{"id":7848,"date":"2014-10-16T16:35:51","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T20:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=7848"},"modified":"2018-12-28T14:40:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:40:36","slug":"obamas-administration-calls-propaganda-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2014\/10\/16\/obamas-administration-calls-propaganda-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama\u2019s Administration Calls Propaganda \u201cTransparency\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JehLast Thursday, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Jeh Johnson, gave a speech in Washington, D.C., boasting of the supposedly great progress the Obama Administration has made in border security. (See<\/i> FAIR\u2019s analysis of the speech and the weakness of his claims of improved security in this week\u2019s Legislative Update<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The point of the speech was clearly to convince the American public it does not have to worry about the border. \u201cNot enough has been said<\/a>\u201d by the government, Johnson claimed, about the Administration\u2019s efforts at border security. He went on to say that \u201cin the absence of facts\u201d the American public is \u201csusceptible\u201d to claims that the border is \u201cporous\u201d and that unaccompanied minors and members of terrorist organizations thus may pass through it. The public, he said, is owed, \u201cinformed, careful, and responsible dialogue, not overheated rhetoric,\u201d which he asserted he would provide in his speech\u2014as a commitment to \u201ctransparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the news stories<\/a> from the summer of tens of thousands<\/a> of minors and families streaming<\/a> across illegal the border illegally were not overheated rhetoric. They are not an \u201cabsence\u201d of facts, but a presence of facts not carefully managed by the government in such a way as to convince the public that it has nothing to be alarmed about. The Administration, it should be noted, is not primarily vowing to protect the public, but vowing to more successfully convince the public it is protecting them. The problem, to Johnson, is that the public, which has gone from hearing news about the border crisis to news about<\/a> Ebola<\/a> and ISIS<\/a>, has stopped believing Administration assurances that there is no cause for concern. Given that the Administration is planning<\/a> to announce a unilateral amnesty of millions of illegal aliens and the possibility of a new surge<\/a> of immigration after the November elections are over, heightened public concern over lax policies regarding immigration and border security is clearly very unwelcome to the Administration.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s solution, therefore, is more effective propaganda, with propaganda going by the watchword \u201ctransparency.\u201d In the speech, Johnson proclaimed, \u201cwith transparency comes responsibility.\u201d This is an odd elocution, though perhaps Johnson was trying to evoke the famous phrase \u201cwith power<\/i> comes responsibility\u201d (originated by French philosopher Voltaire but popularized by Spiderman). With true transparency comes, not responsibility, but accountability.<\/p>\n

Johnson was clearly not giving a speech about the duties of those who hold power to be accountable for their actions, but rather of those who hold power to be careful about what information they release to the people, so that the information gives the people the\u00a0 impression they wish to convey. For instance, after his prepared remarks promising transparency, an audience member asked<\/a> why DHS has not published the numbers of visa overstayers, when Johnson\u2019s predecessor promised over a year ago they would be forthcoming. His answer was that DHS has a report prepared, but they are delaying publishing, because they need more people to go over the methodology to ensure it is accurate.\u00a0 But are they really checking the report for \u201caccuracy,\u201d or holding back until they figure out a way to massage the numbers so that they don\u2019t sound alarming to the public? Or until the election is over?<\/p>\n

True transparency, and the accountability that comes with it, is what the Administration avoids at all costs.