An overlooked classic of information warfare/operations, disinformation, and fake news is Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes (1965). Jacques Ellul was a French sociologist and philosopher who served as professor at the University of Bordeaux. Author of over 50 books and more than 1,000 articles, he was a renowned expert on propaganda and the effects of technology on society. His views now seem prescient in light of computational propaganda.
Ellul describes what we now call the information element of national power in stark terms. Western nations have again become concerned about propaganda and disinformation due to the actions of the Chinese and Russian governments. We have a responsibility to grasp how disinformation targeting the populace can challenge defense. Ellul speaks to those concerns.
Addressing targeting the populace, decades before big data and micro-targeting, Ellul wrote that in propaganda “…the individual never is considered as an individual, but always in terms of what he has in common with others, such as his motivations, his feelings, or his myths. He is reduced to an average; and, except for a small percentage, action based on averages will be effectual.” (p. 7) This explanation appears timeless. However, technology now allows us ever-greater market segmentation, and therefore ever-smaller groups can be targeted with disinformation based on their shared views. Mass movements arise from the connection of motivated people with like-minded others. Strengthening those connections and making the connected group even more like-minded can be accomplished through amplifying information that reinforces common views and minimizing exposure to information that effectively challenges shared views. Amplifying supportive voices while minimizing opposing ones occurs in what we now call “filter bubbles.”
Regarding “filter bubbles,” Ellul wrote “Propaganda tends to make the individual live in a separate world; he must not have outside points of reference.” (p. 17). Ellul went on to say and modern research supports) that “Those who read the press of their group and listen to the radio of their group are constantly reinforced in their allegiance.”(p. 213) Social and traditional media information outlets on radio, television, and the internet allow us to self-select what information we even see, much less accept. To avoid the cognitive dissonance of contrary opinions, we can deny ourselves outside points of reference, and thereby reinforce our own allegiances.https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/elluls-propaganda/
Thank You, Stegial. That is good as far as it goes, but it overlooks value-systems. Some people really hunger for truth, are really curious to find how things really are. Other people are focused on maintaining power, or some specific function of their specific group, in the interests of maintaining their group.
"Truth seekers" really does seem to be a "community" though certain people are unwilling to re-examine some sets of assumptions. They can be turned against other people who won't reconsider other assumptions.
Currently there is a pointless fight about whether "viruses exist" if you can't give me one in my hand.
sigh...
The "Virus Model" is a clinically useful subset of "The Germ Theory of Disease", but viruses are hard to look at, because they are so very small, and do not reproduce themselves. They are mostly examined by blowing millions of them to bits, machine reading all the bits, and computer modeling the jigsaw puzzle of how the bits most likely fit together.
Back then to the human condition of filter bubbles. Truth is that which is expedient. Or that fits a belief system which doesn’t fit with new knowledge and hardens into dogma.
Isaac Simpson has reminded me just how important propaganda is as a tool to direct toward the wanting mind. The mind that seeks for nothing and is relatively content (not mine) is harder to penetrate and convince. It seems to me propaganda works well on the aspirational class. Also on people with unacknowledged hopes and fears.
To resist - know thyself.
Great writing on the winding down of the energy inheritance John
Yeah me too. High empathy in play. In your case extends beyond the familial and reaches generalised compassion phase. It is tough to look at suffering but looking builds a kindness muscle that ignoring cannot.
I am trying out the "all the world's a stage and we merely players" angle on seeing in an attempt to take the sting out of seeing peak population and emergent death side of Hubberts curve.
It's interesting that analogies to Lovecraft, Cthulu and the Mythos are coming more and more into the consciousness. I referred to the King in Yellow, a predecessor of the Lovecraftian Mythos, in a post last year. The King in Yellow is quite a bizarre piece of fiction, written in the 1890s, that refers to a fictional two act play that is so consuming that it drives its readers into psychotic madness. The first story of the book is The Repairer of Reputations, which occurs in the fictional USA in the 1920s, where state sponsored euthanasia has been inaugurated. It's an interesting read and interesting analogy for the state of the world today. There is an ancient dark evil in the world and it is bubbling up so close to the surface that people everywhere can now see it.
It’s 50 years since I read The King in Yellow! Time to look at it again. One hundred years since the fictional timeline was set...and here we are in the midst of “state sponsored euthanasia”.
IMO we must stay tuned into our inner hunger for truth and for love. These values/feelings are the anchors for our true being while we are incarnate. Our hold on these anchors must be realized and announced to ourselves even as we understand that death is not the worst thing that can happen. The passion of Jesus the Nazarene touches upon this worst thing. And, it also shows the Way beyond the worst thing when His Father resurrects The Son who has descended into hell and restores Him. Many many many people and in many lands have already experienced the love of God in extreme circumstances. Our path has been sanctified by sacrifice.
That was perhaps one of the most important articles I have written ever, and one of the least popular. :-) I kind of expected it because I defied the sacred of "media relations," which is tapping into the right talking points, dammit :)) Jokes aside, I am very grateful to you for relating!!
An overlooked classic of information warfare/operations, disinformation, and fake news is Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes (1965). Jacques Ellul was a French sociologist and philosopher who served as professor at the University of Bordeaux. Author of over 50 books and more than 1,000 articles, he was a renowned expert on propaganda and the effects of technology on society. His views now seem prescient in light of computational propaganda.
Ellul describes what we now call the information element of national power in stark terms. Western nations have again become concerned about propaganda and disinformation due to the actions of the Chinese and Russian governments. We have a responsibility to grasp how disinformation targeting the populace can challenge defense. Ellul speaks to those concerns.
