Author Topic: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon  (Read 1191 times)

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Offline cybercoma

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Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« on: March 19, 2018, 08:45:26 am »
If it seems like society is far more fragmented now and people are living in disparate realities, it's because we are. Psychological tools were combined with micro-targeting voters, in order to change their perceptions. Facebook, with all its 'Likes', produces a constellation of information on individuals that allows psychological profiles to be created on them. This in turn was used to micro-target voters with misleading and blatantly false messages and content. This is psy-op political warfare and it's not a wild conspiracy. These tactics were not only used in the US election, but also for Brexit.

One of the architects of the system used to manipulate people is Christopher Wylie. He's recently blown the whistle on Cambridge Analytica. This short video gives an introduction to what's going on.



In the video he says, "We risk fragmenting society in a way that we no longer have shared experiences and shared understandings." They didn't risk it. They did it. That is why people seem to be living in alternative realities today. This is clearly demonstrated when conservative posters here even recognize that the "alt-right" is not conservative. Asked by an interviewer if this kind of targeting of people is bullying, Christopher Wylie responded, "It's worse than bullying because people don’t necessarily know it’s being done to them. At least bullying respects the agency of people because they know. So it’s worse, because if you do not respect the agency of people, anything that you’re doing after that point is not conducive to a democracy. And fundamentally, information warfare is not conducive to democracy.”

If all of this is true, and the evidence around us suggests that it is, then the damage done by Cambridge Analytica and these people is far more devastating than anyone currently realizes. This kind of fragmentation has only ever been resolved throughout history with violence. When you fragment and polarize society, one side will destroy the other or both will destroy each other, before society can be a coherent whole again.

This article goes into far more detail than the video, so it's well worth reading; however, it is very long. This isn't being reported by some conspiracy rag online. This has been thoroughly researched by The Guardian. So it's worth the time to understand what's going on.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2018, 09:48:52 am »
Also, McLuhan has been floating this since the 1960s and I have been echoing it for 10 years.

Unity/disunity is highly subjective and dependent on the lens.  IN the 1950s, there was no visibility on non-conformity, so LGBT people did not exist.  The 1960s changed what was "in" and "out", as did the 2010s.

Offline cybercoma

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2018, 10:10:35 am »
Read the article. That's not what this is about.

Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2018, 10:38:29 am »
We need a massive privacy legislation overhaul to combat these kinds of things in the 21st century since technology has vastly changed.  We need international laws to reign in governments like the US (and Canada) who won't comply.  We need a privacy revolution.  We need to stop using these websites, apps, & hardware (smartphones, PC's etc) that spy on us and allow other companies and governments to do so too.

Snowden and this Christopher Wylie fellow are heroes.  Whistleblowers must be protected at the cost of our democracy.  The Guardian has its own ideological bias generally, but it is an ethical news outlet compared to 99% of mainstream news outlets and should be commended for its work on the Snowden leaks and this story.

1984 is here.
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Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2018, 10:39:01 am »
Also thanks for the interesting link cyber I'll check it out when I have more time.

Let's not forget that this isn't only being used by the rightwing, it's used by all sorts of entities for politics and profit.
"Nipples is one of the great minds of our time!" - Bubbermiley

Offline waldo

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2018, 10:51:49 am »
its only taken the MSM 18-24 months to finally elevate this beyond those wascally 'conspiracy' blogs! --- stay tuned for MSM to (also finally) begin flushing out linkages between the Trump campaign, CA/SCL, Giles-Parscale, etc..


Offline waldo

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2018, 10:53:26 am »
We need to stop using these websites, apps, & hardware (smartphones, PC's etc) that spy on us and allow other companies and governments to do so too

waldo practice: never have, never will... book face
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Offline ?Impact

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2018, 10:56:32 am »
We need a massive privacy legislation overhaul to combat these kinds of things in the 21st century since technology has vastly changed.  We need international laws to reign in governments like the US (and Canada) who won't comply.

One world government?

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2018, 12:14:53 pm »
Read the article. That's not what this is about.

I'm about 1/2 way through it... it seems like a biography of a hacker which is about the last thing I'd be interested in.  I will finish later.

Offline TimG

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2018, 12:20:59 pm »
Some point I was making in this thread:
https://canadianpoliticalevents.createaforum.com/general-discussion/breaking-the-bubble/#msg19461

The only difference is cyber is concerned when it is revealed that people he perceives as "bad" use this information. But when reliably left wing corporations like Google and Facebook do the same thing then no problem.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2018, 12:24:21 pm »
Well, "bad" people is maybe harder to characterize than "foreigners" and that seems to be the issue here.  Otherwise, maybe there isn't anything to ask about.  There is new technology that is used to predict, model and influence outcomes.  It's an iteration of the technology used to influence politics in the past, using media that were dominant in the era.


Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2018, 12:27:07 pm »
I'm also curious about the term 'damage' which is used in the OP to describe people who have been influenced by identity-engineering efforts.  Is this 'damage' not the shortest-term possible ?  Or can we even assess how this works ?

Certainly the fact that it's known is not a negative sign, for those who want to move forward.

The act of fragmenting and unifying publics is an interesting study, for sure.

Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2018, 12:33:50 pm »
One world government?

No, international law.  Like Geneva Convention etc.  Or even a multilateral agreement and stick it in the WTO.
"Nipples is one of the great minds of our time!" - Bubbermiley

Offline wilber

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #13 on: March 19, 2018, 12:36:39 pm »
BNN article on Russians trolling Canada on energy and politics

https://www.bnn.ca/russian-troll-farm-that-meddled-in-u-s-election-also-took-swipes-at-canadian-oil-trudeau-1.1030955

Facebook is down 7% this morning on Cambridge Analytical news. Zuckerberg's personal worth drops 3.8 billion.
"Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice" WSC
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Offline Omni

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Re: Fragmenting Society as a Political Weapon
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2018, 12:41:50 pm »
Maybe Mueller needs to add Zuckerberg to his list