Government Coverups and Censorship: The Real Issue, Not Disinformation
John & Nisha Whitehead, through The Rutherford Institute, have voiced their concerns about the increasing government control over the internet and the suppression of free speech. They quoted Hannah Arendt, a political theorist, who emphasized the importance of being informed and the dangers of a society that no longer believes anything.
Internet Control: A Threat to Free Speech
Hillary Clinton is among those who believe that the internet needs to be controlled to protect users from harm. Other politicians, including Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, have also expressed their desire to weaken or abolish Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects against online censorship. This has led to debates over immunity, liability, net neutrality, and the responsibilities of internet sites as publishers.
Government's Use of Disinformation
The internet is a platform where free speech, including politically incorrect speech and disinformation, still thrives. However, the government views these forms of "disinformation" as threats to society, akin to terrorism, drugs, violence, and disease. The Whiteheads argue that the real problem is not disinformation, but government coverups and censorship.
Government Intolerance of Criticism
The government has shown increasing intolerance towards speech that challenges its power, reveals its corruption, exposes its lies, and encourages citizens to resist its injustices. Those who dare to speak their truth to the powers-that-be often find themselves censored, silenced, or fired.
Government's Exploitation of Public Health and Safety
The government could potentially use mental health care as a pretext for targeting and detaining dissidents, activists, and anyone unfortunate enough to be placed on a government watch list. Police are already being empowered to forcibly detain individuals they believe might be mentally ill, based solely on their own judgment.
Building Blocks for an American Gulag
The Whiteheads warn that these developments could lead to an American gulag, where political prisoners or so-called "enemies of the state" are imprisoned as punishment for their crimes against the state. Red flag laws, behavioral threat assessments, and pre-crime policing prevention programs could be used to weaponize the label of mental illness as a means of exiling whistleblowers, dissidents, and freedom fighters.
Pathologizing of Individuals Who Resist Authority
The diagnosis of mental illness has become a convenient means by which the government and its corporate partners can penalize certain "unacceptable" social behaviors. Individuals who resist authority are often pathologized as suffering from oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), defined as "a pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures."
Bottom Line
The suppression of dissent and the pathologizing of those who resist authority are part of a larger trend in American governance. This is how a populace is subdued, and the ensuing silence in the face of government-sponsored tyranny, terror, brutality, and injustice is deafening. What are your thoughts on this matter? Share this article with your friends and sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is available every day at 6pm.
