Propaganda 2.0 and the rise of 'narrative networks'

[RufusTFirefly]

This article is more than three and a half years old, but I thought the comments about "inevitability" were telling:

Propaganda 2.0 and the rise of 'narrative networks'

DARPA, the Pentagon's advanced concepts think-tank, is looking to take propaganda to the next level and they're hoping to do so by controlling the very way their targets perceive and interpret the flow of incoming information. The Pentagon believes that by engaging in 'narrative control' they can alter an individual's grasp on reality and the way in which they evaluate current events. Simply put, DARPA is looking to shape minds with stories.
...

The United States has been engaging in narrative control for quite some time now. Most recently, during the Arab Spring, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weaved a tale that suggested a certain level of inevitability to the events unfolding in the Middle East. One by one, she contended, authoritarian and fundamentalist nations were being overthrown by angry and forward-looking populaces. It'll only be a matter of time, Clinton argued, before the entire Middle East goes through a transformation that sees all its countries embrace democracy, secular institutions, and unprecedented freedoms.

Now I'm not suggesting that this isn't a valid interpretation of events. It very well may be. But what's important to understand here is that the U.S. is presenting this narrative in a very overt and calculated way. For many of those in the Middle East, the story is most certainly compelling and potentially inspiring. And for those sitting on the fence or considering radical action, this story of apparent inevitability may compel them to join the "winning team." It's through this kind of narrative control and reality building that the U.S. hopes to fight terrorism and the spread of radical Islam.

Source: Sentient Developments

The author, George Dvorsky, is identified as "a Canadian bioethicist, transhumanist, and futurist. He is a contributing editor at io9 and producer of the Sentient Developments blog and podcast."

[MannyGoldstein]

1. It wasn't inevitable?

Well this time it is, dammit!

[newthinking]

2. Media has entered a new age and some are just waking up to it. Fox is "transparent" compared to

what is happening in back halls, media "marketing and distribution", and back channels of powerful interests.

[woo me with science]

9. [phone]

Surveillance machines and propaganda machines. The signature and routine MO of corrupt, authoritarian governments.

[MinM]

3. Arab Spring: Crowdsourcing v ARG

NPR's on the media had an interesting personal look at one of the Benghazi victims a little over a year ago. They describe Sean Smith's gaming activities as though they were just a respite from his IT duties.

My guess since reading and hearing his story is that it was more than an avocation for him. That it was actually something more like what is described in the op ..

On September 11th, 2012, gunmen attacked two American compounds in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans. Sean Smith, one of the four killed in the attack, was an IT manager in the real world, but online, he was Vile Rat, a hugely influential diplomat in the video game Eve Online. Alex talks to Sean's friend Alex "The Mittani" Gianturco about who Sean was both in Eve and in the real world.

http://www.onthemedia.org/story/tldr-11-rip-vile-rat/

[RufusTFirefly]

4. Most people are suckers for a gripping story.

Whether it's true or not, of course, is largely irrelevant:

"I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital with twelve other women who wanted to help as well. I was the youngest volunteer. The other women were from twenty to thirty years old. While I was there I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the children to die on the cold floor. (crying) It was horrible."

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

[ibegurpard]

5. kind of like "globalism is inevitable"?

n/t

[whereisjustice]

7. Like how many Democrats support Hillary because only she can win? Or many progressives support TPP?

[woo me with science]

8. We live in a vile, dishonest, magnificently funded propaganda state now.

States that build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines.

This is the great untold story of our era: the black box budget for lying to and propagandizing not just corporate rivals in other nations, but the American people who are the victims of our corporate government's lust for profit and power.

[woo me with science]

10. kick