Me : Hmmm ... do you mean the whole manipulate the system to avoid giving £45M to an impoverished region - theguardian.com/politics/2020/…
X : Yes.
Me : Oh, it's "outrageous" but that's the point.
X : Eh?
X : That's outrageous.
Me : It's supposed to be.
Me : It has worked well for Trump. Move the cycle fast enough, you capture all the news and distract from what matters.
X : Such as?
Me : BLM, lack of Russia report, need for public inquiry into covid-19 deaths, standards in public life.
X : Politics isn't that smart.
Me : Not about "smarts", it's about practice, over a decade's worth - theguardian.com/technology/201…
X : Any advice?
Me : Don't get outraged.
Me : No-one seems to have developed an effective defence against it and even small positive efforts that are made (i.e. twitter putting warning notices on messages) are quickly rebuked by many with a vested interest.
Me : Hmmm. Do you feel like you're in the midst of a silent war where information, trust, symbols and psychological state are targets?
X : Sort of.
Me : Encouraging. That's called awareness.
Me : The tools and practice have been developed over a decade. It's happening in public view. This is also why we need to see that Russia report i.e. just how bad is the damage. Oh, and don't think for a second think that we're innocent in this.
Me : It's not about Russia. The report is just a window into what is happening. Without it, there's a vacuum and both conspiracy and alternative truths love a vacuum. We need cold, hard analysis which hopefully the report can provide.
Me : It's not about direction. This is all about outcomes. Using techniques to achieve certain results - win an election, change the conversation etc. There is no "guiding plan". I doubt anyone knows what is the machine we're creating.
Me : What do you think market economics is? Do you think the market has a "purpose" or a "guiding plan"? It certainly has an impact. It's outcome driven but no-one knows what is the "system" that the market is making.
Me : All of them. It's a global silent war e.g. theguardian.com/technology/201…
Me : No. I started noticing the behaviour in 2014, though I was skeptical that anyone would be deliberately using it - - however, I was a numpty.
Me : You can't be certain, however, you often see multiple efforts to provoke "outrage" in quick succession combined with a secondary effort to present the antagonist in a more "reasoned" image e.g. "keep calm and carry on"