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Biden DOJ Indicts Four Americans For 'Weaponized' Free Speech
Johnstone, Caitlin
http://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/04/19/biden-doj-indicts-four-americans-for-weaponized-free-speech/Date Written: 2023-04-19 Year Published: 2023 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX24856 The U.S. government is charging that members of the African People's Socialist Party 'weaponized' the First Amendment to publish 'propaganda' and promote 'dissenion." What that means is that they engaged in speech and political activism that the U.S. government does not like. Abstract: - Excerpt: It's not reasonable for the government to just dismiss the First Amendment on the grounds that it is being "weaponized". You can’t have your government dictating what speech is valid and what counts as "agitprop" and "disinformation", because they’ll always define those terms in ways which benefit the government, thus giving more power to the powerful and taking power away from the people. You can't have your government dictating what political groups are legitimate and which ones are tools of a foreign government, because you can always count on the powerful set such designations in ways which benefit themselves. ... There's also the brazen hypocrisy of it all. The US government is constantly engaging in foreign influence operations with outfits like the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up to help foment coups and colour revolutions and advance US information interests overtly in ways the CIA used to do covertly. ... When they claim the members of the APSP published 'propaganda' and promoted 'dissention', what they really mean is that they engaged in speech and political activism that the US government does not like. The spinmeisters will try to spin it, the legal mumbo-jumbo will try to obfuscate it, but that’s what’s happening. Don’t let them conceal this from you. They’re not worried about Russian propaganda, they’re worried you'll stop listening to US propaganda. Subject Headings |