Group Think for Discourse

Fear-based or ideological consent to discourse management in Facebook

The danger of government-tied monopolistic tech platforms controlling worldwide speech
far outweighs the danger of whatever voice you might happen to dislike at any given moment.

Caitlin Johnstone

On April 14, Veterans For Peace Advisory Board Member and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern along with long-time VFP member and Global Network coordinator Bruce Gagnon joined former Pentagon analyst F. Michael Maloof on Peter Lavelle's Cross Talk for a much-needed, nuanced conversation of the Ukraine conflict timeline. Both Ray and Bruce had spent considerable time in Donbass, as well as other parts of Ukraine, which made their contributions to this Cross Talk episode, Heading Toward War, all the more absorbing. and Facebook shareable.

Notice Ray McGovern (above) wearing the VFP logo? Do you expect to hear Kremlin propaganda?

Oddly enough, though not totally unexpected, the VFP Discussion Group moderators determined that the content of this panel discussion, posted on April 22 by a lifetime VFP member on this private Facebook group site, did not make the cut for generating a nuanced discussion. Labeled "A sober analysis of the Ukrainian debacle, including the escalating potential for a nuclear exchange," the post apparently did not comply with group protocols. So it was arbitrarily removed. Disappeared. Gone.

The moderators' wobbly attempt at feedback: "RT has been identified as a not credible source in recent years, but rather a state run Russian mis and dis-information operation." The implication being that a long list of RT contributors like Ray McGovern, Bruce Gagnon, VFP Advisory Board member Chris Hedges, Lee Camp, Joe Lauria and others had been collaborative, even ceding to Kremlin misinformation. Or could it be more accurately called a fear-based or ideological acquiescence to the pro-war narrative managers?

Global Network Coordinator Bruce Gagnon

In a recent interview piece with VFP Advisory Member Chris Hedges, Matt Taibbi describes the Hedges/RT affiliation: 

"By the 2010s, one of the last places where media figures pushed off the traditional career track could pick up a paycheck was Russia Today. In an arrangement Hedges plainly describes as a cynical marriage of convenience, the Russian state was happy to give voice to figures covering structural problems in American society, and those quasi-banned voices were glad for the opportunity to broadcast what they felt is the truth, even understanding the editorial motivation.”

Needless to say, with the advent of the Ukraine debacle, the entire six-year archive of Chris Hedges’ RT America interview show On Contact was removed by YouTube, as he suggests, ”in the name of censoring Russian propaganda.”

“They know it is not Russian propaganda,” says Hedges. “We rarely mentioned Russia or Putin, and the few times we did it was not in flattering terms. It's much more pernicious than that. RT gave a platform to a critic such as myself...It was a show that gave a voice to critics of the United States ruling class and the US empire. They knew I was not disseminating Russian propaganda, unless critiquing the ills of American society serves Russia's interest. To an extent it does. That's of course why RT gave me a show. But in a functioning democracy with a free press, that is the precise role of the press.”

So when - if ever - was a Pentagon imprimatur a prerequisite for any Veterans For Peace discourse in cyberspace? Yet, regrettably, this is how far down the thought policing rabbit hole liberals, even self-censoring antiwar progressives, are apparently willing to descend.

As luck would have it, this post will be shared even more widely. Maybe. You never know. McGovern and Gagnon will continue to inspire and inform as tireless antiwar contributors at any venue giving them a voice, upholding the first provision of the VFP Statement of Purpose: "To increase public awareness of the causes and costs of war."

And truth, always the first casualty of war, is still indisputably the truth, no matter its origin or social media platform.