There is trustworthy and untrustworthy health information. There is also politically-motivated health information. It’s a liberal myth that we are incapable of discerning the difference between good and bad, like the misleading information disseminated by Kamala Harris when she said she wouldn’t trust a vaccine if Donald Trump told her to take it. This is the same vaccine President Biden demands we put in our arms right now. Harris’ remark reeked of partisanship. Most of us recognized that the moment she said it.
Biden also said he didn’t trust Trump about the COVID vaccine. Now he’s stealing credit for the Operation Warp Speed vaccines which, considering how badly the president bungled the Afghanistan withdrawal, we have every reason to believe would not exist had Trump not delivered what he promised.
Both Biden and Harris gave us untrustworthy health information moderated by politics. At the same time they were attacking Trump for his anti-COVID efforts Washington’s highest paid bureaucrat, Dr. Anthony Fauci, repeatedly changed his story about how Americans should respond to the pandemic. By doing so he completely eroded our trust in government health information about COVID.
Considering Democrats propensity to not tell the truth, do we really want their politics to decide what health information is trustworthy and what isn’t? Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) thinks so.
Warren threatens Amazon if it doesn’t agree to government censorship of our internet searches
Warren patted herself on the back for investigating Amazon’s COVID-19 search results. Her staff found what she was looking for:
The top results consistently included highly-ranked and favorably-tagged books based on falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and cures, including those written by the most prominent spreaders of misinformation.1
Our liberal rulers will disagree, but those search results and “inappropriate products”2 are part of what makes America great. Until COVID-19 freedom of speech meant something, even if crackpots took advantage. That freedom began to erode when Democrats took over.
Warren threatened Amazon’s “pattern and practice of misbehavior” and warned of the company’s “potentially unlawful business practices”3
Her solution? Government censorship. She demanded that Amazon come up with a plan to modify its search algorithms. This would effectively put party hacks like the senator in charge of the health information you have access to. It would also put them in charge of our information about everything else once they get Big Tech loosened up to do what they say under threat of government sanctions for non-compliance.
Government censorship is Democrat Party censorship
Democrats are in charge. That means government censorship is Democrat Party censorship.
Before Warren announced her plan to moderate our search results Nancy Pelosi blasted House Republicans for “stoking misinformation and opposition to life saving vaccines.”4 Her proof did not come from the reliable, science-based sources Democrats demand from their opponents. Instead, the speaker chose articles from media sources that repeatedly demonstrate they can’t be trusted to report anything contrary to Democrat Party interests. Right now that interest is making sure Biden doesn’t receive the same blame for the spread of COVID-19 that Democrats gleefully heaped on Donald Trump.
Murthy: health misinformation makes us resist
The White House hasn’t been silent, either. During a joint appearance with Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that health misinformation might cause Americans to resist:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, health misinformation has led people to resist wearing masks in high-risk settings.5
Murthy embraced the liberal vision that Americans are naïve and ignorant when it comes to processing online information:
Modern technology companies have enabled misinformation to poison our information environment with little accountability to their users. They’ve allowed people who intentionally spread misinformation — what we call “disinformation” — to have extraordinary reach.6
The few who seek out conspiracies and dubious medical information will find it, just like they will find pornography, malware, and all manner of hazards in the online world. This is a lame excuse for foot-in-the-door government censorship to control the American people’s information access.
Public debate at risk, too?
Living in America means we have the freedom to say what we want and read or watch what we choose. Democrats don’t agree. In March 2021 they were already promoting censorship with a bill to investigate COVID information and put public debate about the pandemic on the chopping block:
The legislation would examine the roles disinformation and misinformation have played in the public’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the public acceptance of vaccines, and the sources of COVID-19 disinformation and misinformation, including the mechanisms by which they influence public debate. The examination would also explore possible financial incentives from the spread of false information, the role of social media in promoting these narratives, and strategies to limit its negative impacts.7
The lawmakers who introduced the bill warned about anti-vaccine campaigns:
… including those spearheaded by foreign adversaries such as Russia — are sowing lies and distrust about the vaccines and pose a serious challenge to getting enough Americans vaccinated to stop the spread of the virus.8
So the enemy is Russia again. Their source? Known health authority The Wall Street Journal.
