The problem with that is when the Coronavirus first broke, there was a lot of suspicion it came from a lab. That was quickly dispelled by Peter Daszak who wrote to the Lancet that it most certainly had natural origins, despite internal emails that they suspected otherwise.
Then Google, Facebook, Twitter did their whole “CDC says so” and banned people from talking about a lab leak. In reality they were covering their own asses.
Questions of impartiality such as the one above then come from the fact selling a vaccine is big bucks and the CDC and the people doing the approvals have patents and stand to make money which might call into question, are they vetting the vaccines properly, being open about side effects, downplaying cheap alternatives for maximized profit.
But no one can explore those important questions because to do so would be to undermine the CDC authority.
Or the CDC says you can’t go to church, does the CDC authority supersede the constitution? Stay at home, stand on your head, bark like a dog, the CDC orders you to do so.
This is a tangent and has nothing to do with a board disseminating information. If you want to discuss what the CDC has the authority to do in a health crisis that’s a different thread. Its completely irrelevant to a board from the DHS advising if foreign countries are deliberately disseminating false information to cause harm.
For nearly 10 years, different agencies across DHS have worked to address disinformation that threatens our homeland security. Here are some examples:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) counters disinformation that cartels and human smugglers spread to migrants to persuade them to cross our southwest border illegally. CBP’s work includes its “Say No to the Coyote” campaign, making clear that entering the United States illegally is a crime.
In 2012, during Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) corrected false information about the safety of drinking water and the location of shelters, to protect and serve the hurricane’s victims. FEMA has since built capacity to identify and respond to false information during major disaster responses, including Hurricanes Maria and Ida, during which FEMA provided critical information to protect disaster survivors from targeted scams. FEMA also ensures that disinformation campaigns do not prevent Americans from accessing federal aid during and after disasters.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) works with private sector stakeholders to mitigate the risk of disinformation to U.S. critical infrastructure, work that has continued in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It’s pretty relevant since we have been living through a few years of CDC dictates, post something on Twitter saying face masks are pretty useless, expect Twitter to fact check you with CDC declarations you are wrong, or get banned completely. Except now they now say the same thing.
Then there’s political bannings, it’s been noted that it’s not just happening to right wingers, we are in a proxy war with Russia, the establishment (both sides) are good with that, they just ok’ed 40 billion for Ukraine, they thought the 33 billion Biden requested wasn’t enough apparently. But if you are anti war, if you doubt some of the stories coming out of Ukraine are 100% accurate, Google demonetizes you. When you are silencing and banning voices calling for peace, all you are left with is the establishment view we need to escalate a war with Russia.
It’s very dangerous and has real life implications.
People who think like that are unlikely to believe any statement put out by a government disinformation board, which completely defeats the purpose of having such a board in the first place.
Call me crazy but I have no need for any government - particularly one with a history of lying about things like weapons of mass destruction and laptops - to tell me what’s true and what’s not.
What wild-eyed malcontent is this chipping in now? How one-sided!
From Mayorkas:
“This is a working group (note: independent organ) that takes best practices to make sure that in addressing disinformation that presents a threat to the homeland, does our work, does not infringe on free speech. Does not infringe on civil rights, civil liberties,” Mayorkas added. “It’s not about speech. It’s about the connectivity to violence. That is what we need to address,” he continued. “An individual has the free speech right to spew anti-Semitic rhetoric, what they don’t have the right to do is take hostages in a synagogue. And that’s where we get involved.”
After 245 years of history and the best example of a lie on behalf of the government you can come up with is Hunter Biden’s laptop? Good god I can already tell what the next two years will be like if Republicans take Congress. Can they get Trey Gowdy back in for Benghzai 2.0 - The Hunter Biden story?
However, in implementation, it’s presumably going to be a shitshow. This lady in charge is obviously tremendously biased. And the US government and MSM has already shown multiple times that they are also willing to use misinformation as a weapon. So I HIGHLY doubt this is going to truly be fair, balanced, nuanced etc. We shall see.
Did you literally not see the “weapons of mass destruction” before the “Hunter Biden’s laptop”? Not that the laptop is a bad example–deliberate disinformation designed to sway an election.
“What time does the Democrats’ book burning party start?” Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted about the letter to the media companies. This is the same Commissioner Carr who wholeheartedly supported Donald Trump’s efforts to use the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to police social media companies, including empowering that government agency to determine whether editorial decisions were made in “good faith.”
It seems to me you have to be pretty confused if you need the government to tell you what’s true and what isn’t. How have you managed to get by so far all on your own?
