The US Constitution’s First Amendment has become a very hot topic over the last years, considering that its goal is to protect citizens’ right to free speech.
Coincidence?
Either way – serious issues connected to this pivotal piece of democratic legislation have now reached the Supreme Court in several cases, alleging one form or another of government-orchestrated censorship campaigns.
Fast forward to, adding insult to injury: one of the government officials who managed to stand out in this Big Tech/Big Government “Big Collusion ” – Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary – is back for the annual First Amendment Awards.
Of all things.
Psaki will be the ceremony’s MC – just, many will attest, as she was not long ago – in 2021, the Biden administration’s “censorship collusion” MC.
There is no shortage of symbolism here but it’s not at all certain that they work in organizers’ favor; the awards will be held tonight at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.
Whereas, the said organizer, Radio Television Digital News Foundation (RTDNA) group announced it is “delighted” to have Psaki “honor 13 individuals and organizations for their efforts to promote, protect, and defend the First Amendment.”
Since leaving the administration, Psaki has found her new professional home as an MSNBC host – an entirely unsurprising pairing.
But let’s see how she “promoted, protected, and defended the First Amendment” while still a government employee, in the summer of 2021.
The “Snowden revelations journalist” Glenn Greenwald summed up the administration and the Covid of it all as – no less than “a hallmark of fascism.”
It wasn’t just that these opinions were branded as “misinformation” and these voices silenced, but it saw the White House unhinged, to use a kind term – denying, after quite openly admitting, it was in fact (acting unconstitutionally) in suppressing online speech.
This is the quote Psaki will be remembered for – not her hypocritical “MCing” for First Amendment, or MSNBC talking head career:
“We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We’re working with doctors and medical experts… who are popular with their audience with accurate information. So, we’re helping get trusted content out there.”
That’s what reporters heard from Psaki, in July 2021.
And when we talk about Covid “disinformation” it wasn’t just vaccine skepticism: at that time, things like probing the origin of the virus would also get you flagged as a “science-hating nutcase.”
And, more importantly, silenced – something any US government truly bound by the First Amendment would never do.