Disinformation Dozen: Democrats target more enemies
Five House Democrats sent letters to Facebook, Twitter, and Google targeting a COVID-19 “Disinformation Dozen:”
Accordingly, the Committee requests a briefing from your company by June 10, 2021 regarding the actions it has taken to monitor and review the content posted by the Disinformation Dozen on its platforms, and whether such content violates the terms of service,” the Committee leaders wrote to Facebook. The Members made similar requests to Twitter and Google.9
The source this time was the London-based Center for Countering Digital Hate:
forced social media companies to establish precedent and remove hateful or dangerous speech by holding them directly accountable for their tolerance of hateful content.10
“Dangerous speech” and “hateful content” are risky concepts that reside in the eyes of politicians and activists. Remember, the COVID-19 vaccine was not to be trusted until Democrats took over and Biden awarded himself credit for Trump’s work. That’s how fast something dangerous can turn into a federal mandate. This alone should give us pause to trust any politically-motivated health information disseminated by this administration.
We hear misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies from the Biden administration practically every day. Meanwhile, the fact that public health policies don’t require the illegals Biden is planting around the country to receive the COVID vaccine contradicts everything Americans are told about the necessity of protecting each other.
These people are liars. Nothing they tell us is trustworthy, but the real issue isn’t public health information. It’s partisan political censorship. Modifying search algorithms to deliver results predetermined by the ruling political party is an incredibly slippery slope. Consider Biden’s warning about the threat of domestic terror. At what point will the propaganda campaign against conservatives mandate that anything contrary to the narrative that we might be domestic terrorists be deemed unacceptable mis- or disinformation?
Given the Democrat Party’s propensity to govern with lies to hold on to power no matter what, the thought that politicians think they should dictate what you see when you search on the internet is shocking. Remember, these are the same people who push legislation like this:
In addition to eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession at the federal level, the bill also incentivizes state and local governments to adopt decriminalization policies by otherwise limiting their eligibility to receive funds in the Byrne and COPS grant programs.11
Decriminalize all drugs or we will take away funding? That doesn’t should like trustworthy public health guidance, does it?
Sources
1“Warren Investigation Finds Amazon Provides Consumers With COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation in Search Results.” warren.senate.gov. September 8, 2021. https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-investigation-finds-amazon-provides-consumers-with-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-in-search-results, retrieved September 12, 2021.
2Ibid.
3Ibid.
4“As Delta Variant Spreads, House Republicans Keep Spreading Opposition to Vaccines.” speaker.gov. July 19, 2021. https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/71921, retrieved September 12, 2021.
5“Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, July 15, 2021.” whitehouse.gov. July 15, 2021. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/07/15/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-and-surgeon-general-dr-vivek-h-murthy-july-15-2021/, retrieved September 12, 2021.
6Ibid.
7“Wexton, Hirono Introduce Bill to Examine Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation and Disinformation.” wexton.house.gov. March 23, 2021. https://wexton.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=505, retrieved September 12, 2021.
8Ibid.
9“E&C Leaders Demand Answers from Tech CEOs About Insufficient Progress to Curb COVID-19 Vaccine Disinformation.” energycommerce.house.gov. May 27, 2021. https://energycommerce.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ec-leaders-demand-answers-from-
tech-ceos-about-insufficient-progress-to-curb, retrieved September 12, 2021.
10“Center for Countering Digital Hate.” counterhate.com. https://www.counterhate.com/about-us, retrieved September 12, 2021.
11“Reps. Cori Bush and Bonnie Watson Coleman Introduce Federal Bill to Decriminalize Drug Possession, Replace with Health-Centered Approach.” bush.house.gov. June 15, 2021. https://bush.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-cori-bush-and-bonnie-watson-coleman-introduce-federal-bill-decriminalize, retrieved September 12, 2021.
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