify innocent people merely based on what they might have searched and use that for further intrusions, despite the complete violation of fourth amendment protections.
In July of 2021 the Guardian published an article with the headline: Majority of COVID misinformation came from 12 people, report finds. The article claimed these 12 villains were responsible for lies about COVID-19 and the vax, much of the COVID pandemic and many deaths. The Disinformation Dozen, used as talking points by the White House and their shills, and reverberated by all the mainstream media, was created by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a left wing censorship NGO based in the UK with ties to both the UK and US governments.
It is 2024 and, oh, how things change. Today we know COVID-19 came from a gain of function lab, lockdowns and masks didn’t work, the COVID vaccines were not effective, and have caused and are still causing great harm. Far from the villains they were made out to be, the so-called Disinformation Dozen are consummate professionals, many tops in their field, who were simply telling the truth. That didn’t protect them from being censored, railroaded from their professions, and ostracized from general society as crazy conspiracy nuts who push disinformation.
The multi-layers and complex intersection of the censorship apparatus make identifying, much less stopping it, difficult. A US federal court ruled that the FBI and DHS pressured social media companies to remove content it deemed misinformation, including posts and accounts originated within the United States. The censorship apparatus panicked when a court injunction threatened their operation. They got a reprieve when the Supreme Court, in a terrible act of cowardice, lifted the injunction and refused to address the government’s attempt to destroy the First Amendment.
European governments are leading the disinformation charge, arresting dissenters under vague and arbitrary hate speech laws that are thinly veiled censorship decrees allowing them to quash dissent and criticism. The EU has demanded Twitter censor content or face prosecution. France arrested the Telegram founder for refusing their demands for censorship.
There are clear laws against the malicious defamation of private individuals. This should not include wrong information about general topics. There are fraud laws for deliberate false claims in advertising. This applies to selling goods for monetary gain. Again, nothing that includes general speech, be it true or not. Legally speaking, hate speech should be a non starter. Hate is subjective, in the eye of the beholder. Being offended or being mean does not a crime make.
The US isn’t far behind. The DOJ announced indictments on two Russians in an attempt to smear several conservative media influencers. The assault on free speech has accelerated and the means to do it is being hardened into place. An entire industry—the Disinformation Industry—has emerged to facilitate the control of domestic information under the pretext of preserving national security and fighting “disinformation.” Censorship and narrative control flow from the state, and spread through cutout civil society groups, NGOs, and media networks working in unison.
Accomplishing the dark days of tyranny in the US requires trickery. Trick number one: redefining democracy, not as the people choosing their government, but as the government institutions themselves. When you hear the Attorney General bleating about people criticizing the DOJ being a threat to democracy, he is attacking the actual exercise of democracy.
Trick number two: declaring broad areas of society to be part of national security, like the internet or elections. This gives the federal government the immediate right to interfere, all in the name of protecting national security. That interference can be censorship, surveillance or even prosecution.
Trick number three: Confusing the subject of information with terms like misinformation, disinformation, mal-information and hate speech. Redefining the very words used is part of the disinformation campaign.
When the regime lies or acts corruptly, anyone can and should call them out. But, the passion of politics often includes exaggeration, name-calling and mis-characterization. It certainly includes differing opinions. As unpleasant as that may sometimes be, none of it is illegal, none of it violates free speech protections, and none of it should be censored, especially by the government. Censoring what you don’t like to hear is the end of free speech and the death of a free society.
Disinformation, misinformation and malinformation form a shapeless shifting bog that underlies the government disinformation program and threatens to pull anyone under who might fall into disfavor with the ruling regime or its narrative. When that narrative can be completely devoid of truth, no one is safe.
What is true for you is what you have observed. No government can be the arbiter of truth, nor can it censor its way to the truth. Criticizing government is the key right of the First Amendment for free speech, free press, free assembly and protest, and free petition of government for a redress of wrongs. The only solution is more free speech, and one by one, removing those from power who insist on throttling the free exercise thereof.
And that’s the simple truth.
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