It’s all about facts again. In the unmitigated denialist lunatic hell that used to be America, you’d think partisan politics would be kept firmly locked in the Sleazy Classifieds section. Any day of the week, you can just search “fact check” on Google News to see pages of disputed information.
The GOP is now attacking disinformation researchers with legal briefs, subpoenas, and basically Trump-style legal challenges to anything and everything the researchers do. Researchers include top US colleges.
The researchers say this campaign is obstructive to their work, consuming time and resources. The Republicans seem to feel that this type of research singles out conservative right-wing information, for some reason.
The reason might be that right-wing media has been producing nothing but disinformation since the 2016 campaign, particularly on social media. Then there’s the good old “black is white” nature of right-wing logic to unpick. If they’re obviously wrong about something, somebody else must be to blame:
The 2020 election was officially and irrevocably lost by Trump. The Electoral College signed off on that result. Therefore according to the GOP Trump didn’t lose, and saying that the election was stolen isn’t disinformation.
Should someone point out that this was the same election that appointed the current Congress to office, and their own votes might also be invalid? You’d have to be able to read and write to understand that.
The anti-vax campaign is another disinformation campaign still bleating away in the background. After the vaccines were distributed the infection numbers dropped hugely and have never returned to their former infection rates.
Anti-vax propaganda isn’t disinformation because someone getting paid to promote anti-vax says so. The people voted with their jabs, but this very dead horse is still being flogged.
The First Amendment specifically allows a free press. Therefore the GOP is allowed to publish any drivel it likes. In practice, everyone is allowed to call it whatever they want under the First Amendment. So the attacks on the researchers, which can’t achieve anything anyway, must be a great move. This is at least in theory an attack on the First Amendment rights of the researchers.
Attacking disinformation research is also a clear admission that the Republicans depend on disinformation campaigns to get attention, let alone votes. The GOP and facts haven’t been on speaking terms for years. Disinformation is the only option.
I’m not sure if there are any precedents for a class action by the researchers against legal harassment of this kind. There should be. The mere fact that the constant attacks on the researchers are pointless and arguably insane might have some impact.
Facts don’t stop being facts. Lies don’t stop being lies. The 2020 election isn’t going to be held again. Over a million dead Americans from the “hoax” pandemic won’t suddenly come to life again. See the problems?
One simple question – Why is the GOP so terrified of facts?
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
