The Real War on Reality

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If there is one thing we can take away from the news of recent weeks it is this: the modern American surveillance state is not really the stuff of paranoid fantasies; it has arrived.

The revelations about the National Security Agency’s PRISM data collection program have raised awareness — and understandably, concern and fears — among American and those abroad, about the reach and power of secret intelligence gatherers operating behind the facades of government and business.

But those revelations, captivating as they are, have been partial —they primarily focus on one government agency and on the surveillance end of intelligence work, purportedly done in the interest of national security. What has received less attention is the fact that most intelligence work today is not carried out by government agencies but by private intelligence firms and that much of that work involves another common aspect of intelligence work: deception. That is, it is involved not just with the concealment of reality, but with the manufacture of it.

The realm of secrecy and deception among shadowy yet powerful forces may sound like the province of investigative reporters, thriller novelists and Hollywood moviemakers — and it is — but it is also a matter for philosophers. More accurately, understanding deception and and how it can be exposed has been a principle project of philosophy for the last 2500 years. And it is a place where the work of journalists, philosophers and other truth-seekers can meet.

This is a whole can of worms here.

The real question is, why is everything becoming privatized?

Look at the infamous Blackwater. The government can claim the military is moving out of Afghanistan because they are, while we have really well paid private contractors that answer to no one doing the same things, and with the same amount of people.

Prisons as well. We have made prisons a for profit organization, which is absolutely asinine as well. We can make money on people committing crimes...intelligent hey? They are betting on people's failures...

Anyways, enough of my rant, I brought this here for people to read through an share opinions...

I looked around and didn't find any reference to the topic, so if I was wrong and it's here, I apologize.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

It's partially about accountability.

This is one reason you hire a contractor to do a job for your company. A contractor is liable for his work, and if he is working under contract, the employer lessens their liability if something goes wrong. The company can sue the contractor for crappy job or an accident.

"It wasn't the company, but one of our contracted companies that blew up that oil rig! They were under contract to make sure it was safe!"

It's also easier to launder money through "consultants" and contractor shell companies.

reply to post by predator0187


Pred,

While we all know now we are spied upon, and listenened in on, I found this part
interesting.

Psyops need not be conducted by nation states; they can be undertaken by anyone with the capabilities and the incentive to conduct them, and in the case of private intelligence contractors, there are both incentives (billions of dollars in contracts) and capabilities.

The above correlates to the persona management software that became famously
known during the HBGary story, in which two fake personalities were created to
infiltrate The Chamber.

It is highly relevant to the times, especially to the internet and all that comes with it.
Especially where communication takes place, social media and online presence
in a business setting where people are known, but not seen. This is the arena
for unconventional warfare; and many of us have encountered it in one way or
another, if not firsthand at least we have seen it play out before our eyes.
Case in point: The Arab Spring, Kony2012, Benghazi, Mega Bio Tech companies
such as Monsanto, etc.

“Unconventional Warfare Training Manual” defines Psyops as “planned operations to convey
selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives,
objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups,
and individuals.” In other words, it is sometimes more effective to deceive a population into a
false reality than it is to impose its will with force or conventional weapons.

While not a fan of hacking campaigns, I do find it ironic that people who manage
fake persona's are left to war with them. The private intelligence industry is growing
on a massive scale, ever so carefully hidden behind the facade of black.

S&F