Former secretary of state, senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry made waves last week when the World Economic Forum came to New York on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly, as they acknowledged, to host the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings.
Kerry implied that the First Amendment of the Constitution is proving to be an impediment to efforts by the government to overcome the obstacles of misinformation and disinformation in reaching consensus on issues such as climate change, according to The New York Sun.
“If people only go to one source and the source they go to is sick and … has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to our ability to just, you know, hammer it out of existence,” Mr. Kerry warned at the WEF meeting on sustainable development.
Another target for Kerry was social media: “Anguish over social media is just growing and growing and growing, and it’s part of our problem — particularly in democracies — in terms of building consensus around any issue,” he says. “It’s really hard to govern today.”
“But, look, if people go to only one source, and the source they go to is sick and has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to hammer it out of existence,” Kerry said.
“What we need is to win the ground, win the right to govern by hopefully winning enough votes that you’re free to be able to implement change,” he added, while acknowledging that different people have other visions for change.
John Kerry calls for new Ministry of Truth.
‘First Amendment stands as a major roadblock for us right now.’pic.twitter.com/A8HsfcI2uF
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 29, 2024