Many were caught unaware of the plans and schemes that energized the lockdown on our liberties. Free speech, bodily autonomy, voting, and the ability to move freely were on the short list of things they sought to impede. To this day, it is difficult to get to the facts of COVID-19, the mRNA shots, or how elections were tampered with. Independent media seems to be the only way Americans can get the information they need. The surge in independent media outlets like UncoverDC may be a key reason WEF and others are laser-focused on the "risks" of mis- and disinformation. Control of alternative messaging is imperative to WEF's mission. And WEF is one of countless groups that intend to limit what Americans see and hear.
Maybe it is another big PSYOP but the WEF's Global Risks Report 2024 presents a fairly realistic, balanced assessment of the issue of mis- and disinformation as it stands today. The report, based on a "perception survey," discusses the risks of "synthetic content" or AI "from sophisticated voice cloning to counterfeit websites." Synthetic content can and has resulted in regulatory control. However, regulatory control has its downside because it is another vector for hampering free speech. The report also speaks to the "falsification" of information that "could be deployed in pursuit of diverse goals from climate activism to conflict escalation." Deepfake pornography will increase, and even the stock market will be vulnerable to manipulation. The WEF report expresses concerns over the balance between governments acting too slowly and governments that are too quick to be repressive in their efforts to curtail mis- and disinformation. Indeed, we have seen evidence of repressive control over free speech here in the United States with the partnerships between the government, Big Tech, and the legacy media.
At heightened risk concerning misinformation and disinformation are elections. The WEF report argues that "the presence of misinformation and disinformation in these electoral processes could seriously destabilize the real and perceived legitimacy of newly elected governments, risking political unrest, violence and terrorism, and a longer-term erosion of democratic processes." Unfortunately, in the U.S., the mis-and disinformation campaigns seem to target legitimate efforts to investigate the security and legitimacy of our vote and elections. Many federal agencies and their NGO partners have already created narratives that promote the questioning of election administration as nefarious, "terroristic" activity. Citizens should be able to bring their legitimate concerns forward without fear of negative labeling or retribution. In addition, the WEF report devotes considerable time to discussing how AI content can "influence voters and fuel protests, or in more extreme scenarios, lead to violence and radicalization..."
According to a Jan. 20, 2024, article from Just the News, AI is being used in the U.S. to flag election information. In Oregon, the secretary of state's office "used artificial intelligence in the 2022 election" to flag concerns over mail-in ballots. The Oregon SOS hired a U.K. artificial intelligence company for a pilot project "to help provide a suite of products to identify and disarm harmful information online." They allegedly identified "high-risk potential MDM narratives" to fight mis, dis, and malinformation about elections in the state. Mail-in ballots became the "state's standard system more than twenty years ago."
Oregon state legislators, however, called on the secretary in November "to immediately halt implementation for the 'Misinformation, Disinformation, and Mal-information (MDM) Analysis Platform Services' Contract' because 'the purpose of this system is to continually monitor and actively manipulate the free speech of Oregonians.'" According to Just the News, "Legislators in the state also filed a lawsuit against state executives, requesting a preliminary injunction that would halt 'any performance of work pursuant to' the anti-MDM contract. The case is currently pending."
Arizona is also using AI " to head off interference" for the 2024 Presidential election, according to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. Ironically, Fontes became a shining example of misinformation during his conversation about using AI to unearth the "truth" behind elections. At one point, Fontes told his audience that "in Arizona, there is no such thing as a voting machine," a statement that will probably ring hollow with most Arizona voters. But, yes, it is true paper is involved in Arizona elections. Referencing the "conversations we will be having about elections," Fontes stated,
"We still have to convince people of the reality, right? And it's unfortunate that we have to kind of, like, campaign our way to the truth. For example, in Arizona, there's no such thing as a voting machine. Every ballot is cast on paper. That's been true for a very, very long time, and yet these mythologies pop up all over the place. And the sad thing is you've got elected officials and people who are running for office who are still peddling these lies. They're grifting. They're just not serious people."
Ultimately, it comes down to the blurring of the truth. Long gone, it seems, are the days when everyone could agree on, for example, the simple biological fact that males and females are biologically different. It seems everything must now be passed through the lens of emotion and ideology. The phrase, "Speak your truth," is widely accepted as THE TRUTH when, really, there are many things that stand alone as true regardless of what you might think about them. Even the WEF references this phenomenon in this report and provides insight into why relative truths might now be part of the zeitgeist. In part, the report states that "emotions and ideologies" overshadow facts and become the way "discourse on issues ranging from public health to social justice and education, to the environment" is framed to achieve a desired end result. The way world leaders handled the pandemic is a great example of how ideology and emotion can direct a fearful public. Using fear, authorities convinced millions to comply with any number of draconian policies, all accomplished through mis-and disinformation campaigns and possibly purposeful schizophrenic messaging about masks or even the virus itself.
The ever-changing narratives breed uncertainty and a certain kind of brain fog, which in turn can produce fear. Even more alarming is the idea that these ever-changing, confusing messages could destroy "autobiographical memory," according to a recent book entitled, "The Indoctrinated Brain" by Dr. Michael Nehls. On a physiological level, Nehls maintains the spike protein plays a significant role in destroying parts key parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus. For the purposes of this column, however, I will focus on the messaging or narrative piece of his hypothesis.
Nehls references his previous study of Alzheimer's disease and its effect on the hippocampus and autobiographical memory while examining the changes in individuals during the pandemic. One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's is the loss of autobiographical memory, the very memory that contextualizes who that person is and has been and what that person knows to be true. Nehls speaks of "index neurons," or the neurons in the hippocampus that "form the content of the memories we form." He believes the "fear-mongering narrative," coupled with rules and policies that seemed to change daily, served to help erase previously known truths (masks do not protect from viruses, for example). Masks, social distancing, and the shots are all examples of moving targets we all struggled to track. Nehls explains:
"The hippocampus has to index new neurons with only one chance to do it. It has to override existing index neurons. Two things have to happen. First, you erase [previous long-term memories] with each new, let's say, fear-mongering narrative. You erase a part of your former memories, part of your personality. That's one thing. The other thing is the new narrative. You now pause to memorize by overriding the former memories, which might be nice and happy memories from your past. What happens is that these newer new index neuron activity becomes incorporated. The technocratic narratives become your new personality. So, look at what we experienced. When we tried to talk to other people about these [technocratic] narratives. If you make them question, the person often attacked you. The locus of personality is being occupied by these narratives" with no accessible memory of what they previously knew to be true. If true, his theory explains one reason cognitive dissonance is so difficult to overcome for so many.
Naomi Wolf wrote the forward for Nehls' book. She further explains the phenomenon from her Nov. 27, 2023 substack column.
Notably, the WEF admits in its report that "[g]lobal internet freedom is already in decline and access to wider sets of information has dropped in numerous countries. Falls in press freedoms in recent years and a related lack of strong investigative media are also significant vulnerabilities that are set to grow. Indeed, the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation may be leveraged to strengthen digital authoritarianism may be leveraged to strengthen digital authoritarianism and the use of technology to control citizens. Governments will increasingly be able to determine what is true, potentially allowing political parties to monopolize the public discourse and suppress dissenting voices, including journalists and opponents. Individuals have already been imprisoned in Belarus and Nicaragua and killed in Myanmar and Iran for online speech." There is, says the report, a higher perceived likelihood of the "widespread control of information" through "misinformation and disinformation, censorship and surveillance, and the erosion of human rights." The admissions here are ironic indeed since many of the key leading figures associated with the WEF, like Bill Gates, are the very purveyors of these types of controls.
