How to be an InformationWar Activist, Part Three: Is the Information War Winnable?
So you want to be an InformationWar Activist? (Part One)
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Two, Morality
Is there a point to fighting the Information War?
Source - Wikimedia Commons
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I took a military history course oh so long ago in college. There was a quote that the instructor connected to the Germanic tribes during the early Roman Imperial period that impressed me very much. I have never been able to verify a source, but I have never forgotten the quote
All free men fight
All fighting men are free
I won't go into historical contexts of slavery and tribal war; it doesn't matter for the here and now as I interpret the saying.
If you want to protect your liberty, YOU have to do it. We have seen in Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis, San Jose, and Berkeley that politicians will order police to stand down and let rioters commit arson and assault...and that those police refuse to honor their own oaths to the protect the Constitution by ignoring those illegal orders or to arrest the politicians giving them.
Considering that the Information War is based on propaganda and indoctrination, it is no surprise that many of those police think that they are acting legally in obeying stand down orders, or that so many in the public don't understand the illegality of such orders.
Not surprising that the politicians of those jurisdictions shared the political views of the Brownshirts.
If you want to remain free, then you must fight to make it so via propagandizing the truth.
Yes, the Information War is worth fighting.
What is the goal of "winning" the war?
Before we even get into whether the war can be won or not, we need to look at what will happen if it is won?
Many of my own readers are anarchists, while I am a minarchist. Many of my readers are world citizens, Europeans and Pilipinos and people from every curve of the world, while I am an American nationalist. Many of my readers consider Israel to be the source of the corruption, while I maintain that there are multiple sources of kakistocracy and subversion. Some of my readers believe that goods and services must be shared for the "common good" while I call them "statist", just as those to the Right of me call me a "statist".
Once we have removed the shakedown artists and the leeches, the liars and hucksters, where do we go from there? Do we war upon each other?
Would that be a win? I think not.
We need to seek a common ground of mutual acceptance while we fight the Information War, even if that just becomes the minarchists go ova heah, and the anarchists go ova yeah, and the good socialists go over neah
To the crux, then
Is the Information War winnable?
Can you weed out liars, thieves, seekers of domination, pedophiles, bullies, and rent-seekers from the human race?
In my view, no. A certain portion of the human race is going to be scumbag at birth. We can implement systems of socialization that reduces the active sociopaths (if you think there is a balance in nature versus nurture), but there is always going to be some amount of scumbags.
But building systems where scumbags are far and few in between would be a win!
What about entrenched corruptions?
A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned.
/Shepard Book, Firefly
If you'd like a philosophical digression, Reason.com offers A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned.
Men die when you tie a rope around their necks, tie the other end to something solid, and then drop the men to a distance longer than the rope. A short drop with a sudden stop, so to speak.
While we want to blame systems rather than take the emotional consequences of blaming responsible individuals and the accountability of punishing those individuals, at the end of the day it is still an individual man that gives an illegal order. It is still an individual man that writes a propaganda piece supporting theft and corruption. Dead individuals do no such things.
Sic Semper Tyrannis
I don't believe a legally sanctioned death penalty is even necessary for most members of "the kakistocracy". Do we execute "journalists" for conjuring #fakenews? Too harsh. Simply removing them from power ends the threat. However, for those that have committed specific crimes, the punishment must be just, harsh, and public.
My example earlier of politicians providing cover for street thugs they share ideological views with can be re-examined now. What if your work gave police the understanding to justify the arrest of those politicians violating the duties of their office?
One way to win battles in the war is by identifying modes and instances of propaganda and PsyOps. Pile up enough battle victories, and you win the war.
Break the enemy's will to fight, and you win the war. Prevent them from enjoying the fruits of their own wins, and extract high prices from them personally for engaging.
Their tool is general terror and the darkness of confusion, yours should be holding them personally accountable and lighting the fires of truth.
There are many paths to victory.
YES, this War is winnable!
Never forget the importance of critical thinking
All free men fight
All fighting men are free
Because the Information War is based upon the control and distribution of data, including false data. Your ability to engage in critical thinking is critical. Succumbing to a false flap op or a canary trap, for just two examples, becomes a victory for a corruption ring. Each corruption ring will support another over the needs of the public, unless they are in conflict over a specific reward.
Use your brain. Discerning the right info out of a sea of disinfo is the big part of the fight.
Steemit writers contributing to understanding the Information War
@originalsimulant
@dragon40
@lifeworship
@shayne
@thedeplorable1
@phibetaiota - Information War, #unrig
@fortified
@dodecahydra
@krnel - Critical Thinking/Cognitive Bias
@richq11
@dwinblood - Critical Thinking
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Well done!!! I believe that the only way to win the information war is through the free flow of information. By that I mean information devoid of propaganda. It's fine to think and to express your thoughts, in fact it's critical. But it's equally important to elucidate that "this is what I think" or "this is what I believe to be true," rather than "This IS true." Ideas must be allowed to flourish (or sink) on their own merits. As you so amply stated critical thought is a necessity as is the necessity for teaching it. And here in lies the rub (I think Shakespeare said that). We live in a culture with a badly broken educational system. Many people (including young people) are beginning to see it. Without critical thought, the information war is lost...a factor not lost upon the "enemy." All thought, even wrong thought, is important as lo0ng as it is honest. The free marketplace will decide.
perfect example - I used to be a neocon; I referred to those that had libertarian/conspiracy views as "black helicopter freaks", or "ron paultards". (g*d help me, I still laugh at this second one ;> )
It turned out that THEY were right far more often than I was; and while there are still certain conspiratorial assertions that I do not think are right, the FACT that they were right in far more of their allegations than I turned out to be has taught me to be less certain of things I do not have full data on.
