In a recent clip, Hillary Clinton seemed to advocate imprisoning people for “misinformation” on The Rachel Maddow Show:

This is worth discussing for at least two reasons.

First of all, on its face, it may sound reasonable to people who haven’t thought much about the issue. If you start with the presumption that misinformation is bad, deliberately done, and causes harm, well, doesn’t it sound like lots of other things we legally punish in our society? So MAYBE, some people are wondering why this would be a problem.

The second thing we should acknowledge is that at least part of that statement is true. Misinformation is bad, it often causes real harm, and it is sometimes deliberately done. Plus, we should all want to see real, honest information. Right? In fact, the health of our society at least partially depends on it. When people can’t trust the information they’re getting, it often leads to them making bad decisions. This is not good or something any of us should want.