There is a saying that the novel 1984 wasn’t meant to be a handbook, but that reality is lost on some liberals right now.
The New York Times has called on the Biden Administration to create a “reality czar” that would combat “misinformation” spread by alternative news websites or even regular individuals who exercise their First Amendment rights.
“I’ve spent the last several years reporting on our national reality crisis,” technology columnist Kevin Roose wrote. “I worry that unless the Biden administration treats conspiracy theories and disinformation as the urgent threats they are, our parallel universes will only drift further apart, and the potential for violent unrest and civic dysfunction will only grow.”
If former President Trump had made such a move when in office, the outcry would be heard around the world. Mainstream news outlets would have decried the former President as a dictator, pushed for violent protests, and even urge the army to remove the President in a coup. Not surprisingly, these same outlets are urging the current President to actually restrict freedom of speech now that their anointed one has control of the White House.
Roose goes on to say that a “reality czar” could head a task force charged with not only combating “misinformation” online but also auditing social media algorithms and implementing rules that would allow social media companies to bypass pesky privacy laws.
Naturally, what is considered to be “misinformation” by the government covers a wide swath of beliefs. The New York Times lumps anyone who doesn’t believe the official COVID-19 narrative with individuals who challenged the results of the 2020 election. People protesting against economic lockdowns are likely to make the list, as is anyone who refuses to wear a mask for one reason or another.
This is a transparent attempt to put a lid on all conservative speech and expression. An AP-NORC poll shows that a whopping 65% of all Republicans question the legitimacy of a Biden presidency to some degree. What would happen to all these people tagged for sharing, liking, or even being affiliated with those who share “misinformation?”
Not much is being said about the Dystopian nightmare that would ensue if the government went after people for simply refusing to believe the government’s talking points. A look at how things are playing out in Communist China can provide a peek into what the restriction of basic First Amendment rights would look like.
Granted, there is a lot of misinformation online. However, allowing the government to restrict the flow of thought would severely curtail basic First Amendment rights. There is no chance that the move would cause people to stop embracing views the establishment doesn’t like. Government bureaucrats have no business deciding what people can and can’t say, read, or think.
We didn’t think we’d ever have to actually explain this…
