Russian "Disinformation"?
Which is better: a rollicking marketplace of ideas -- from all possible sources -- or enforced conformity at the point of a gun?
by Rod D. Martin
November 1, 2024
Democrats constantly tell us that foreign powers (chiefly “Russia! Russia! Russia!”) are “sowing discord” in American politics. But is that true?
Name anything you’re happy about with the other party (whichever party you belong to).
Now consider how much of the other party’s statements and positions make you genuinely angry (64% now say they’ll be “angry” if their candidate loses next week, including 37% who say they’ll be “very angry”: not surprisingly, more Democrats feel this way than Republicans).
Consider why you feel that way.
I am not upset at Democrats because some Russian told me I should be. No Russian agents showed up at my door to talk me into being a Republican (as if they would benefit from doing that).
No, I’m upset at Democrats because they’re transing kids, destroying women’s sports, pushing after-birth abortion, attempting a backdoor nationalization of America’s economies (through taxing “unrealized income”), and openly telling us they won’t allow First Amendment protections for anything they don’t pre-approve (and we already saw the test-run of this over the last four years: thank God for Elon!).
Democrats have their own reasons to be upset at us, among which appear to be that “Russia! Iran! Etc.! are sowing discord!”, which is really just another way of saying that there are people who are disagreeing with them in public.
What should I care if Russia or anyone else joins into the market place of ideas? I don’t want them contributing money to parties or candidates — and we should punish that if it happens, as when the British Labour Party is currently openly organizing expenditures and volunteers to come help Democrats next week — but if they want to spread their ideas, how does that hurt “Our Democracy”? Aren’t we supposed to value diversity? Don’t we believe that more ideas are better? Do Americans have a monopoly on the truth? Don’t we benefit from intercultural exchange?
Oddly, Democrats believe in all those things if the people we’re talking about are illegal immigrants, or for that matter if they’re those Labour Party activists. They just oppose “misinformation”, like the existence of the Hunter Biden laptop (which turned out to be real), or the idea that putting COVID patients indiscriminately into nursing homes would needlessly kill lots of old people (which it did), or that election machines can be hacked (which Kamala Harris was publicly concerned about until just a few months before the 2020 election).
In other words, Democrats oppose public discussion — even to the point of cancelation, banning disliked politicians from social media, or in the Labour Party’s case, imprisonment for posting memes — of anything with which they disagree.
I don’t need Russia to tell me to be angry about that. In fact, someone should point out to Democrats that they’re actively imitating Vladimir Putin.
The truth is, free speech is the bedrock and lifeblood of freedom. Everyone will always disagree with lots of what they hear. That’s the whole point: hearing all views so you can apply Critical Thinking (as opposed to its opposite, Critical Theory) to determine for yourself what is true. The alternative is compulsory conformity — at government gunpoint — without the possibility of disagreement, discussion, or breakthrough. It’s the Pope imprisoning Galileo. It’s O’Brien telling Winston that “2 + 2 = whatever the Party tells you.”
So yeah, I am angry about that.
And if Russians, or Iranians, or Klingons and Vulcans want to warn me about it, or even lie about it, good for them. And good for us. Freedom is messy. That’s literally the point.
FWIW, I have a theory about "the Russians" and "Russian disinformation" / "Russian interference."
Think of it as analogous to the proverbial shiny object designed to divert our attention, albeit in the context of "5G Information Warfare" (General Flynn has been all over that).
Americans (and folks around the world) are being played by bigger forces behind the curtain. I refer to it as "The Globalist-CCP Axis." Under that umbrella I include central bank interests (e.g., BIS), the EU and U.N. and WEF, the PRC/CCP ... and Iran/Muslim Brotherhood ... and RUSSIA.
That Axis is working in alliance to take-down the USA, as it is the only country strong enough (not just militarily) to prevent the Axis' designs for world control. (At some point after taking-out the USA they'll presumably start jostling against each other for top-dog status, but that's a discussion for another day.)
We have a Fifth Column in this country aligned with that Axis (including the unelected Biden-Harris Junta and the leadership of DOJ / FBI, CIA and Democrat Party ... and more than a few Republicans).
Anyway, in that Axis, Russia is designated (and presumably agrees to serve as) the "bad cop" for Western media attention, so as to divert attention from, e.g., the far larger and more dangerous work of the CCP in this country for "elite capture" and "unrestricted warfare."
As for the Axis itself, I posit that it itself has a "boss" behind the curtain. That would be Satan.
And almost immediately after publication, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Biden Administration got caught doctoring another official transcript.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/biden-harris-and-misinformation-e43d709d?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb