In 2012 Obama passed the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act. This act made it legal for the U.S. government to lie and propagandize to the American people.
This Act is the reason our country is so divided. The government since then has been peddling outright lies to the American people. This has driven a wedge between our citizens. One half of the population is living in a world where they believe the government’s lies and the other half does not believe them.
These lies are often the exact opposite of the truth. This results in citizens automatically being diametrically opposed to one another in our understanding of the world. This makes finding common ground near impossible.
We cannot heal this division in this country while the government is lying to us in this destructive way.
We must make it illegal again for the government to lie and propagandize to the American people if we want to heal the division in our country that has occurred since this act was enacted.
I wish… I truly do because there’s some truly gullible Americans whom trust the Government with all their hearts. How do we get them to think with their minds?
I agree with you. However, previously if caught in a lie that would be an illegal action that could result in legal consequences. This potential consequence serves as a deterrent. Currently, they can lie and propagandize without any legal risk. That has to change.
This is why the government should not be allowed to hide ANY information AT ALL. All stats and knowledge should be public domain. We should know exactly what they are doing at all times. Other than national security-type military actions. Which should be revealed to the public IMMEDIATELY after execution.
It is important to not allow government propaganda to become fact, partiularly when this law seemed to make it legal. However, freedom of speech means accountability to the known truth or disclaimers if truth is unknown.
Any news media that splices and edits audio and video to change the original message of the speaker, should be fined a large amount of money in order to discourage this type of activity. The editing of the 60 minutes interview with Kamala Harris and the editing of the Charlottesville Trump press briefing being perfect examples.
I agree that the government gets to decide when the government is lying, that has always been true. We as a free people are in a unique situation we have not seen in half a century. If Smith Munt is put back in place it will still be expensive to catch the government in a lie, but certainly the people can put the screws to the media.
With just a few lawsuits that cost the media a pretty penny they will turn on the administration with gusto. Granted it wont turn them into saints, the days of honest journalism are long gone, but if the media is no longer an arm of the government we the people win.
Severe consequences for knowingly lying to the American people. This should apply to news media, as well as ALL elected & appointed “officials”. Integrity is critical!
Yes fully agree Smith-Mundt modernization act needs repealed but need to also add into this Congress speech & debate clause which allows politicians to freely lie to public without suffering any consequences. That is part of reason all the smear campaigns we have seen have been so successful with propagandizing the American public.
Need to add a little bit to that, when any politician holding a US office speaks in public to the media on the Congressional floor or on Congressional matters they are under oath and if they are lying they can be charged with perjury
There definitely has to be a media interference conversation regarding this subject. The way that certain video clips are edited to spread a false version of the truth is nothing short of defamation. Half the crap said about trump is a distorted version of the truth that spread like wild fire. If you have to personally look up every video clip and interview because the media is untrustworthy, what’s the point of their existence?!
