Do you remember when you were in middle school? You could go around saying some bullshit like: Mrs. Smith is ugly. You’d get that one kid that would say: you can’t say that, that’s not nice! All you had to say was: It’s a free country, I can say what I want!
And just like that, you won the argument.
God, I miss those days. Moreover, I wish I hadn’t taken those days for granted. I just assumed that - I don’t know - I live in a motherfucking free country and it wouldn’t ever go to shit.
But no. Here we are, in 2022, with a newly announced arm of the government: The Disinformation Governance Board - or, what many are dubbing the “Ministry of Truth,” which could not be further from a compliment:
Something that I just find totally odd is the vigor and passion with which liberals called Trump a fascist, a Nazi, a dictator is absent now as the Brandon Administration is literally going out of their way to act in fascistic fashion:
Curiously enough, this Chrissy Stroop lady (whoever she is) mostly predicted the future: a more fascist leader has arrived, he’s just a lot less competent as a leader and he did not come from the GOP.
I am willing to bet my left kidney, though, that if Trump was the one to implement a “Ministry of Truth,” then leftists would be properly outraged. And guess what? So would I. So would many, many other Trump supporters - and for good reason.
It’s not about the who. It’s about our inalienable right to speak freely.
All this is curious timing, too, isn’t it? Elon Musk makes considerable headway in his purchase of Twitter with claims and promises to return the platform to its free speech roots. And, just two days later, the DGB is created?
If this doesn’t make you consider that social media platforms and corporate media are in bed with the government - most notably the Democratic wing - and that they are out for thought and speech control, then you’re out of your fucking mind. Nothing about this is conspiratorial. Nothing about this can be defended by a reasonable person. Please, do us all a favor, and finally open your goddamn eyes. Stop doing the mental gymnastics it requires to believe that the left aisle of the government are benevolent figures.
I can plead with people all I want, but that doesn’t stop those who (for still some unfathomable fucking reason) wish to shill for the federal government and make sure the government’s critics know “the facts.” They’ll say: you’re just overreacting and honestly, on the verge of spreading disinformation yourself, because the DGB isn’t going to impede your right to free speech!
So, in order to get “the facts,” I watched DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas himself explain that the DGB will target “disinformation that creates a threat to the security of the homeland” spread mainly by "foreign adversaries and the cartels.”
I mean, that all sounds solid, right? After all, we don’t want our nation’s security to become compromised.
I just have to ask, though: what exactly constitutes “disinformation”?
Google says:
False information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.
But, despite having instant access to the infinite power that is the internet, Mayorkas can’t quite seem to give a satisfactory definition:
Rand Paul has a point here - and if Mayorkas cannot admit things like the Steele Dossier are a form of disinformation spread not by “foreign adversaries” or “the cartels,” but American politicians and American media, then we have some real problems.
It also doesn’t help that this is the person they’ve got to be in charge of the DGB:
This shit oozes with cringe, but that’s not what I’m concerned about.
What I’m concerned about is shit like this:
Words matter, and saying “Republicans and other disinformers” suggests that Jankowicz believes that an entire political faction - approximately half of the country - are considered to be spreaders of disinformation… which is, you know, kind of exactly what the DGB was formed to target.
This sure as hell seems to me like the current administration is using their power to try to silence and suppress their opposition. There’s a word for this type of government that I just can’t quite recall…
And that’s not even the half of it with Nina Jankowicz:
So, to recap, head of the DGB, Nina Jankowicz:
Claims Republicans are synonymous with spreading disinformation
Gets butthurt when people send her “abusive” memes
Gets butthurt when people make jokes about various Democratic government officials
Please explain to me exactly how the DGB is going to, as Jankowicz claims, “protect” our free speech rights?
Here’s the thing.
Sometimes people are gonna say things you disagree with. Hell, they might even say things you dislike or things that disturb you. Not every thought that goes through someone’s mind is going to be nice, pleasant, or agreeable.
And you know what? That’s fine.
Because the alternative is what America might look like under Jankowicz’s DGB.
Things like “offensive” thoughts, jokes, memes, or opinions will very likely become punishable crimes - and the worst part of this scenario (as if it’s not bad enough already) is that people like Jankowicz and Mayorkas will be the arbiters of what is deemed “offensive.”
Kamala Harris is a bitch, you say? 10 years for you!
Melania Trump is a skanky cum bucket? We like the way you think and we have a job opportunity for you!
I don’t think that I could be convinced that I’m being dramatic or that I’m exaggerating. An attack this severe and brazen on the first amendment should be an eye-opener for every American.
All I want is for my future children to have the same “It’s a free country, I can say what I want!” brag that we all had when we were dumb, crazy kids. But if Jankowicz and the DGB are here for the long haul, I fear that they might not ever get to know the privilege of speaking and thinking freely.
Still, it seems unlikely that this arm of the government will exist for too long. I predict (at least, I’m really hoping) that it will be dissolved for being blatantly unconstitutional in its construction. But that only happens if we speak up about it. It doesn’t just go away if we assume nothing bad can happen here.
I felt that the following quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, a sort of memoir/journalistic account of prison life in the USSR under Stalin, is extremely relevant (and if you’ve never read the book, I highly recommend it):
“If it were possible for any nation to fathom another people's bitter experience through a book, how much easier its future fate would become and how many calamities and mistakes it could avoid. But it is very difficult. There always is this fallacious belief: 'It would not be the same here; here such things are impossible.'
Alas, all the evil of the twentieth century is possible everywhere on earth.”
I hope we learned our lesson with all this Biden bullshit before we’ve lost too much.
Or, you know, at least parade the streets demanding the impeachment of fascists when they’re truly presiding over us.
In Soviet America, the Law Breaks You!