The following editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:
Ever since he was named chair of the House Judiciary Committee, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan has shown his affinity toward McCarthy. That would be Sen. Joseph McCarthy, not the current U.S. House speaker.
Taking a page from the late Republican senator’s 1950s national hunt for communists and others deemed a threat to the federal government, Jordan has put scholars and professors who study disinformation in his political crosshairs. Among his targets is the co-founder of the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Kate Starbird.
Jordan, an Ohio Republican and President Donald Trump sycophant, has asked professors, including Starbird, to testify in his quest to support one of his many conspiracies: that government, by way of universities, is interfering with the First Amendment right to free speech.
In an incredible display of hypocrisy, he has issued threats to some scholars if they refused to answer his questions. This, from a man who refused to comply with a request from the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
The study of disinformation is an emerging field that coincides with today’s social media market for information. Those who propagate it know that millions of people believe everything they read online. The Center for an Informed Public and other institutions understand that, and work to separate facts from fiction.
The import of exposing disinformation gained steam during the 2016 presidential election, when it became known that Russia was using social media to meddle in the election’s outcome.
Starbird and fellow University of Washington professor Emma Spiro wrote in The Seattle Times in May that “misinformation refers to content that is false but not necessarily intentionally so; disinformation … refers to false or misleading content intentionally seeded or spread to deceive.” Jordan and his cronies have wallowed in both.
Examples of such deception include Republican lawmakers who called the Jan. 6 insurrectionists friendly tourists, and leaders of the conspiracy network QAnon who persuaded hundreds of people to gather in Dallas with the promise that the late John F. Kennedy Jr. would meet them there.
Most would consider such disinformation absurd, but it also can be deadly. Widespread, unchecked misinformation and disinformation contributed to thousands of deaths from COVID-19.
Starbird and other scholars shouldn’t have to face political bullying. Professors are used to defending their work, and engaging in debates over theories. But Jordan is looking for something — anything — that would help him support lies surrounding the 2020 election, defame the Biden administration and undermine the framework of democracy. Our institutions of higher learning shouldn’t capitulate but continue to educate the public with the truth.
