WTVM Editorial 05/10/22: Abolish The Disinformation Board

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - By now you’ve probably heard the Department of Homeland Security has set up a “Disinformation Governance Board” to battle what the government calls mis-or-disinformation.

The DHS has selected who will head this effort and how it will work. But we don’t need the government telling us what misinformation is.

It’s the American people who have the power to judge what is - or is not – disinformation.

When the founders designed the genius that is our representative democracy, they envisioned an educated public capable of figuring out who – if anyone - was lying to them and to vote accordingly.

There was never a need for a “disinformation board” in the past 246 years of our nation and there is not a need for one now.

The Department of Homeland Security is already admitting that their “disinformation board” is creating confusion – so they acknowledge they now need to “build trust” with the public. It says exactly that on the DHS website. But if a government agency that’s just starting a “Disinformation Board” needs to build trust with us, it’s obvious that it isn’t going to work.

Maybe the smartest move would be to abolish the disinformation board before it can become another never-ending, well-funded part of the bloated federal bureaucracy.

Yes, bad and dishonest information can and does get traction on the internet and spread on social media.

But usually, the truth comes out, even if it takes a while.

In an honest exchange of ideas, when free speech is encouraged, adults are more than capable of making decisions about the information they consume.

We don’t need any agency of the government pronouncing what’s true or false.

That’s up to us, as educated citizens, to figure out.

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