The Foundation for Harmony and Prosperity is an American nonprofit organization based in Sacramento, CA that espouses and promotes awareness pertaining to what it calls "the Philosophy of Human Respect." This philosophy, according to the foundation, states that, "Initiated violence and theft always cause a decline in happiness, harmony, and prosperity."[1]
History
The Foundation for Harmony and Prosperity was founded in 2007 with funding provided primarily by Chris J. Rufer who developed the "Principles of Human Respect" and the resulting philosophy. Rufer had applied these principles to the operation of the company that he founded and leads, The Morning Star Company, a tomato processing company based in California.[2][3][4] The foundation also works to put its material in front of student audiences.[5]
Tumber, Howard; Waisbord, Silvio (March 24, 2021). The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism. Routledge. ISBN978-1-000-34678-7. Retrieved March 19, 2021 – via Google Books. False information can make movements defend the accuracy of their own claims and materials because of doubt sowed by countermovements and governments (Tufekci 2017). For instance, Project Veritas, an alt-right group, has a track record of attacking movements through misleading editing of videos and through fabricated 'sting' operations (Benkler et al. 2018).
Gais, Hannah; Hayden, Edison (December 11, 2022). "White Nationalists, Other Republicans Brace for 'Total War'". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved February 24, 2023. Multiple figures associated with Project Veritas, the hard-right propaganda group that engages in sting operations, attended the NYYRC gala." "Tyrmand, who is known for his ties to the global radical right, took the stage and lauded the ultranationalist European leaders in attendance.
Karbal, Ian W. (December 14, 2020). "The best journalism of 2020: Covering Trump". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021. Throughout his presidency, Trump has boosted far-right outlets with a loose relationship to truth, like Breitbart and One America News, into household names. Another such outlet, Project Veritas, apparently directed an employee to plant a false story in the Washington Post about a sexual encounter with Senate candidate Roy Moore. [...] However, careful reporting by Post journalists exposed the sting and revealed the deceitful tactics of far-right actors who brand themselves as journalists.
Covucci, David (January 14, 2020). "James O'Keefe claims Bernie Sanders will throw Trump fans in gulags". The Daily Dot. Retrieved January 30, 2021. O'Keefe is the head of Project Veritas, a far-right outlet that uses misleading edits and various forms of entrapment to try and catch Democrats, liberals, and media members in "shocking" statements.
Olalde, Mark (December 4, 2020). "Climate Point: Climate change disrupts life from the Hopi Reservation to Louisiana". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020. the Mercer family, who are ardent supporters of President Donald Trump, have given vast sums of money to conservative causes and partly funded the far-right Project Veritas, which tries to secretly record and smear journalists, nonprofits and other targets.
Min, Janice (March 22, 2021). "Pinterest and the Subtle Poison of Sexism and Racism in Silicon Valley". Time. Retrieved March 24, 2021. Later, Ozoma's cell-phone number and internal company emails appeared on extremist platforms including 4chan and 8chan following leaks by a white male colleague, a software developer, to Project Veritas, the far-right activist group founded by James O'Keefe. She received threats of rape and death.
Choi, Joseph (April 14, 2021). "Matt Gaetz makes six-figure ad buy targeting CNN amid sex trafficking allegations". The Hill. Retrieved April 19, 2021. The ad includes footage by the far-right activist group Project Veritas that shows a man identified as a CNN employee talking about news coverage of Gaetz, Politico reported. Project Veritas is known for publishing undercover sting footage that has been deceptively edited to reflect badly on organizations and people it disagrees with.
Scherer, Jasper (January 11, 2023). "Conroe brewery backs out of 'rally against censorship' featuring Kyle Rittenhouse". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Cassandra Spencer, a Defiance Press publishing manager who previously worked for the conservative activist group Project Veritas, is also set to appear at the rally
"Trump applauds far-right social media provocateurs". AP NEWS. April 21, 2021. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Trump singled out for praise James O'Keefe, the right-wing activist whose Project Veritas organization once tried to plant a false story in The Washington Post.
Barry, Dan (November 6, 2022). "In Affluent Greenwich, It's Republicans vs. 'Trumplicans'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. The Greenwich Republican ecosystem is such that James O'Keefe, the founder of the conservative activist group Project Veritas, is practically a local celebrity.
DePeau-Wilson, Michael (January 31, 2023). "Video of Pfizer Employee Explaining COVID Vaccine Research Debunked". www.medpagetoday.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Project Veritas, a conservative activist group known for spreading misinformation, recently published a concealed-camera video allegedly showing a Pfizer employee describing the company's COVID-19 vaccine research efforts
Greene, David (November 29, 2017). "A Conservative On Project Veritas". Morning Edition. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. The conservative activist James O'Keefe and his nonprofit Project Veritas have sprung sting operations on many media organizations, including NPR. In 2011, after one such scheme, NPR pushed out our CEO and also our top fundraiser. These operations often involve undercover videos edited in misleading ways.
Al-Rawi, Ahmed; Celestini, Carmen; Stewart, Nicole; Worku, Nathan (March 21, 2022). "How Google Autocomplete Algorithms about Conspiracy Theorists Mislead the Public". M/C Journal. 25 (1). doi:10.5204/mcj.2852. eISSN1441-2616. S2CID247603535. The same misleading label can be found via searching for James O'Keefe of Project Veritas, who is positively labelled as "American activist". Veritas is known for releasing audio and video recordings that contain false information designed to discredit academic, political, and service organisations
Jackson, Sam (2020). The Oath Keepers: patriotism and the edge of violence in a right-wing antigovernment group. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN978-0-231-55031-4. Groups like Oath Keepers pounced on information provided by Project Veritas—a conservative activist group known for conducting manipulative video stings of progressive organizations—that allegedly documented organized attempts by Democrats to rig the election
Goss, Brian Michael (March 12, 2018). "Veritable Flak Mill". Journalism Studies. 19 (4): 548–563. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2017.1375388. ISSN1461-670X. S2CID149185981. To wit, Schiller's apparently bemused response to sharia law supposedly on the march was spliced-in from an unrelated moment of the discourse—a blatant deception through editing.
Tumber, Howard; Waisbord, Silvio (March 24, 2021). The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism. Routledge. ISBN978-1-000-34678-7. Retrieved March 19, 2021 – via Google Books. False information can make movements defend the accuracy of their own claims and materials because of doubt sowed by countermovements and governments (Tufekci 2017). For instance, Project Veritas, an alt-right group, has a track record of attacking movements through misleading editing of videos and through fabricated 'sting' operations (Benkler et al. 2018).
Choi, Joseph (April 14, 2021). "Matt Gaetz makes six-figure ad buy targeting CNN amid sex trafficking allegations". The Hill. Retrieved April 19, 2021. The ad includes footage by the far-right activist group Project Veritas that shows a man identified as a CNN employee talking about news coverage of Gaetz, Politico reported. Project Veritas is known for publishing undercover sting footage that has been deceptively edited to reflect badly on organizations and people it disagrees with.
^Damann, Taylor (January 8, 2019). "Project Veritas and the Changing Face of Fake News". Gateway Journalism Review. 47 (351). Southern Illinois University Carbondale. ISSN2158-7345. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021. Project Veritas seems to only consider influencing political outcomes, though. O'Keefe's open pride in affecting the employment of several individuals in leadership for various liberal media outlets, his hand in influencing political elections, or even influencing public opinion on abortion are striking. Conducting guerrilla journalism that seeks to expose only liberals and Democrats is inherently ideological.
