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This past week, the Biden administration announced that they were creating a new section of government to deal with what they claim are untruths that are being spread by others. It comes on the heels of Elon Musk taking over Twitter and corruption stories within the Biden family. Interesting timing at best.

Frequently, Trump’s enemies referred to Hitler this or Hitler that whenever he did something they did not like. However, this administration’s action this week was probably much more in line with Hitler’s than anything Trump did. Hitler’s Third Reich created the Ministry for Public Enlightenment, sometimes called the Ministry of Propaganda. The only purpose of this agency was to twist the facts to encourage the German people to believe whatever the officials of the government wished. Among other things, it was used to turn the public against Jewish merchants. As well, it misled the nation into believing that the Germans could and would win their war to dominate the world.

DISINFORMATION VERSUS DIFFERENCES IN OPINION

The problem this creates, whether called the Board of Disinformation or the Ministry of Public Enlightenment, makes little difference. The goal is to provide an official government opinion that should be considered greater or of more value than other sources of information. If this is successful, it would be safe to assume that future administrations of both parties could easily see this of value to them.

TWITTER

The Biden Administration assures us that this idea was on the table prior to Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. I will take them at their word, but clearly they speeded up the roll out of the department to try to stay ahead of the game.

If Musk follows through with his plan to let Twitter be a true open source of information with no bias whatsoever, it will be a major change from their censorship of the last several years. Already, many conservative personalities are noticing a major increase in those following them. To compete with Twitter’s action, other social media giants will be forced to change their censorship rules to remain competitive.

WHAT IS DISINFORMATION?

When calling something “disinformation,” some are not genuinely referring to false statements intended to deceive folks. What they really mean by disinformation are facts or viewpoints that do not align with their perspectives, narratives or agendas.

Under the false umbrella of fighting “disinformation,” this administration is frequently rallying for anything they do not like to be censored and pulled down from the internet just as they did with podcast host Joe Rogan. Now they are expanding these efforts to all social media.

BARACK OBAMA AND HILLARY CLINTON

During a speech at Stanford about so-called disinformation, former President Obama declared that social media, television and the internet are “tools” that can ultimately be “remade.” Of course, when talking about “remaking” tools like social media, they want to “remake” these things in a way that only puts out what liberals agrees with. They are not interested in dissent or any open debate or dialogue with different viewpoints.

This was made more than clear by some remarks that twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shared about “disinformation.” In a tweet, Clinton accused big tech companies of promoting “extremism” and “disinformation” without any sort of responsibility.

This is why liberals become so enraged at the slightest piece of content that differs from their narratives. There is a contrast between someone intentionally putting out wrong details to con people, as opposed to someone sharing an opinion that one does not agree with or facts that do not support a given narrative.

Ironically, as the woke crowd labels any and everything they do not agree with as “disinformation,” they are often the spreaders of disinformation. Trying to shut down speech and censor social media platforms are tactics that only very desperate individuals would use. If liberals were confident in themselves and their viewpoints, they would have no problem debating conservatives, or anyone else who challenges them. The left-wing’s interest in controlling speech and the spread of information shows just how fragile their perspectives and policies are.

Once upon a time, we had reporters and news sources that were focused on facts. Increasingly, stories are planned based on the writer’s political persuasion. Selected facts are then included or not to support that narrative.

Frank Ruff Jr. represents Lunenburg in the state Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.