Notes from the edge of civilization: Jan. 14, 2024
Davos is for dummies; diminutive demagogue; disinformation distress; and democracy dies in darkness.
Starting Monday, global muckety-mucks will descend on the Alpine town of Davos, Switzerland for the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. The theme of the conference is, ironically, Rebuilding Trust.
In advance of the meeting, the organization put out a report outlining the greatest global risks, featuring the insights of nearly 1,500 experts from academia, business, government, and civil society. These “experts” say misinformation and disinformation is the greatest risk over the next two years.
As close to three billion people are expected to head to the electoral polls across several economies – including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States1 – over the next two years, the widespread use of misinformation and disinformation, and tools to disseminate it, may undermine the legitimacy of newly elected governments. Resulting unrest could range from violent protests and hate crimes to civil confrontation and terrorism.
Beyond elections, perceptions of reality are likely to also become more polarized, infiltrating the public discourse on issues ranging from public health to social justice. However, as truth is undermined, the risk of domestic propaganda and censorship will also rise in turn.
In response to mis- and disinformation, governments could be increasingly empowered to control information based on what they determine to be “true”. Freedoms relating to the internet, press and access to wider sources of information that are already in decline risk descending into broader repression of information flows across a wider set of countries.
Never forget these psychopaths who are now warning us about the risks of mis- and disinformation from their exclusive mountain hideout are the same people who told us it was racist and dangerous to ask whether the pandemic may have been started by a lab leak in Wuhan. They’re the same people who told us the virus was transmitted by droplets and therefore we should stay exactly six feet apart to stop the spread. The same crowd said no one is safe until everyone is vaccinated by a very safe and effective vaccine. Turns out none of those things were true.
After lying to the world for four years, the world’s elites wonder how to rebuild trust?
This week, our nation’s favorite tiny technocrat, Dr. Anthony Fauci, testified in a closed-door session before a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Chairman of the subcommittee Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) issued a statement after the second day of testimony, stating:
After two days of testimony and 14 hours of questioning, many things became evident. During his interview today, Dr. Fauci claimed that the policies and mandates he promoted may unfortunately increase vaccine hesitancy for years to come. He testified that the lab leak hypothesis — which was often suppressed — was, in fact, not a conspiracy theory. Further, the social distancing recommendations forced on Americans ‘sort of just appeared’ and were likely not based on scientific data.
Sounds like a worthy case study for the Davos crew. After all, Dr. Fauci is science. Right? RIGHT?
Many of the greatest lies of the pandemic could have been stopped from spreading, or at least slowed down, if journalists had done a better job of investigating rather than just trusting the “experts” who repeated narratives. In an hour-long interview with the Collapse Life podcast, investigative journalist and former Senate investigator, Paul Thacker, helped our audience better understand how information can be manipulated and weaponized and the multi-level matrix that has developed around creating and sharing disinformation. It’s not only an informative conversation, but Paul is highly entertaining. Hope you enjoy it!
It was a dark week for journalism. Turns out, we are quickly becoming the very societies we fought bitterly against in the 20th century. All of us should be extremely concerned and extremely vigilant.
Chilean-American journalist Gonzalo Lira, who was imprisoned in Ukraine for speaking out against the leadership and corruption, died in prison.
David Menzies, a reporter with Canadian news outlet, Rebel News, was arrested for “assault” in a bizarre incident that demonstrates the depths to which those in power will go to protect their hegemony.
Make no mistake — regardless of your political perspectives — the protection of a free press is a fundamental pillar of an open and democratic society. And further, the marketplace of ideas flourishes with a plurality of voices, making this extraordinary display a slippery slope we in the West do not want to slide down.
Let’s not forget the many other intrepid journalists — Julian Assange, for example — who put everything on the line to shed light on the things that require us to be better informed, better citizens, and better guardians of the rights and liberties entrusted to us by generations that came before.
Please don’t miss the fact that the WEF report’s authors refer to Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States as “economies,” when they’re actual sovereign nations home to nearly 3 billion people.
Don't forget that these international businesses actually believe themselves to be beyond the scrutiny of any country's pesky laws. Trade embargos and travel restrictions just mean that they will route through some other country instead of direct movements. That is a good part of why we still have a myriad of things like the Jones Act and the Chicken Tax still in effect, ostensibly for protection of US interests.
These interests have always relied on a compliant media. They just have not been able to effectively counter the new media not being subject to their influence. The only attack that they have is to smear and discredit them. That only works for so long.
First of all, I love me some alliteration, so your subhead made me swoon. :) Second of all, a BLOODY HELL YES to all of this. At the end of the day, it matters less what is in fact true than what the media narrative tells you is true. If the news was ablaze with warnings--text alerts on your phone, EBS announcements interrupting your Facebook scroll--that a tornado was set to touch down on your side of town within minutes, you probably wouldn't go out for a stroll. Information is what we act upon and it's absolutely critical that it be trustworthy--which will never happen until the media gets out of bed with big pharma/tech/food.