19 Comments

Total clown world when Obama goes around demanding censorship of “misinformation”.

I remember when he bombed Libya in the name of “democracy” and stopping “genocide” whilst arming “moderate rebels” who, upon taking power, created literal slave markets in their pogrom against Libyans of African descent.

Obama is realpolitik for the 21st century. Henry Kissinger with marketing. Continued and expanded every Bush-Cheney permanent-total-war policy and never met a “signature strike” he didn’t like.

I remember when liberals were anti-war, anti-censorship.

Congrats Obama: you’ve brokered the complete reversal of both pillars. This is your legacy.

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Thanks VP for pushing back on this. There have been so many untruths created and disseminated by the current administration (the their support crew) through the complicit media…and used to enact/enforce policy. Yes, Trump also spouted some nonsense, but there were no policies forcing bleach injections, ultraviolet light into the lungs, or the firing of people who wore masks. That large portions of society have not pushed back in the “official” misinformation is somewhat concerning.

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John Stuart Mill said " All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility". And the legions of adoring fans of Barack Obama genuflect.

I have been increasingly alarmed over recent years about the spreading insistence from the Left that the public must be "protected from misinformation". Always the question that must be asked is "Who decides what is misinformation?"

Equally important, we must ask "What if someone actually IS spreading misinformation?" If you know that something is false, we have to protect the ability of others to speak up and correct it, but even this is often unavailable to us.

The irony is seeing the Left, who traditionally have been most critical of corporations, pushing for Big Tech and Big Pharma to have the final say over what we say and what we must do.

It is really upsetting to hear my highly educated friends and family members state that they trust "the experts" to guide their thinking, thus relinquishing the sacred right, and their significant ability, to think for themselves.

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I got kicked from platforms because I presented peer reviewed papers (as if that really was the standard) that disagreed with the advice from the CDC. The censorship meant the public was denied any consideration of alternatives. Turns out for may refusing a vaccine might be wise. But without a full debate how can anyone make a wise decision for themselves? We, the public, have been short changed.

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My usual comment is that, even if the people who want to censor misinformation are well-intentioned (and by and large, let's be honest, they aren't), nearly every modern scientific paradigm at some point "contradicted the scientific consensus". And quite often the early critics made good criticism. The Twitter crowd would have swooned over their TAKE DOWNS... and been completely wrong.

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Vinay, Your enlightenment as you are seeing more and more facts (also happening to Greenwald, Bari, Berenson, etc.) is refreshing. Most of what we are told by most everyone is a lie (or at least convenient dissembling). Separating the occasional truth-gem from the morass is everyone's primary business. I applaud you for not only standing by your principles, but for becoming even more stridently principled as the malevolence of so much that is pushed out as "truth" becomes obvious to someone interested in discernment. Bravo! You are making a real difference. (And masks, cloth or otherwise, still have no demonstrated value in use...you know I will continue to pound on that until you get all the way there...)

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Obama used social media during both of his elections, now he and his party want to over regulate it in order to keep their party in power. This speaks of the fickleness of our representatives. Certainly some theories and statements are way out there but many are open discussions or at least attempts to hold open discussions about the virus, vaccine etc. Oh and keep in mind the CDC MMWR is not peer reviewed. It is internally reviewed in order to determine if the content of the paper is "consistent with CDC policy." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6004a2.htm

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Exactly, Obama created the social media electoral revolution. Always bites when the other side uses our own tools :)

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As a former lefty, I thought it was great that Trump got kicked off Twitter. Now, I see how dangerously one-sided tech censorship is. When a tweet gets marked as mis-information, or an account gets suspended, I assume the information has at least some validity. I think others assume this as well now. It sets a dangerous precedent to allow tech employees to decide what information is allowed and what information is not allowed. Great post.

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Once again VP the only main stream doctor willing to speak up and tell it like it is… thank you Dr Prasad you give us hope!

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Can't have another enlightenment if we don't impose another dark age first.

*taps temple*

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The TV watchers claim social media/youtube is replete with misinformation, but the fact is, TV is at least an equal purveyer of misinformation.

When did "TV" (all legacy media including newspapers of note such as NYT, G&M, Toronto Star, etc) become such liars... well I think that coincided at least with the first Gulf INVASION War, when official Kuwaiti news claimed that Iraq had attacked a Kuwaiti nursery, this was the trigger to send the US off to war, something Americans had resisted up until that point. Turns out, the Kuwaiti nursery attack was a complete fabrication designed to get Americans to change their minds and go to war. The "nurse" in the "news report" was the ambassador's daughter, doing her good political deed.

It's amazing that a certain faction thinks that because they see it on legacy media, they think it's "god's given truth". When did legacy media become a church!

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Such a great line! (or two)

" Misinformation (noun) information that helps Republicans win.

Fake news (noun) information that helps Democrats win. "

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Not!

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💯 🙌🏻

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Obama is really full of himself. (Understatement.)

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Time to flatten the Information curve - we all deserve access to information!

https://etana.substack.com/p/asymmetric-information?s=w

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Apr 25, 2022
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You said it and I wish more people understood the difference: it’s the algorithms not the information that needs to be regulated. (maybe we can coin a slogan if someone hasn’t already: it’s the algo not the info!)

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There are no lies or truths, only narratives. For 7-5000 years, 95% of humans have believe in the utmost of alternative facts, that there's a literal sky daddy.

Homo sapiens has the longest infancy of any living creature, this is so that we can better be indoctrinated by our parents/peer... that's why we call ourselves the "learned" species, not because we have truth, but because we spend the biggest percentage of our lifespan learning the BS coming from parents/peers, rather than behaving/constructing society according to actual biological principles.

We've been living the big lie for thousands of years, that lies lead to endless more lies should come as no surprise.

The only "surprise" is that "the left" (fake capitalist neoliberal left) has replaced "the right" (church) as the authoritarian rulers of society.

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