When the Left derides “disinformation” as a threat, they’re making a confession. They are, in effect, admitting that ideas and opinions that run counter to the preferred establishment narrative are a threat to their control and that they will go to extraordinary lengths to stamp them out.
We got a taste of this during the pandemic when the White House publicly pressured Big Tech companies to block COVID-19 “misinformation” and the users who spread it, and when the Department of Homeland Security formed its own “Disinformation Governance Board” before being publicly ridiculed into abandoning the initiative.
UF STUDENT GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS BILL FUNDING OUT-OF-STATE LATE-TERM ABORTIONS
But the Left’s efforts to squash dissenting speech have only accelerated since then as a number of influential organizations realize that they can rely upon the federal government and social media platforms to do the dirty work for them. The National School Boards Association, for example, turned to the Biden administration for help when it wanted to intimidate outspoken parents who had become critical of pandemic school closures and woke curricula. And just this week, the American Medical Association asked the Justice Department to investigate reports about the sex-change procedures being performed on children as dangerous “misinformation.”
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the organization claimed threats are being made against hospitals that provide “evidence-based health care” — a euphemism for irreversible and experimental surgeries that permanently alter the bodies of gender-confused but otherwise healthy people. The solution, the letter claimed, is to “prevent” the spread of “misinformation” about these procedures “on digital platforms.”
“We now urge your office to take swift action to investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities responsible,” the letter said.
What makes the AMA’s letter so absurd is that much of the recent information about sex-change procedures that drove this issue to the forefront of public debate had been made publicly available by the very hospitals and healthcare providers the AMA claims to represent. Boston Children’s Hospital released videos on its own website claiming children as young as 3 years old can know they are a gender different than their sex and bragging about the importance of “gender-affirming” hysterectomies for young girls. Likewise, Vanderbilt physician Dr. Shane Taylor gave an address in front of hundreds of people admitting that gender reassignment procedures are a “big moneymaker.”
All conservative activists have done is accurately report on the things these medical professionals have said and done — how is that misinformation?
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
It’s not, but the reason the AMA is up in arms is that they know their bubble is beginning to burst. The more the public is forced to confront the devastating effects gender ideology is having on young children and adults, the more they will reject it. The AMA knows this, and it also knows it won’t be able to come up with a defense for an ideology that defies both science and common sense. So, it’s turned to its allies in the Biden administration in the hope that it can silence its critics.
But that’s the pesky thing about free speech. It’s a right — we can criticize whom we please and question what we like. And usually, telling people to shut up has the exact opposite effect.
Kaylee McGhee White is the deputy editor of Restoring America for the Washington Examiner and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
