This is a resteem from three months ago. The nice things about revisiting old posts is that they can be updated and tweaked, corrected and finetuned. Commenter contributions can be added as well as the insights the author gets from his commenters. I will be reposting the series in full while I work on an OSINT primer, and on new installments.

Is there a point to fighting the Information War?

Source - Wikimedia Commons

I took a military history course oh so long ago in college. There was a quote that the instructor connected to the Germanic tribes during the early Roman Imperial period that impressed me very much. I have never been able to verify a source, but I have never forgotten the quote

All free men fight
All fighting men are free

I won't go into historical contexts of slavery and tribal war; it doesn't matter for the here and now as I interpret the saying.

If you want to protect your liberty, YOU have to do it. We have seen in Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis, San Jose, and Berkeley that politicians will order police to stand down and let rioters commit arson and assault...and that those police refuse to honor their own oaths to the protect the Constitution by ignoring those illegal orders or to arrest the politicians giving them.

Considering that the Information War is based on propaganda and indoctrination, it is no surprise that many of those police think that they are acting legally in obeying stand down orders, or that so many in the public don't understand the illegality of such orders.

User @dwinblood noted:

A Sheriff's department on the other hand is by county. The sheriff is an elected official, who can be recalled, can be replaced, etc. by the people. The sheriff can hire who he wants to work for him, but at least the sheriff themselves is an elected representative. This is not true for Police Departments.

Readers can follow up by visiting the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association website!

Not surprising that the politicians of those jurisdictions who order stand downs shared the political views of the Brownshirts.

If you want to remain free, then YOU must fight to make it so via propagandizing the truth.

Yes, the Information War is worth fighting.

What is the goal of "winning" the war?

Before we even get into whether the war can be won or not, we need to look at what will happen if it is won.

Many of my own readers are anarchists, while I am a minarchist. Many of my readers are world citizens, Europeans and Pilipinos and people from every curve of the world, while I am an American nationalist. Many of my readers consider Israel to be the source of the corruption, while I maintain that there are multiple sources of kakistocracy and subversion. Some of my readers believe that goods and services must be shared for the "common good" while I call them "statist", just as those to the Right of me call me a "statist".

Once we have removed the shakedown artists and the leeches, the liars and hucksters, where do we go from there? Do we war upon each other?

Would that be a win? I think not.

We need to seek a common ground of mutual acceptance while we fight the Information War, even if that just becomes the minarchists go ova heah, and the anarchists go ova yeah, and the "good" socialists go over neah; this is possible with different legal systems within the same country as long as we understand we need to leave each other alone. Physical separations of communities is always possible.

To the crux, then

Is the Information War winnable?

Can you weed out liars, thieves, seekers of domination, pedophiles, bullies, and rent-seekers from the human race?

In my view, no. A certain portion of the human race is going to be scumbag at birth. We can implement systems of socialization that reduces the active sociopaths (if you think there is a balance in nature versus nurture), but there is always going to be some amount of scumbags.

But building systems where scumbags are far and few in between would be a win!

What about entrenched corruptions?

A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned.
/Shepard Book, Firefly

If you'd like a philosophical digression, Reason.com offers A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned.

Men die when you tie a rope around their necks, tie the other end to something solid, and then drop the men to a distance longer than the rope. A short drop with a sudden stop, so to speak.

While we want to blame systems rather than take the emotional consequences of blaming responsible individuals and the accountability of punishing those individuals, at the end of the day it is still an individual man that gives an illegal order. It is still an individual man that writes a propaganda piece supporting theft and corruption. Dead individuals do no such things.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

I don't believe a legally sanctioned death penalty is even necessary for most members of "the kakistocracy". Do we execute "journalists" for conjuring #fakenews? Too harsh. Simply removing them from power ends the threat. However, for those that have committed specific crimes, the punishment must be just, harsh, and public.

My example earlier of politicians providing cover for street thugs they share ideological views with can be re-examined now. What if your work gave police the understanding to justify the arrest of those politicians violating the duties of their office?

One way to win battles in the war is by identifying modes and instances of propaganda and PsyOps. Pile up enough battle victories, and you win the war.

Break the enemy's will to fight, and you win the war. Prevent them from enjoying the fruits of their own wins, and extract high prices from them personally for engaging.

Their tool is general terror and the darkness of confusion, yours should be holding them personally accountable and lighting the fires of truth.

There are many paths to victory.

YES, this War is winnable!

Never forget the importance of critical thinking

All free men fight
All fighting men are free

Because the Information War is based upon the control and distribution of data, including false data. Your ability to engage in critical thinking is critical. Succumbing to a false flap op or a canary trap, for just two examples, becomes a victory for a corruption ring. Each corruption ring will support another over the needs of the public, unless they are in conflict over a specific reward.

Use your brain. Discerning the right info out of a sea of disinfo is the big part of the fight.

This series index:

So you want to be an InformationWar Activist? - Part One (UPDATED)
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Two, Morality (UPDATED)
How to be an InformationWar Activist, Part Three: Is the Information War Winnable?(UPDATED)
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Four: What the heck IS Information War?
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Five: The American Deep State
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Six: The Personal Price
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Seven: Who Might The Players be?
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Eight: Making Sense of Multiple Levels of Corruption

Steemit writers contributing to understanding the Information War

@originalsimulant
@dragon40
@lifeworship
@shayne
@thedeplorable1
@phibetaiota - Information War, OSINT
@fortified
@dodecahydra
@krnel - Critical Thinking/Cognitive Bias
@richq11
@dwinblood - Critical Thinking
@rebelskum - http://pizzagate.wiki
@nachtigall
@kushfreeman
@aggroed
@ausbitbank
@titusfrost
@canadian-coconut

Study Resources

• Some Resources for Studying Propaganda
• Index of Critical Thinking and Fighting the Information War
• Journal of Information Warfare
• INFORMATION WARFARE AND INFORMATION OPERATIONS (IW/IO): A BIBLIOGRAPHY

See the original posting for additional comments and viewpoints which were not discussed in this repost.