Leave it to The New York Times, one of America’s foremost conveyers of fake news, to suggest that President Biden appoint a “Reality Czar” to stifle the dissemination of so-called “disinformation.”
The article, titled “How the Biden Administration Can Help Solve Our Reality Crisis” suggests “the Biden administration put together a cross-agency task force to tackle disinformation and domestic extremism, which would be led by something like a ‘reality czar,'” according to columnist Kevin Roose.
Roose explains his suggestion for a Reality Czar is based upon his “several years reporting on our national reality crisis.”
What does Roose mean when he says there is a “national reality crisis” in the United States? I would venture to guess he means not all Americans are in lockstep with the political and cultural narrative perpetuated by his colleagues in the mainstream liberal media. In Roose’s authoritarian mindset, that is unacceptable. However, who is Roose to determine what reality is?
Roose also labels “conspiracy theories” and “disinformation,” which he apparently believes exclusively exist among those on the right side of the political spectrum, as “urgent threats.” Speaking of disinformation and conspiracy theories, for the past four years, The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, etc. fed the nation a series of conspiracy theories and disinformation about the Trump administration’s alleged collusion with Russia.
Yet, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Roose’s recommendation is his “worry that unless the Biden administration treats conspiracy theories and disinformation as the urgent threats they are, our parallel universes will only drift further apart, and the potential for violent unrest and civic dysfunction will only grow.”
Roose’s longing for the Biden administration to crackdown on “conspiracy theories and disinformation” is un-American and unconstitutional. One would think that as a member of the press Roose would be aware that his recommendation violates the First Amendment.
But, given the circumstances we are living in, this might not matter. Big tech has already taken it upon itself to stifle freedom of speech at a level unforeseen in American history. Yet, what Roose is pushing would make big tech’s free speech suppression look like child’s play. Creating a Reality Czar is a terrible idea. It would empower the federal government to silence entire groups of people who hold political opinions that are not in alignment with the administration. The day that the Biden administration, or any administration for that matter, is able to determine “reality” is the day that the United States stops being the world’s beacon of freedom.
PHOTO: New York Times Building, NYC. Photo by Torrenegra. Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
