Calm Surrender

Coercion and Censorship on Behalf of The Benighted

Ponder the nearly-institutionalized attitude toward 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' and 'fake news,' along with the emergence of the fact-checking industry. It has reached an inflection point in the Joe Rogan COVID kerfuffle, wherein erstwhile anti-Establishment icons such as Neil Young (and the balance of CSNY) and Joni Mitchell attempted to use the fiscal power associated with their bodies of work to censor speech. I guess Neil's not much for rocking in the free world any more.

I think it's safe to say that the typical people who approve of this soft censorship consider themselves properly and correctly informed on whatever matter the labeling, fact-checking, and deplatforming is directed at. In other words, they don't need to be told that something has been deemed false, or misleading, or missing context. Such additions are there for others, not themselves.

Who out there has said "phew! I'm glad this was fact-checked on my behalf?" No one ever considers himself or herself the problem in the information wars - it's always the other guy who's in need of enlightenment. And, by golly, they're going to make sure such enlightenment happens (or at least be happy when Facebook and Twitter do so in their stead).

This attitude is emblematic of a broader cultural shift - one where 'right' and 'wrong' have been institutionalized, where coercive power over information has been ceded to those most capable of wielding it. Everywhere we look, the "Best-and-Brightest" are trying to run our lives and curate our choices, on our behalf and for our own good. From the pandemic to climate change to the products we buy to the votes we cast, we are beset by control-freaks, who get extra cranky and redouble their efforts when we don't 'bend the knee.'

This is playing out north of the border, in Ottawa and on the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Canadian truck drivers protesting a vaccination mandate (90%+ of them are vaccinated, mandate or no) have drawn world-wide attention and support for daring to argue in favor of individual liberty. For their troubles, they've been broad-brushed as white supremacists, Nazi sympathizers, and the like, have had monies donated to their cause frozen by GoFundMe and TD Bank, and have had their aims mischaracterized (deliberately so, I'd surmise).

Why? The latest science tells us that even the vaccinated can spread the disease, and in any case they've already achieved 90% compliance without the mandate.

Ultimately, this is about alpha-dogging the citizenry. In the words of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, the goal is to get the dissenters into a state of "calm surrender."

This is what all those who cheerlead fact-checks, social-media labels and pop-ups, Facebook "jailing," Twitter deplatforming, and all the other forms of heterodoxy-quashing want. They don't need any of this for themselves. After all, they either know the correct answer or are willing to "do their own research" (i.e. conclusion-shop until they find a corroborating 'expert'). The benighted masses cannot be trusted to ask their own questions, do their own fact-checking, or raise a skeptical eyebrow at some shared link or meme. Sure, many don't, but shouldn't that be their choice? Doesn't the Left tell us all the time about how sacrosanct "choice" is? Oh - wrong sort of choice?

The ascendant minority - and yes, the amalgamation of progressive activists, Twitter trolls, liberal press, and career big-government politicians is indeed a numerical minority - seeks to rule over the rest of the populace, not serve it nor participate in a free and democratic society. They get more strident and aggressive with every bit of disobedience, and they’re not planning to give up trying any time soon.