{"id":424677,"date":"2022-04-01T03:02:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T00:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/america-has-a-problem-speaking-truth-to-power-too\/"},"modified":"2022-04-01T03:02:41","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T00:02:41","slug":"america-has-a-problem-speaking-truth-to-power-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/america-has-a-problem-speaking-truth-to-power-too\/","title":{"rendered":"#America has a problem speaking truth to power, too"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2d0f54ed303\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2d0f54ed303\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/america-has-a-problem-speaking-truth-to-power-too\/#%E2%80%9CAmerica_has_a_problem_speaking_truth_to_power_too%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;America has a problem speaking truth to power, too&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CAmerica_has_a_problem_speaking_truth_to_power_too%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;America has a problem speaking truth to power, too&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin is in trouble in Ukraine, and it\u2019s because people lie to him.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the story put out by US intelligence officials, and it has the ring of truth. <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>arently, Putin wasn\u2019t told of the miserable state of readiness of Russian troops, the unavailability of spare parts and repair facilities, the shortage of transport, the inefficiency of the Russian air force, the lack of trucks needed to haul ammunition, food and fuel to the front or the surprising effectiveness of the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n<p>Putin\u2019s \u201csenior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth\u201d about \u201chow badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions,\u201d according to the White House\u2019s Kate Bedingfield.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, this has been the pattern in Russia \u2014 and before that, in the Soviet Union \u2014 for decades. Andrew Cockburn\u2019s book on the Soviet Army, \u201cThe Threat,\u201d noted these issues almost 40 years ago: poor morale, massive theft of spare parts, food and other items and sunny, faked-up reports sent to superiors.<\/p>\n<p>This is a problem in any enterprise to some degree: Underlings tend to tell higher-ups what they think the higher-ups want to hear. Even in the best organizations, it takes constant effort to ensure that bad <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> makes it up the chain of command. And Putin\u2019s Russia is not the best of organizations.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>Putin has been in power for a long time, and making him happy has been the way to get ahead. And on a day-to-day basis, it works: People get good fitness reports, leaders feel happy, everyone wins.<\/p>\n<p>Until, you know, it\u2019s time to perform. Then reality comes crashing in. That\u2019s the price of suppressing the truth in favor of the party line.<\/p>\n<p>As Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, \u201cOne of the Achilles heels of autocracies is that you don\u2019t have people in those systems who speak truth to power or who have the ability to speak truth to power. And I think that is something that we\u2019re seeing in Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you can be skeptical about how surprised Putin really was: He\u2019s spent decades dealing with (and profiting in the gazillions from) Russia\u2019s corruption. And that televised meeting in which he forced his minions to endorse his invasion plan even suggests he was getting his excuses lined up in advance in case problems arose.<\/p>\n<p>Thing is, the hide-the-bad-news dynamic is growing by leaps and bounds right here in America.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/hunter-biden-7.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"The Posts's articles on Hunter Biden's laptop were censored called &quot;disinformation.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-21738416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/hunter-biden-7.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/hunter-biden-7.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/hunter-biden-7.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The Post\u2019s articles on Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop were censored and called \u201cdisinformation.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">CBS Sunday Morning\/ZUMA Wire<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When news of Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop, and the evidence of collusion with Ukrainians and Chinese it contained, was broken by The Post before the 2020 election, it was denounced, ironically enough, as \u201cRussian disinformation.\u201d Dozens of former US intelligence officials loudly pooh-poohed the story. Social-media outfits like Twitter and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> blocked it entirely. (Twitter even barred sharing it with individuals by direct message.)<\/p>\n<p>Now The Washington Post and other establishment media outlets are admitting the laptop reporting is true. Had the news gotten out fairly, the election might well have gone the other way, sparing us the shambolic Biden administration, currently flirting with runaway inflation and World War III. And had Biden won the election anyway, at least voters wouldn\u2019t feel cheated.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, we\u2019ve seen all sorts of truthful information \u2014 questioning the effectiveness of lockdowns, mask mandates, etc. \u2014 censored as \u201cdangerous misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Surgeon <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a> Vivek Murthy is demanding that social-media companies not only censor \u201cmisinformation\u201d about COVID but turn over the personal information of people sharing what the United States government doesn\u2019t want shared.<\/p>\n<p>That action <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nclalegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Changizi-v.-HHS-PI-Memorandum.pdf\">faces a First Amendment lawsuit<\/a>, as it should. (Full disclosure: New Civil Liberties Alliance, a new civil-rights group on whose board I serve, brought the suit.)<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Virus-Outbreak-Sugeon-General.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called on social media companies to censor &quot;misinformation&quot; about COVID-19.\" class=\"wp-image-21738439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Virus-Outbreak-Sugeon-General.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Virus-Outbreak-Sugeon-General.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Virus-Outbreak-Sugeon-General.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Virus-Outbreak-Sugeon-General.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called on social media companies to censor \u201cmisinformation\u201d about COVID-19.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Susan Walsh, File<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But it\u2019s worth talking about why free speech is important. In short, it keeps us from being Putinized.<\/p>\n<p>Censors always claim they\u2019re shutting down lies in defense of the public. The trouble is that the censors in America are no more trustworthy than Putin\u2019s bureaucrats are. They tend to silence things that make them look bad in favor of things that make them look good.<\/p>\n<p>That just means that problems aren\u2019t noticed until they become too bad to ignore.<\/p>\n<p>Censorship isn\u2019t about protecting the public, it\u2019s about protecting the powerful. America needs to make it easier, in Blinken\u2019s words, to speak truth to power. Instead, the Biden administration, even as it lectures other nations, is making America more like Putin\u2019s Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Stop.<\/p>\n<p><em>Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/31\/not-just-russia-america-has-a-problem-speaking-truth-to-power-too\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;America has a problem speaking truth to power, too&#8221; Russian President Vladimir Putin is in trouble in Ukraine, and it\u2019s because people lie to him. That\u2019s the story put out by US intelligence officials, and it has the ring of truth. Apparently, Putin wasn\u2019t told of the miserable state of readiness of Russian troops, the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":424678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/putin-hunter-bidens-laptop.png?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[127371,32128,73816,70867,991,4975,126128,73234],"class_list":["post-424677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-3-31-22","tag-censorship","tag-free-speech","tag-hunter-biden","tag-joe-biden","tag-russia","tag-ukraine-war","tag-vladimir-putin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}