MIDLIFE MICRO-19, Friday, July 14, 2023 - The Spin is Real.
Something is afoot in Thursday's reporting, the planting of the seed of doubt.
This article is observably slanted, while painting Tim Ballard - in the context of the movie and the underlying content - as making a "brand" play, like it is about him, and not protecting children.
Full excerpt:
"In recent years, Ballard has firmly established himself in the right-wing media ecosystem, and Sound of Freedom has provided him a fresh opportunity to promote his brand as the leading authority on sex trafficking to new audiences" (1.).
Note to Self: If you follow the omissions, the Vice reporting gives no credibility to the reality of the sexual exploitation of children, nor does it make any claim that the statistics are inaccurate. For example, did Ballard state an inaccurate statistic in an interview? Is there a scene in the movie specifically, that falsely portrays the nature of the crime? There is no such allegation, because this article is merely a hit piece.
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"Sound of Freedom, a heavily fictionalized depiction of Ballard’s work [...]" (1.).
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And those damn "religious audiences" caring about children.
"The movie has brought in just under $50 million, largely on the strength of a marketing campaign encouraging religious audiences to not only attend the movie but “pay it forward” by buying tickets for other people, bringing unprecedented attention to both Ballard and OUR" (1.).
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Here is a real gem, the smear, an "investigation" that, "ultimately closed without charges being brought, but did real damage to the organization’s image with donors" (1.).
So, there was an attempt to smear Ballard, and his organization, and it worked. In the absence of a crime, we find more omissions. There are no specifics, just blanket allegations, but that did not materialize into a single charge? Laughable. There is no perp walk. There is no John Doe in Court. There was no jury rendering a verdict. Just allegations made - and allegations of the most egregious nature - that lead to an ensuing investigation, but then nothing came of it ... except the, "damage to the organization’s image with donors."
Full excerpt:
"Ballard—who was appointed by the Trump administration as co-chair of the Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking, a group tasked with advising the federal government on anti-trafficking policy—has long been a highly controversial figure. A variety of lurid stories he’s told about his and OUR’s improbably cinematic exploits have turned, on closer inspection, to not be accurate, and the organization was the subject of a protracted criminal investigation examining, among other things, whether OUR operators engaged in sexual acts with human trafficking victims; whether OUR operations had created demand for trafficking victims; and whether OUR has committed human trafficking itself by enticing people who were not previously traffickers with large sums of money. That investigation ultimately closed without charges being brought, but did real damage to the organization’s image with donors, according to multiple sources who have spoken with VICE News over the past three years. OUR nonetheless raised tens of millions of dollars each year, based largely on Ballard’s image and reputation and that of the supposed 'jump team' which OUR claimed went abroad to enact daring raids and rescues of trafficked women and children" (1.).
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The spin is real.
- Matfucius
1.) https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7z74x/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom-operation-underground-railroad-stepped-away?fbclid=IwAR1JIoLW72Ke9zOioZaZdPd9GtwjUAIduwWjTkcGPpinYEKb5LuStTxlPhk