Psychological Warfare, We Are Under Attack!

There is a war going on in the U.S. people. No tanks, no bombs or bullets, no soldiers dying in the streets but the collateral damage affects almost everyone involved in one form or another.

Psychological warfare is intentional, tactical use of propaganda, threats, and other non-combat techniques during wars, threats of conflict, or times of political unrest. It is designed to mislead, demoralize, intimidate, or otherwise manipulate the thinking or actions of an enemy.

When it comes to the art of practicing psychological warfare, one of the best in the business is our very own CIA and this how they list the tactical goals of utilizing it:

• Assisting in overcoming an enemy’s will to fight
• Sustaining the morale and winning the alliance of friendly groups in countries occupied by the enemy
• Influencing the morale and attitudes of people in friendly and neutral countries toward the United States

Now, while I’m sure we are in full attack mode by using this strategy against other countries as I write this, I’m more concerned at the moment about how psychological warfare is being used by both parties right here on American soil.

The civil war threatening to divide our country seems imminent, as both sides are becoming increasingly hostile and preparing to dig in for the upcoming conflict. You can hear the battle cries, and read the resolution on social media. Some people seem to almost embrace the possibility of war with anticipatory glee.

The first thing planners of psychological warfare campaigns do to achieve their objectives is to gain complete knowledge of the beliefs, likes, dislikes, strengths, and vulnerabilities of the target population. According to the CIA, knowing what motivates the target is the key to a successful PSYOP.

Attacking the Mind

In a non-lethal attempt to capture the “hearts and minds,” psychological warfare typically employs propaganda to influence the beliefs, values, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior of its targets.

The targets of such propaganda campaigns can include governments, political organizations, advocacy groups, and civilian individuals. Think of it as a form of weaponized information.

These tactics can be deployed through:

• Face-to-face verbal communication
• Audiovisual media, like television, movies or the internet
• Audio-only media including shortwave radio broadcasts
• Purely visual media, like leaflets, newspapers, books, and magazines

Regardless of how these weapons of propaganda are delivered, the message they bring and how well they persuade or influence the target audience is the end goal.

Three Shades of Propaganda

Daniel Lerner was a former OSS (now the CIA) operative who wrote, Psychological Warfare Against Nazi Germany in 1949. In it, he breaks down propaganda into three categories.

• White propaganda: The information is truthful and only moderately biased. The source of the information is cited.
• Grey propaganda: The information is mostly truthful and contains no information that can be disproven. However, no sources are cited.
• Black propaganda: Literally “fake news,” the information is false or deceitful and is attributed to sources not responsible for its creation.

While grey and black propaganda campaigns usually have the most immediate impact, they also carry the greatest risk. Eventually, the target population realizes the information as false and discredits the source.

As Lerner wrote, “Credibility is a condition of persuasion. Before you can make a man do as you say, you must make him believe what you say.”

Unknowing Combatants

Do you see where I’m going with this? I think most of us have participated in this form of warfare without even realizing it at times. Every time you share a meme or a news story that attacks or degrades what you see as the opposition, you are participating in psychological warfare.

When you blindly march in protest over something you really don’t know much about, you become an expendable soldier for a general who sits smiling as you do the dirty work.

When you verbally attack a generation because they look, act and behave differently than yours, you are a combatant, whether you realize it or not, and all you’re doing is adding fuel to a fire that threatens to burn out of control, destroying all in its path.

If you want to be a warrior for your cause, that’s awesome but pick and choose your battles wisely. Arm yourselves with knowledge, don’t allow the unseen powers that be, manipulate your thoughts and your actions.

I for one, don’t want a civil war, and if you are truly honest with yourself, you don’t want one either. It’s easy to type words of support and aggression but if these words actually do turn into a war in every literal sense, the loss would be irreplaceable.

Source:

Longley, Robert. “An Introduction to Psychological Warfare.” ThoughtCo, Sep. 28, 2017, thoughtco.com/psychological-warfare-definition-4151867.