A good time to link The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, and to remind myself to include the influence of educational systems to the information war concept.
Thanks Rich!
Glad to help! In one of my Tavistock articles I intend to address the dumbing down of America. I've already written about Tavistock's influence on the NEA in my last post. I had a history of the NEA all the way back to John Dewey but can't access the discs. There's a great book called Homeschooling the Right Choice...If I wasn't so lazy, I'd get off my ass and go to the library (4 blocks away) lol.
you'd be surprised at how much you can pull off the web!
but for older items , you can also look to https://archive.org
I was a Ron Paultard. We'd sometimes call ourselves that. If people want to mock us for following a smart guy with a proven integrity and consistency, then so be it.
Now one thing I want you to know, and you likely do. Many of those Ron Paultards were exactly like you, before they started supporting Ron Paul.
I distinctly remember seeing Ron Paul stuff early on and him saying "We need to get rid of this, we need to get rid of that"... and I thought "this guy is nuts", yet even back then I'd gotten into the habit of doing my own research. So I researched these nutty things. Eventually I realize he wasn't nuts at all. It was just very different from what we'd been fed to believe by propaganda and the education/indoctrination system.
I kept watching him. He was consistent even when attacked. He did not flip flop or try to appease his attackers like virtually every other politician I knew out there.
I consider Ron Paul as one of the people that kicked the door open to my mind.
He freed my mind. I don't agree with all of his ideas now, but I still consider him brave, heroic, and a person of the highest integrity. I am a fan and unless he suddenly changes I likely always will be.
He gave me the ability to ask questions, and not feel guilty about challenging the authority of the status quo.
So the difference between you and Ron Paultards. The Ron Paultards simply encountered him before you did "called him nuts", realized he wasn't, and then became supporters.
You actually did the same thing... just a bit later. ;)
I am definitely an Anarchist/Voluntaryist now with a leaning towards Anarcho Capitalism. Though I am fluid in my beliefs, rather than locking them as something rigid and unwavering like religion.
I though he had excellent ideas domestically (the Fed ought be triple audited, and then audited again), and was "nutty" when it came to foreign involvement.
Going back to this post, https://steemit.com/politics/@stevescoins/i-was-once-a-neocon-why-neoconservatism-failed-and-why-it-will-always-fail , there are still some of the underlying beliefs I hold
I though Ron Paul was naive in his assumptions bout the level of danger from outside the US; BUT he certainly turned out to be right about the corruption of the globalists
Nice article. It should also be noted something a lot of people don't know. The actual Police Departments are typically hired by a city council and the Mayor. They are hired. A Sheriff's department on the other hand is by county. The sheriff is an elected official, who can be recalled, can be replaced, etc. by the people. The sheriff can hire who he wants to work for him, but at least the sheriff themselves is an elected representative. This is not true for Police Departments.
Most people (including me most of my life) were unaware there is a difference.
All places in the U.S. that I am aware of have a Sheriff's Department tied to a county. Many places have both a Sheriff's Department and a Police Department. They work together generally speaking, and they may have similar problems, but I thought it worth mentioning the difference as just a little piece of information to store away as some day it may be relevant to you, and to discussions such as this.
An excellent point to bring up! Thank you!
The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association may be of some value to interested readers!
LaVoy Finicum was enroute to the county sheriff when he was murdered by the FBI
I replied about sheriffs and police as another reply just for information. Now onto your post. Of course I like it a lot. I also appreciate other people plugging the need for us all to continually improve our critical thinking. Resteemed.
Thank you!
May I add you to the index of Steemit authors contributing to the understanding of this war?
You have written pertinent material .
Sure. You are welcome to speak about me, and mention me wherever you like. I do care a lot about critical thinking. I consider it one of the most important things to solve any of what we call the "big" problems.
Thank you!
What I pray is that enough people learn about critical thinking that we can end all of the MAJOR corruption rings world wide.
Fighting corruption and the impulse towards tyranny is like fighting crime, a never ending task.
Yep, that is an important goal. The critical thinking is an important tool for going beyond that and tackling any "big" problems that come our way.
I don't think we will likely end all corruption. Yet if we can give people the tools to see it and deal with it, when it arises then we'd have a very different world(s) than we have today.
I say world(s) because in reality without all of this corruption we likely would have already been very active within our solar system. Asteroids, Moons, planets, etc.
Our corruption and those seeking to control others is actually holding us back.
rent-seeking and do-gooding are the scourges of good governance...of course, I also need to start mentioning tribalism in that