“Those who control story, control society.”

Plato

Introduction

In January 2022, Rasmussen polled 1,000 likely U.S. voters.

One of the questions asked was “Do you agree or disagree that the mainstream media are truly the enemy of people?” On this question, 58 percent agreed that the mainstream media are enemies of the people.

Social Media

Social media has become the dominant form of communication. Almost 70 percent of U.S. adults use Facebook. The average person spends 2 1/2 hours per day on social networks.

Google controls about 95 percent of online searches, giving them a unique ability to influence what users see when they attempt to learn about a subject.

Using the pretext of suppressing “misinformation” Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LInkedIn silence those who have views which conflict with their views. Reporting about this censorship is in itself lableled “misinformation” and dealt with by banning the user from their platform.

Escalation of Censorship

Censorship by social media has escalated drastically since 2016 because, in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s loss, the Democratic National Committee decided that the reason Trump was elected was becasue of “misinformation.”

University of Colorado assistant professor, Toby Hopp, who has made a career of studying fake news, said “In 2016 you started to see the weaponization of social media platforms.”

In July 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki answered a question from a reporter on how the White House was “policing misinformation.”

In one of the most anti-free speech statements ever made by the U.S. government, she said, “We are flagging posts for Facebook that spread misinformation. We are in regular touch with these social media platforms regarding the issue of misinformation.”

On the basis of the press secretary’s confession, a lawsuit was filed in July 2021 in U.S. District Court in Florida alleging that Facebook is colluding with the White House to censor so called “misinformation.”

According to the lawsuit, because Facebook is receiving input from the government as to what is “misinformation,” it is essentially a state actor with regard to what it allows on the platform.

Propaganda Tactics

There has been widespread observation that the media no longer reports the news, but serves as a propaganda machine for socialist ideology.

Noam Chomsky, a media researcher and specialist in propaganda tactics used by media, has written a book “Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda.” In his book, Chomsky describes how the public is deliberately and intentionally manipulated and controlled. He reveals how the mainstream media focuses on “controlling the public mind” and not on informing it.

Council on Foreign Relations

One of the primary “agenda setters” in the United States has been the Council on Foreign Relations [CFR]. Established in 1921 to “awaken America to its worldwide responsibilities” it has infiltrated the mass media, think tanks, universities and other parts of the culture that control the conversation.

Journalists who are members of the CFR include Tom Brokaw, George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer. These journalists do not merely analyze and interpret foreign policy, they help make it.

Conclusion

Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor and constitutional expert said the mainsteram and social media “are engaging in massive censorship that endangers the freedom of speech.”

The First Amendment has no qualifier excluding “misinformation.” The Founders understood that all opinions and viewpoints are in need of protection.

Photo by Matt Brown