Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Well, Elon Musk recently found himself finding the government of Brazil after his

ex social media platform was briefly banned there. Ironically, the

censorship was marketed as a defense of democracy, i.e. the government

graciously stepping in to save the people in the voting process from harmful

disinformation.

Now of course claims of disinformation is a common tactic employed by the powerful to silence critics.

Once limits are placed on what can be written and spoken,

many other liberties are at risk as well.

But of course, there are real dangers of an unchecked flood of information too.

In the introduction to amusing ourselves to death Neil Postman described this tension

by comparing Al-Suxley's brave new world in George Orwell's 1984, quote,

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.

Huxley feared those who would give us so much, we would be reduced to passivity and

egoism.

Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us.

Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

In the end, the explosion of information everywhere all the time has made us believe everything

and nothing at all at the same time. And clearly our reputation

precedes us. There's been understandable concern about Russian interference in the last few U.S.

...