Opinion, not propaganda, protected by First Amendment
One of the things Daniel L. Gardner mentions in his column as being dangerous is “calling truth a lie.” This is particularly so when a truth is called a lie when the person knows the truth to be true. The reverse is worse — calling a lie the truth.
The First Amendment prevents Congress from limiting our freedom of speech by law. This is hedged about by special cases — lying under oath, lying to federal officers, lying about someone in print, lying abut fire in a theater, and so on. All these exceptions involve lying. Opinion is protected. Lying, not so much. We also have laws against incitement to riot or insurrection.
The First Amendment does not protect us from the responses of our fellow citizens. The use of rails or tar and feathers have not been unheard of. Being barred from businesses happens a lot.
Freedom of speech allows anyone, including journalists, to speak truth to power. They may do it with legal impunity if they have good evidence.
The reverse of the medal is propaganda. Propaganda seeks to make a lie, or a collection of lies, accepted as the truth. The propagandist tells the people what he wants them to believe in such a way as to persuade them to believe it. The best way for that to happen is to tell them the story often and in a far-reaching way. Modern social media provide an unprecedented way to make the story far-reaching. A propagandist on Twitter can reach tens of millions of people in minutes, a spread that would have taken months twenty years ago. The story can be repeated over and over, with enough variations on the theme to reinforce its effect.
Everybody knows the story is best conveyed by slogans — something memorable, repeatable and brief. “Black Lives Matter.” “Stop the Steal.” “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.” “Roll Tide.” Twitter might have been designed for slogans.
In the novel 1984, the Ministry of Truth was a governmental agency. Today we have social media. I applaud social media’s efforts to limit the spread of propaganda. I do not doubt that if Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi started tweeting lies, their accounts would get editorial comment or be blocked. Propagandists come in all colors, and they all need to be stopped.
Bill Gillmore
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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