Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 01/15/2010 2:57:24 PM PST by IbJensen
In a lengthy academic paper, President Obama’s regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, argued the U.S. government should ban “conspiracy theorizing.”
Among the beliefs Sunstein would ban is advocating that the theory of global warming is a deliberate fraud.
Sunstein also recommended the government send agents to infiltrate “extremists who supply conspiracy theories” to disrupt the efforts of the “extremists” to propagate their theories.
In a 2008 Harvard law paper, “Conspiracy Theories,” Sunstein and co-author Adrian Vermeule, a Harvard law professor, ask, “What can government do about conspiracy theories?”
“We can readily imagine a series of possible responses. (1) Government might ban conspiracy theorizing. (2) Government might impose some kind of tax, financial or otherwise, on those who disseminate such theories.”
In the 30-page paper – obtained and reviewed by WND – Sunstein argues the best government response to “conspiracy theories” is “cognitive infiltration of extremist groups.”
Continued Sunstein: “We suggest a distinctive tactic for breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories: cognitive infiltration of extremist groups, whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of believers by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups, thereby introducing beneficial cognitive diversity.”
Read more about Cass Sunstein’s agenda in “Shut Up, America!: The End of Free Speech”
Sunstein said government agents “might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action.”
Sunstein defined a conspiracy theory as “an effort to explain some event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role.”
Some “conspiracy theories” recommended for ban by Sunstein include:
* “The theory of global warming is a deliberate fraud.” * “The view that the Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” * “The 1996 crash of TWA flight 800 was caused by a U.S. military missile.” * “The Trilateral Commission is responsible for important movements of the international economy.” * “That Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by federal agents.” * “The moon landing was staged and never actually occurred.”
Sunstein allowed that “some conspiracy theories, under our definition, have turned out to be true.”
He continued: “The Watergate hotel room used by Democratic National Committee was, in fact, bugged by Republican officials, operating at the behest of the White House. In the 1950s, the CIA did, in fact, administer LSD and related drugs under Project MKULTRA, in an effort to investigate the possibility of ‘mind control.’”
Sunstein’s paper advocating against the belief that global warming is a deliberate fraud was written before November’s climate scandal in which e-mails hacked from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University in the U.K. indicate top climate researchers conspired to rig data and keep researchers with dissenting views from publishing in leading scientific journals.
Sunstein: Ban ‘right wing’ rumors
Sunstein’s paper is not the first time he has advocated banning the free flow of information.
WND reported that in a recently released book, “On Rumors,” Sunstein argued websites should be obliged to remove “false rumors” while libel laws should be altered to make it easier to sue for spreading such “rumors.”
In the 2009 book, Sunstein cited as a primary example of “absurd” and “hateful” remarks, reports by “right-wing websites” alleging an association between President Obama and Weatherman terrorist William Ayers.
He also singled out radio talker Sean Hannity for “attacking” Obama regarding the president’s “alleged associations.”
Ayers became a name in the 2008 presidential campaign when it was disclosed he worked closely with Obama for years. Obama also was said to have launched his political career at a 1995 fundraiser in Ayers’ apartment.
‘New Deal Fairness Doctrine’
WND also previously reported Sunstein drew up a “First Amendment New Deal” – a new “Fairness Doctrine” that would include the establishment of a panel of “nonpartisan experts” to ensure “diversity of view” on the airwaves.
Read the rest of this story at World Net Daily.
Pat Robertson may be right!
Trolls trolling trolling trolls :)
Advocating??? The left has already been doing this for years
The greatest enemy of intellectuals is the truth, and they would ban it, if they could. If we keep electing them, they will.
Stop trolling!
I wish these vermin would be as hell-bent on doing the right things rather than
trying to control everything and everyone. I can’t believe we have these sort of pieces in any position of importance.
-Traveler
Hello, there, Big Brother. What's next, you piece of crap, TV cameras in every residence, lie detectors for all subjects, err, ah, citizens?
Shisestain can go to Hell. People like him CAUSE conspiracy theorists to generate even more, because he is a tyrant.
Oh, and a hearty Sic semper tyrannus to you! I'd say more, but I'm not stupid. Suspicious and contemptuous of you and your lowly ilk, but not stupid.
It isn't paranoia if a Shisestain is out to censor you.
I’m sorry, when I worked for the government, every person who was blinded by conspiracy theories was a Democrat. Things were ugly after 9/11 and the 2004 elections.
Welcome to the new USSR, comrade.
What about free speech?
The good news is that before the CENSORISTS can destroy the First Amendment, they have to get by those of us who will use the Second Amendment to defend it. Our Founders (bless 'em!) designed the BOR that way...
Fascists.
Some “conspiracy theories” recommended for ban by Sunstein include:
* “The theory of global warming is a deliberate fraud.” * “The view that the Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” * “The 1996 crash of TWA flight 800 was caused by a U.S. military missile.” * “The Trilateral Commission is responsible for important movements of the international economy.” * “That Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by federal agents.” * “The moon landing was staged and never actually occurred.”"
...or that there is too much of an incestuous relationship between certain businesses and government, such as Goldman Sachs, GE, or most major media?
Careful casting the aspersions, you are the one (supposed mainstream conservative) that they are truly going after, as the true Conspiracy Theorists are the pushers of the official line, aka most of USA government, and many of its brain-dead citizens. What they ask is the TRUE suspension of disbelief.
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