AG Ford And The Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder

George Orwell presciently wrote, “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” According to the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder, Orwell’s work of fiction inches closer to reality in a final and disturbing report approved and released by the Commission in November 2021.

As Nevada’s top cop, Attorney General Aaron Ford apparently spends his spare time rooting out societal “speech offenders” as Ford was appointed to the Commission in April 2021. According to the Commission, the report took six months to create, so Ford was involved with the report since its inception.

Who are the appointed “experts” sitting on the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and what is the commission’s purpose?

According to their website:

America is in a crisis of trust and truth. Bad information has become as prevalent, persuasive, and persistent as good information, creating a chain reaction of harm. It makes any health crisis more deadly. It slows down response time on climate change. It undermines democracy.

The Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder was created to address these conditions. Co-chaired by award-winning journalist Katie Couric, cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs, and civil rights leader Rashad Robinson, the Commission is composed of a diverse group from across the political spectrum, representing academia, government, philanthropy, and civil society. Over the course of six months, commissioners held internal discussions and heard from experts, community leaders, academics, researchers, tech industry representatives, and lawmakers to understand and explore the multidimensional attributes of information disorder.

Upon closer look, the Commission is also comprised of royalty, as the perpetually-aggrieved-multi-millionaire Prince Harry stands among the selectively chosen arbiters of “truth in the moment.” (see below).

The authoritarian report details a variety of topics the commission deems subjects to misinformation and disinformation campaigns largely perpetuated by users of social media–including doctors, politicians, scientists, and social media influencers who have amassed large followings. The report suggests that the U.S. Government should restrict disinformation “even if it means losing some freedom.”

Pandemic vaccines, elections, climate change, gender and race are a few of the topics mentioned–with associated actions of government monitoring and force as subsequent remedies to “Hold superspreaders of mis- and disinformation to account.” (page 30). These super spreaders are referred to as “speech offenders” throughout the document.

In a foot note on page 69 of the report, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is labeled as part of the “Disinformation Dozen” related to Covid vaccinations. At the time this report was released, the Commission, along with the rest of the world, based their actions and reactions to what the U.S. government, pharmaceutical companies, and media outlets were designing and force-feeding to the public. However, over time, the public has found, and the CDC has begrudgingly admitted, that Kennedy’s “disinformation” on vaccines was closer to the truth than what was initially published, disseminated, and reported as fact.

The Commission recommends the government undertake a “national response strategy” against “speech offenders”, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and further recommends that “speech offenders” be monitored, detained in a “holding area”, demonetized and de-platformed.

Of notable interest is this paragraph in the report:

“The truth is the best version of what we know in that moment with the evidence available” is an astonishing claim due to their prescribed and immediate remedies to silence dissent or challengers of the Commission’s limited knowledge of the facts. If empirical evidence is  the basis for the Commission’s quest to save democracy, one would hope that a lawyer like Attorney General Ford would understand that evidence is gathered over the course of time and not predetermined by an unelected bureaucracy, corporation, or an elected official.

In order to understand AG Ford’s role in and approval of this report, I reached out to his communications team on Thursday and Friday for comment and clarification.

My email reads:

AG Ford sits on the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder, appointed back in March of 2021, and the Commission released and approved a report in November 2021 that says the government (FTC) should have total access to online consumer data, speech offenders should be put in a “holding area,” and the U.S. Government should restrict disinformation, “even if it means losing some freedom.” The topics of disinformation ranged from broad topics… covid, elections, race, gender, and climate change.”

I have read and included the report here for your review/clarification. I am seeking comment on AG Ford’s approval of this report and if he agreed, in part or in totality, with the report’s recommendations as listed above.

Additionally, any clarification AG Ford could provide on how he identifies and characterizes “speech offenders”; how AG Ford identifies and characterizes disinformation (and any examples that support it); and what type of “holding area” would AG Ford suggest to detain speech offenders. 

*To note, within the report, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is referenced in a footnote on page 69 as one of the “Disinformation Dozen” on Covid 19 vaccinations. Would Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be an example of a speech offender and be subject to detainment/losing some freedom, and since the CDC information of the efficacy of the vaccine has evolved, has AG Ford’s criteria of labeling disinformation related to Covid vaccines evolved?

At the time of publishing, the AG office has not responded. Should AG Ford reply to my questions, I will include his comments in a subsequent post.