Propaganda, Protests and the Rise of Truth in America

Distract and Conquer: New Study Sheds Light on China’s Online Propaganda Strategyhttps://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2016/05/19/chinas-online-propaganda-strategy-distract-and-conquer-new-study-says/

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

August 7, 2020

I read recently that “propaganda” originally referred to any form of a persuasive argument. The recitation of factual information and logical analysis was a form of propaganda. In the twentieth century, the term took its more exclusively negative connotation of a deceptively persuasive argument. Propaganda referred to the manipulation of facts to mislead others and create within them false beliefs. Deceptive propaganda has always been with us. It is a common tool of all governments and people in positions of power.

In more recent times the art of deceptive persuasion has been systematically studied, carefully developed, and newly adapted for our high-tech systems of mass communication and social media platforms. Much of the refinement in propaganda technology was developed by military intelligence agencies, U.S. and others, for “black-ops” operations in other countries designed to destabilize governments. More recently these classified, highly sophisticated propaganda techniques leaked out into the public domain where private, non-government organizations and foreign powers with resources and malevolent intentions could conduct mass military-grade propaganda campaigns for ideological or national gain.

Today’s ubiquitous internet technologies bring unprecedented communications access, automated personal interaction via electronic bots and highly sophisticated AI computer algorithms to billions of individuals. This has been a boon for those who have the resources to exploit cyberspace to propagate disinformation and engage in deceptive persuasion techniques. Couple that with complete internet access to massive, highly detailed, and personal caches of computer data on virtually everyone, where nearly every keystroke is being captured and save by servers somewhere. This personal data on you and me is being compiled, electronically analyzed, sorted, and filtered to create AI-enhanced biopsychosocial profiles. This is a quantum leap in deceptive propaganda technologies. Propaganda originators can, if they choose, accurately predict the exact combinations of words, phrases, and images to produce the desired response in an individual or any curated collection of individuals. This technique is called micro-targeting. For those who are most vulnerable, it can be effective and difficult to recognize or resist. Most people influenced in this way will never know they have been targeted. Their shifting feelings and opinions will seem natural rather than alterations by someone else’s design.

This is the context behind the disinformation warfare to which most of us are subjected every day. These continuous propaganda campaigns by various malevolent actors help explain our deep political polarization, our differing sets of facts, and notions of what is true. It also explains our agitated public dialogues and violent outbursts. It appears that even some of our political leaders are casualties in this war on our perceptions.

It is important to point out this depressing state of our social dis-adhesion because it is difficult for most of us to fully grasp. Understanding it, however, is the best way to inoculate ourselves to the personal impacts of this disinformation warfare. Aware of it or not, we are all engaged in an exhausting battle between what is true and real vs. what is false and diabolically deceptive.

In the 1960s the Canadian professor, philosopher, and media theorist, Marshall McLurhan predicted that this information warfare was coming. "The medium is the message," he famously said, but he also said this:

"World War III will be a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation."

We are in this war today, but there is hope. In Ukraine for example, where a massive Russian based disinformation has been underway for years, they have organized civilian spotters and truth squads to provide Ukrainians with eyewitness accounts and facts on the ground that the people trust.

We, like them, must all become soldiers for truth and speak out boldly in defense of the empirical reality all around us. The good news is that there is growing evidence that truth is once again on the march as evidenced by the growing protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. The rise of these civil rights activists even in the face of a dangerous pandemic may be just the beginning. People are engaged in peaceful protests with video cameras to document what they see and experience. More and more of us are taking to the streets where democracies are born and reborn. This may herald the beginning of a rebirth for American democracy.