Biden Admin Disinformation Effort Derailed

The less than month-old Disinformation Governance Board established by President Biden has been “put on hold” due to backlash against the idea that the Board reminded too many people of the “Ministry of Truth” in George Orwell's distopian novel 1984. Given the chance to continue on the payroll with no job responsibilities, Nina Jankowicz decided to resign, saying “there's no point in me staying on if I'm not going to be allowed to censor anyone's erroneous statements or beliefs.”

Presidential Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called this turn of events “tragic. We were putting together the most extensive and comprehensive suppression of mistaken ideas in American history. Ms. Jankowicz was an ideal person to carry out this mission. The survival of our democracy depends on a vigorous extermination of unwarranted criticism of the government. We were supremely confident of the skills she would have brought to this crucial battle.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressed hope that “we can renew this effort to clamp down on dissident elements in the not too distant future. Perhaps we can come up with a less frightening name for the Board. Maybe this would mute the ferocious opposition we have seen over the last few weeks. Sorting out truth from falsehood is something that must be done. Jefferson's notion that truth can emerge from vigorous debate is too risky for our modern era. We don't want legitimate progressive passions like the anger over the pending loss of the Roe v. Wade protection of abortion rights to be illegitimately suppressed just because some of the words being used sound too violent--burning down the Supreme Court building and murdering the justices, for example. We need righteous rage if we want to achieve social justice.”