2 years ago

237

constitutional law military social media

Military psy-ops through Twitter
By Terry A. Hurlbut
The Twitter Files continue, this time touching on direct, if not overtly violent, warfare against various peoples. We deal here with psychological warfare – psy-ops – instilling fear in people to control their acts. A free people might expect to see that against their enemies. But who are these enemies? This thread reveals manipulation of civilian and government opinion in the Middle East and Asia. Some of the targets are also the targets of propaganda for domestic consumption. So in view of previous installments in the Twitter Files, we must ask ourselves: haven’t the military been running a psy-op against We, the People?
The military psy-ops thread
This thread comes from Lee Fang, who writes for The Intercept. But unlike the State actor revelation, this does not take any kind of defensive tone.
Herewith the thread, as every other tweet, beginning with the second:
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605293337288015873
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605294744833343488
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605295735553118245
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605296971408986131
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605298448655605760
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605299620393156609
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605300292974948352
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605301390682759170
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605302661355802625
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605304162472058880
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1605321668762947584
At first view, certain characteristics of this thread make it look like something other than a legitimate Twitter Files release. Lee Fang writes for The Intercept, not for The Free Press. Mike Shellenberger, at the close of Twitter Files 7, did not tease up a thread from this man. Nevertheless, Elon Musk gave it his sanction, in a retweet on his account:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1605298927104053248
“Yikes” is certainly not a disclaimer!
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.
George Washington, first President of the United States. For the best source, see here.
Analysis
This thread shows the danger from the servant. We ask of government that it protect us from criminals and foreign would-be invaders, in addition to providing a forum to settle disputes peaceably. The problem is that those charged with protecting the people, sometimes exaggerate the threats. They might even try to provoke violence abroad to support their claims of external threats.
In any case, we see here acts of war against peoples and powers against whom Congress has never declared war. The most we’ve ever seen from Congress, in any of the cases the thread mentions, are Authorizations for the Use of Military Force. To CNAV’s knowledge, that doesn’t cover military psy-ops.
Mostly, we [fool] with people’s minds.
Actress Leslie Stephanson, as Capt. Elizabeth Campbell USA, in The General’s Daughter (1999).
That’s what psy-ops is all about. The mind is the theater of psychological warfare. So how can we rule out the military practicing psy-ops against the American people?
And hasn’t the United States intelligence community been doing psy-ops against the people? Hasn’t Twitter been a part of that? (And not Twitter only; don’t leave out Facebook.)
But more important still than that scandal, is Twitter’s communications team and executive echelon pretending to stand against such deception, while aiding and abetting it. How can we have confidence in the integrity of a social medium, officials of which tolerate acts of this kind?
“Yikes” doesn’t half say it.
Link to:
The article:
https://cnav.news/2022/12/21/foundation/constitution/military-psy-ops-twitter/