Apparently, Republican leaders are now out to undermine and terminate research into how misinformation is propagated and affects people. All under the banner of “it’s an attack on conservative views!”

Ridiculous.

If an opinion or statement is erroneous or misinformed, it’s erroneous or misinformed. It has nothing to do with the political perspective underlying the opinion or statement.

Worse yet, trying to restrict research into the effects and propagation of misinformation clearly doesn’t serve the public interest, which depends in large part on laws reflecting objective reality.

Of course, restricting research does have a benefit…to those who know or suspect their arguments and beliefs can’t stand up to the light of day. Which might, you know, lead to others arguing “hey, maybe we could make things better for the community by changing the law, even if it restricts your self-interest.”

This isn’t the first time the Grand QAnon Party has played this game. Ever wonder why there’s relatively little objective research available on the impact of guns in our society? A big factor was Congress’ explicit restrictions on what studies could be funded with federal research dollars. I’ll let you guess which party was behind that. Here’s a clue: they use an elephant as an identifying icon.