Addressing targeting the populace, decades before big data and micro-targeting, Ellul wrote that in propaganda “…the individual never is considered as an individual, but always in terms of what he has in common with others, such as his motivations, his feelings, or his myths. He is reduced to an average; and, except for a small percentage, action based on averages will be effectual.” (p. 7) This explanation appears timeless. However, technology now allows us ever-greater market segmentation, and therefore ever-smaller groups can be targeted with disinformation based on their shared views. Mass movements arise from the connection of motivated people with like-minded others. Strengthening those connections and making the connected group even more like-minded can be accomplished through amplifying information that reinforces common views and minimizing exposure to information that effectively challenges shared views. Amplifying supportive voices while minimizing opposing ones occurs in what we now call “filter bubbles.”
Regarding “filter bubbles,” Ellul wrote “Propaganda tends to make the individual live in a separate world; he must not have outside points of reference.” (p. 17). Ellul went on to say and modern research supports) that “Those who read the press of their group and listen to the radio of their group are constantly reinforced in their allegiance.”(p. 213) Social and traditional media information outlets on radio, television, and the internet allow us to self-select what information we even see, much less accept. To avoid the cognitive dissonance of contrary opinions, we can deny ourselves outside points of reference, and thereby reinforce our own allegiances.https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/elluls-propaganda/
Thank You, Stegial. That is good as far as it goes, but it overlooks value-systems. Some people really hunger for truth, are really curious to find how things really are. Other people are focused on maintaining power, or some specific function of their specific group, in the interests of maintaining their group.
"Truth seekers" really does seem to be a "community" though certain people are unwilling to re-examine some sets of assumptions. They can be turned against other people who won't reconsider other assumptions.
Currently there is a pointless fight about whether "viruses exist" if you can't give me one in my hand.
sigh...
The "Virus Model" is a clinically useful subset of "The Germ Theory of Disease", but viruses are hard to look at, because they are so very small, and do not reproduce themselves. They are mostly examined by blowing millions of them to bits, machine reading all the bits, and computer modeling the jigsaw puzzle of how the bits most likely fit together.
"Probabilistic-reality" again.
Is the map the terrain? Or a probability that the terrain is adequately represented by here be monsters?
None of us actually "knows" the terrain, but we work with our internal, simplified models of it, our "maps". It is finite limitations at work.
"Seeking truth" means revising our internal models frequently, being willing to do so.
Back then to the human condition of filter bubbles. Truth is that which is expedient. Or that fits a belief system which doesn’t fit with new knowledge and hardens into dogma.
Isaac Simpson has reminded me just how important propaganda is as a tool to direct toward the wanting mind. The mind that seeks for nothing and is relatively content (not mine) is harder to penetrate and convince. It seems to me propaganda works well on the aspirational class. Also on people with unacknowledged hopes and fears.
To resist - know thyself.
Great writing on the winding down of the energy inheritance John
Thank You, Amigo.
I worry about the future of our world.
Yeah me too. High empathy in play. In your case extends beyond the familial and reaches generalised compassion phase. It is tough to look at suffering but looking builds a kindness muscle that ignoring cannot.
I am trying out the "all the world's a stage and we merely players" angle on seeing in an attempt to take the sting out of seeing peak population and emergent death side of Hubberts curve.
Very messy but a lot of lessons.
Peace bro
Peace, Brother. There's the micronova thing, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGPCMIQZLw
On the bright side, it should wipe out AI...
It's interesting that analogies to Lovecraft, Cthulu and the Mythos are coming more and more into the consciousness. I referred to the King in Yellow, a predecessor of the Lovecraftian Mythos, in a post last year. The King in Yellow is quite a bizarre piece of fiction, written in the 1890s, that refers to a fictional two act play that is so consuming that it drives its readers into psychotic madness. The first story of the book is The Repairer of Reputations, which occurs in the fictional USA in the 1920s, where state sponsored euthanasia has been inaugurated. It's an interesting read and interesting analogy for the state of the world today. There is an ancient dark evil in the world and it is bubbling up so close to the surface that people everywhere can now see it.
https://stolzuntermenschen.substack.com/p/the-king-in-yellow
It’s 50 years since I read The King in Yellow! Time to look at it again. One hundred years since the fictional timeline was set...and here we are in the midst of “state sponsored euthanasia”.
IMO we must stay tuned into our inner hunger for truth and for love. These values/feelings are the anchors for our true being while we are incarnate. Our hold on these anchors must be realized and announced to ourselves even as we understand that death is not the worst thing that can happen. The passion of Jesus the Nazarene touches upon this worst thing. And, it also shows the Way beyond the worst thing when His Father resurrects The Son who has descended into hell and restores Him. Many many many people and in many lands have already experienced the love of God in extreme circumstances. Our path has been sanctified by sacrifice.
Gutes arbeit, Herr Untermensch!
:-D
Thank you, Brother John!!
Thank You for contributing to the topic we both find so timely, Sister Tessa.
:-D
Bike ride time.
That was perhaps one of the most important articles I have written ever, and one of the least popular. :-) I kind of expected it because I defied the sacred of "media relations," which is tapping into the right talking points, dammit :)) Jokes aside, I am very grateful to you for relating!!
We are seeing a lot of the same things, Sis.
:-D
Where's the nearest bunker? I knew those peppers reported on PBS were smart.🤬
You need to work out your own preparations, right?
Raiding somebody's bunker gets you killed, as you might have to do, yourself.
Awkward. I have not got it all figured out yet. We need to survive as a civilization.
All of us need to contribute our best to the effort.
We will all die, but when?
I wouldn't consider raiding anything, I get it. Sharing was my thoughts. And yes, I'm preparing for the worst AND channeling the Best. 🙏💯