Meet Nina Jankowicz, our new Executive Director of the
Disinformation Governace Board (DGB) in the Department of Homeland Security:
She looks rather
harmless, you may think. The photo above looks more like something in a dating
app. And you should have seen her, if you haven’t already, in a red outfit and
red lipstick singing a disinformation song with the tune of that Mary Poppins
song that Julie Andrews made famous in the 1960s. Reminds me of musical theater,
which is Ms. Jankowicz’s big interest outside of her professional responsibilities. There is a third photo in which she is dressed professionally and has a slight look of menace on her face.
While our Secretary
of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas assures us that Ms. Jankowicz and the DGB are
harmless. I agree with congressional critics from both parties that this is
quite Orwellian and far from harmless. George Orwell was a British literary
sensation of the mid-20th century who wrote two novels in particular
that denounced authoritarianism- Animal Farm and 1984.
The Orwellian
criticism particularly points to 1984, which depicts a dystopian future
grounded in doublethink and newspeak enforced by the Thought Police of the
Ministry of Truth. The Ministry of Truth enforced the slogans of the Party:
WAR
IS PEACE
FREEDOM
IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
In addition, Mayorkas could not,
under congressional testimony, define disinformation or provide examples of such.
Permit me to offer up some-
1. The
Spaniards had the USS Maine destroyed in Havana Harbor in February 1898
2. Germany
was primarily responsible for World War I
3. The
global pandemic of 1918-22 originated in Spain
4. President
Roosevelt allowed the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor and knew about it
beforehand
5. Alger
Hiss was not a Soviet spy
6. President
Kennedy was going to allow the Pope to direct him if elected
7. The
US Moon landing was real
8. There
were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
9. President
Trump is a Russian asset
10. The Covid
pandemic definitely did not originate in China
The perceptive reader will see that I planted some statements among the "dis-facts" or information. I accomplished the list in a matter of seconds. Come on, Secretary Mayorkas, at least to pretend to care
about history!
Regarding history, there is a
precedent for the DGB. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917
our government created the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Created
through a three-sentence executive order, the CPI soon a propaganda machine
which rode herd over even average Americans to adhere to the “party line” about
the war. President Wilson as history jas shown was both a racist and a repeat
offender in violating the civil liberties of his fellow citizens.
There is generally no such thing the
as a temporary government agency with limited powers. I fear that the DGB will
suck up people, money, and other resources to become a bloated ministry of
truth declaring to us what is disinformation or subjecting us to repeated violations
of our Free Speech rights. Ms. Jankowicz may well become our own minister of
truth, if not in name, then in the spirit, and even become the lord high
executioner if we cross her too often.
Let’s recall another warning from
Orwell- “Political language is designed to make lie sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind,” George Orwell
was indeed correct about a DGB but was
just 38 years late.
[#4 in the disinformation list above is a "dis=fact" along with other four. President Roosevelt did not have prior knowledge of the Japna's attack.]
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