The U.S. Department of State enlisted censorship activists from Germany, a country experiencing a significant decline in freedom of speech, to conduct training sessions for American schools on managing “disinformation,” according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. This training, known as "Medialogues on Propaganda," was developed by what sources describe as “censorship practitioners” from Germany, a nation not known for the same level of free speech enjoyed by Americans.
According to the international press freedom index, which tracks “the plurality and independence of the media and how safe and free it is for [journalists] to do their job,” Germany’s score plummeted from 87.84 in 2020 to 81.9 in 2023, a record low. Germany’s Network Enforcement Act, a highly criticized criminal code passed in 2017, “compels social media companies to remove hate speech and other illegal content” and “can lead to unaccountable, overbroad censorship.” One critic warned, “The law sets a dangerous precedent for other governments looking to restrict speech online by forcing companies to censor on the government’s behalf.”
Despite these concerns about Germany's track record on free speech, the U.S. government proceeded with the Medialogues on Propaganda webinars, attracting an audience of 700 schoolteachers.
A course overview declares, “Propaganda, disinformation, and the changing epistemologies of the information environment are a thorny and meaningful challenge to global peace.… Medialogues on Propaganda was a year-long, cross-national professional learning community that used innovative approaches to support the learning needs of German and American educators and teacher educators.”
One of these “innovative approaches” included using Legos to teach kids about January 6. The organization responsible for hosting Medialogues on Propaganda also offered a course on how teachers should talk about the January 6 riot at the Capitol, which featured an image of a fictionalized Lego set called “Capitol Invasion.”
“In the days immediately following the assault on the U.S. Capitol, teachers struggled to address this historic event with their students,” said the training. “How did they respond to students’ fears, answer their questions, and help classes get the facts straight about what happened? Did teachers call it a riot, an insurrection, a siege, or an assault on democracy? Were some teachers unable to discuss the topic at all, given the polarized nature of their communities?”
Additionally, the organization promoted a statement from the World Health Organization about the “spread of mis- and disinformation,” sponsored an Antifa slogan (“All cops are b********),” and slammed the state of Texas when it dismissed the 1619 Project as factually inaccurate. Clearly, these initiatives, among others, indicate that this “anti-disinformation” scheme is more focused on advancing its own agenda, even if at the expense of the counter-narrative, than preventing propaganda.
The U.S. State Department is actively working to suppress free speech, even enlisting the help of foreign censorship gurus to accomplish its goals. To join Convention of States in protecting our rights and freedoms from the hands of an out-of-control federal government, sign the Convention of States petition below.
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U.S. government hired German pro-censorship group to lecture teachers about ‘disinformation’
Published in Blog on January 10, 2024 by Jakob Fay
