Once again an interesting and thought provoking article, even if a bit hyperbolic in places. You have identified the problem posed by social media (their ability to censor content) although one could just as easily make the same allegations against main stream journalism (have you watched the BBC lately?).
I find your proposed solution (Federally imposed oversight) more than a bit troubling. Have you thought through what forms this bureaucratic oversight would take? At first blush it appears to mimic Oceania's Ministry of Truth to keep the proles in line. Surely you are not thinking that Orwellian, are you? It is already bad enough that we have the outlines of the Ministry of Plenty (Bidenomics, anyone?) and the Ministry of Peace (Washington sleepwalking into WWIII) in place. I can't wait to see the rollout for the Ministry of Love.
As an aside, did I understand you correctly to say you have been thrown off LinkedIn again? I guess the Ministry of Truth is already up and running. If so, this is truly a shame. LI is so plain Vanilla bland without you.
I do agree with you wholeheartedly about the inept nature of the USG's efforts at influence and strategic messaging. I sat through so many meetings where so called government experts were debating "happy" or "glad" in their proposed messaging campaign to last a dozen lifetimes. As a "Back to the Future" alternative, I would suggest the 800-pound brains in DC dust off William "Wild Bill" Donovan's OSS playbook from WWII with a particular emphasis on using ridicule to laugh at our enemies. Four brilliant examples from Hollywood (when they were still patriotic) are Walt Disney's "Donald Duck in Nutziland" and The Three Stooges "You Nazty Spy" and "I'll Never Heil Again." And perhaps the all time classic is Charlie Chaplain's "The Great Dictator." Ahh, those were the days.
Hi Paul,
Once again an interesting and thought provoking article, even if a bit hyperbolic in places. You have identified the problem posed by social media (their ability to censor content) although one could just as easily make the same allegations against main stream journalism (have you watched the BBC lately?).
I find your proposed solution (Federally imposed oversight) more than a bit troubling. Have you thought through what forms this bureaucratic oversight would take? At first blush it appears to mimic Oceania's Ministry of Truth to keep the proles in line. Surely you are not thinking that Orwellian, are you? It is already bad enough that we have the outlines of the Ministry of Plenty (Bidenomics, anyone?) and the Ministry of Peace (Washington sleepwalking into WWIII) in place. I can't wait to see the rollout for the Ministry of Love.
As an aside, did I understand you correctly to say you have been thrown off LinkedIn again? I guess the Ministry of Truth is already up and running. If so, this is truly a shame. LI is so plain Vanilla bland without you.
I do agree with you wholeheartedly about the inept nature of the USG's efforts at influence and strategic messaging. I sat through so many meetings where so called government experts were debating "happy" or "glad" in their proposed messaging campaign to last a dozen lifetimes. As a "Back to the Future" alternative, I would suggest the 800-pound brains in DC dust off William "Wild Bill" Donovan's OSS playbook from WWII with a particular emphasis on using ridicule to laugh at our enemies. Four brilliant examples from Hollywood (when they were still patriotic) are Walt Disney's "Donald Duck in Nutziland" and The Three Stooges "You Nazty Spy" and "I'll Never Heil Again." And perhaps the all time classic is Charlie Chaplain's "The Great Dictator." Ahh, those were the days.
V/R
Doc B