Manufacturing Consent: The Border Fiasco and the “Smart Wall” (unlimitedhangout.com)
Overview & Context
In February 2024, investigative journalist Whitney Webb examines the bipartisan push—by both Trump and Biden—to build a “Smart Wall” on the southern border: a high-tech border surveillance system packaged under the guise of crisis management and framed to gain public acceptance.
🔍 Key Highlights
- The Smart Wall relies on digital border technologies—drones, sensors, biometric databases, and AI—far more than physical barriers.
- It’s presented as a humanitarian response, but uproots democratic norms by augmenting surveillance and eroding civil rights under the label of security.
- This isn’t just U.S. policy: many countries worldwide are adopting digital-border infrastructures with minimal transparency or oversight.
⚠️ Why It Matters
- Exemplifies how “manufactured consent” can be used to bolster authoritarian systems: a tech-first, surveillance-heavy border apparatus gains legitimacy in the name of crisis management.
- Signals a shift toward gov‑corp technate infrastructure, where private-sector tech firms help governments enact opaque monitoring at scale.
- Raises urgent democratic concerns: Who governs this system? How is data used, stored, and protected? And what rights do residents and migrants retain?
📚 Citation
Webb, W. (2024, February 19). Manufacturing Consent: The Border Fiasco and the “Smart Wall”. Unlimited Hangout. Retrieved from https://unlimitedhangout.com/2024/02/investigative-reports/manufacturing-consent-the-border-fiasco-and-the-smart-wall/
Summary generated by ChatGPT (GPT‑4).