Shouldn't it be illegal to spread doom propaganda?

Question

It does no good; it scares the h**l out of the gullible and does nothing for those of us who know better, and takes up airtime and space in newspapers and the internet that could be better spent in factual things. What does everyone think?

Answer 1

If Congress were to pass a law making it illegal to spread doom propaganda, how would you square that law with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?

Answer 2

When you say "Doom Propaganda" I assume that you are talking about the fear mongering that the conservative media loves to spout? If so then that means Fox News and every conservative radio station in the US would be shut down.

T

Answer 3

Hollywood is propaganda.

It should be illegal, but considering that corporate america and the u.s. government are the ones utilizing this propaganda machine the most I highly doubt it will be made illegal.

Answer 4

that pesty thing called the Constitution and the Bill of rights. First Amendment, its first for a reason.

Answer 5

Yes, but that would put the government's propaganda machines out of business. Fox "News" would be gone; Rush Limbaugh would be silenced.

The more I think about it, the more I LIKE the idea!!

"Doom propaganda" would be defined differently by different people who have opposing viewpoints (i.e., the 'global warming' debate). Besides, we live in a country that assures us the right to 'free speech'. If you recall the 1920's, the "doom propagandists" were warning about an economic depression, but those "who knew better" let the champagne keep flowing and continued squandering their worthless dollars. When October, 1929 struck, there weren't enough tall buildings with ledges to jump from; when the worst economic depression in U.S. history hits us (I predict October, 2009), we'll see a repeat of what happened 80 years ago. Yet "doom propagandist" David Walker (GAO Director) has been warning of the coming bankruptcy of America for years and no one wants to listen to his "doom propaganda". Walker and Ron Paul are perhaps the only two people in America who are brave enough to speak out and warn the masses about what's about to come. If their actions were deemed illegal, there would be no voice of reason out there anywhere.  -RKO-  07/27/08

Answer 6

I think you need to define the term "doom propaganda" to get any meaningful answers.

Your definition is so broad as to be meaningless, you could outlaw any speech you didn't like if you defined it like that. Your use of th term "propaganda" is incorrect as the term is commonly defined too.

Plenty of intelligent educated people still think the sedition act was unconstitutional.

And the terrorism/WMD doom propagandists have gotten us to spend trillions of dollars and invade two sovereign nations in pursuit of their fantasy goals, and now they want to start a war with Iran? Doesn't strike me as very level headed.

Answer 7

We are facing uncertain times and potential catastrophe - not just economic meltdown because the biggest threat may turn out to be energy security. Now you can bet your life the politicians and corporate moguls and wealthy  people everywhere are VERY aware of this and are investing their money wisely and connecting to renewable sources and planning on selling their motor yachts to buy sailing yachts. It's always the "ordinary joe" who knows the least and suffers the most.

These days we live in a world of instant communication across a global net, and all the "doom mongers" are doing is trying to warn the rest of us what's coming. A great example is Matt Simmons, but there are many, many others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fo3sxhBy...