04-29-2022, 04:16 PM
So the Biden administration just set up a Disinformation Governance Board within the Department of Homeland Security.
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-bidens-disinformation-board-likened-orwells-ministry-truth-1702190
The board's actual duties and influence aren't exactly known at this time, but Psaki was quoted as saying the following;
Psaki said she couldn't provide many details other than saying the bureau would monitor misinformation on topics such as COVID-19 and elections.
The GOP, and others, have immediately leapt on this, calling the board the Ministry of Truth, which I'm hopeful everyone is familiar with from the novel 1984 (my favorite book btw, the ending was just perfect). If not, in short, it's an organ of the totalitarian Ingsoc government in which the "truth" is changed on a daily basis to fit the current party agenda. Old facts are discarded into "memory holes" and a new "truth" is created.
Now, I will allow that such comparisons are hyperbolic, at least for now, as the actual duties of the board are not publicly know. What I will say is that two things really trouble me. One, and by far the most important, is that this was formed within a law enforcement agency. This on its own is extremely concerning. Why would an organization designed, ostensibly, to identify, or combat disinformation, need to be an extension of law enforcement unless you plan to use them to enforce your findings? The implications are troubling at the very least. Secondly, the person they hired to head the board is an extremely partisan actor who was instrumental in labeling stories such as the Hunter Biden laptop stories as "disinformation" which has subsequently been proven to be false.
I certainly hope the current outrage is an overreaction, but I fear that it is not. At the very least the optics of this move are horrible. Musk buys Twitter and literally within a week you announce this new board? As one post I read stated, it appears to be a reaction to losing their primary source of controlling the flow of information. While this is likely not true, I hope, again the optics of it are just mind numbingly bad. This issue, exaggerated or not, is going to, IMO, bury the Dems even deeper in November.
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-bidens-disinformation-board-likened-orwells-ministry-truth-1702190
The board's actual duties and influence aren't exactly known at this time, but Psaki was quoted as saying the following;
Psaki said she couldn't provide many details other than saying the bureau would monitor misinformation on topics such as COVID-19 and elections.
The GOP, and others, have immediately leapt on this, calling the board the Ministry of Truth, which I'm hopeful everyone is familiar with from the novel 1984 (my favorite book btw, the ending was just perfect). If not, in short, it's an organ of the totalitarian Ingsoc government in which the "truth" is changed on a daily basis to fit the current party agenda. Old facts are discarded into "memory holes" and a new "truth" is created.
Now, I will allow that such comparisons are hyperbolic, at least for now, as the actual duties of the board are not publicly know. What I will say is that two things really trouble me. One, and by far the most important, is that this was formed within a law enforcement agency. This on its own is extremely concerning. Why would an organization designed, ostensibly, to identify, or combat disinformation, need to be an extension of law enforcement unless you plan to use them to enforce your findings? The implications are troubling at the very least. Secondly, the person they hired to head the board is an extremely partisan actor who was instrumental in labeling stories such as the Hunter Biden laptop stories as "disinformation" which has subsequently been proven to be false.
I certainly hope the current outrage is an overreaction, but I fear that it is not. At the very least the optics of this move are horrible. Musk buys Twitter and literally within a week you announce this new board? As one post I read stated, it appears to be a reaction to losing their primary source of controlling the flow of information. While this is likely not true, I hope, again the optics of it are just mind numbingly bad. This issue, exaggerated or not, is going to, IMO, bury the Dems even deeper in November.
