“In whatever given society, there are two extreme ends concerning information dissemination. Think of them as open and closed systems of communication.”
The General clicked the remote.
“The open form represents a complete freedom of press and freedom speech. It is the idea that anyone may say, write, publish, or broadcast whatever words and materials they wish, without fear of reprisal. Think of this end as an open flood gate of information, Cadets, a deluging chaos of words and images and expression, and remember, the information can be true or false, right or wrong, good or bad, beneficial or detrimental, it does not matter. And also understand, no authoritative power controls any of the information’s dissemination.”
From behind the podium, the General took a sip of water. In the audience the students scribbled notes. The General cleared his throat.
“…That is to say, it is a free-for-all. In the completely open society, there is no censorship. There are no libel laws. There are no penalties for broadcasting slander, lies, or doxing. There are no prohibitions on disseminating materials concerning cultural taboos, materials like anti-religious rhetoric, pornography, or darker expressions of deviancy. The completely open form is the absolute freedom of expression, everything is aloud, and no government on earth, for good reason, permits this openness to exist for long. The reason is simple.
“In the completely open form, unchecked and unvetted information eventually leads to a collective psychological crisis within the population. The People of the open society possess no over arching informational authority to guide them, and beyond their own limited abilities, they have no way of dissuading truth from fiction, lies from fact, or even acquiring an accurate perception of greater realities, realities like the health of the nation, the state of a war, or the condition of the economy.”
The General leaned on the podium.
“Eventually, in the extreme open form, meaningful communication becomes impossible. The open society will devolve and divide into rivaling tribes, and in time, these tribes will only grunt with incomprehension at each other. No tribe will possess accurate enough information to assess their world. Pride and arrogance will push them into further isolations. The society fragments and shatters. This process is called Scattering, or Demoralization. It is a strategic goal of long-term psychological warfare operations, operations which occur over generations if not centuries. Scattering can also arise organically.”
The General released the podium’s edges.
“The moral concept of Truth… It is the founding stone of any and every society that has ever existed. ‘Thou shall not give false witness,’ this commandment, this idea, it is the keystone which makes meaningful communication within any group of any size possible, and without it, without all members communicating honestly, and in earnest, divisions flourish, cultural divides widen, in-fighting erupts, and revolutions boil. A high moralistic and collective value on communicating truthfully is a necessity within any society, and without it, any member of any group can have no confidence in the accuracy of the information they receive.
“Tribesmen who lie are banished, Cadets. Children who lie are punished. Businesses that deceive are sued in a healthy economy. Kings, queens, presidents and dictators, all speak The Truth to The People in a perfect world, however, we live far from that Utopia.
“As you will learn, much of Psychological Warfare concerns one of its sub-categories: Informational Warfare. And while the tool of propaganda is usually thought of as the use of deception to manipulate a populace, you will find that truthful propaganda, or White Propaganda, can be extremely effective. It is, the dissemination of accurate and factual propaganda in an attempt to counter already established deceptions within a society. White Propaganda can be fantastically powerful, Cadets. Empires are conquered by it. Nations are usurped. All of it just by propagandizing a population with honesty, by enlightening The People to the lies they have swallowed, by uncovering the falsehoods their rulers and institutions have force-fed them.”
The General took another sip of water then stepped away from the podium and began strolling the stage.
“The closed form society is the extreme opposite of the open. It can be thought of as the absolute control of information by The State or hegemony. Many dystopian novels have been written about this, about societies nearing the extreme closed end. Orwell’s 1984 is one of them. The novel depicts a society where all media and educational information is tightly controlled and historically manipulated. Meaning: The State actively alters its historical archives to accommodate new narratives and political positions. In the novel, any citizen who cannot mentally accept to The State’s, or ‘Party’s’, new ideological changes or historical changes, any citizen who cannot adjust and contort their own memories to align with the party’s new initiatives, these citizens are tortured, physically and psychologically, until their complete submission and political alignment is gained. It is an excellent read, Cadets, one where The Party’s true enemy is the memory of The People. The novel is considered satirical fiction, but its satire is not far from reality.”
The General smiled.
“Recent, real-world examples of nations shifting toward the closed end society would be Nazi Germany, Stallin’s Russia, and Moa’s China, societies which completely harnessed and controlled traditional media, instituted educational reforms, eliminating ideological materials running contrary to political initiatives, and they installed methods of surveillance over the population, searching out political dissent.
“In these societies, the populace is usually propagandized into a State of Fear, usually to the point where neighbors inform on other Neighbors, and often, children are urged to notify government agents or Social Workers of political dissent concerning family members. These are common tropes in societies nearing the closed end, and they generally coincide with great purges of information like book burnings and embody massive censorship campaigns. The State usually imprisons and executes selected Scholars, Scientists, Musicians and Actors in these societies, and Work-Camps or Gulags are usually installed for the re-education of non conformists.”
The General lifted an arm, indicating the projector screen.
“Another example would The Holy Roman Catholic Church, their Inquisitors, the enforcers and paneled judges used to influence and censor scientific discovery running contrary to church doctrine and dogma. Many learned men and women throughout history have feared The Church, and many have died for no other reason than theoretical dispute. Newton, Galileo, Cardano, Vanini, many more, all feared of The Inquisition.”
The General clicked the remote again.
“Another example of a near-closed society is that of The Cult… Cult leaders isolate their followers and attempt to eliminate contact with outside sources of information, information which may counter the ideological narratives the cult leaders themselves have put forth. A type a social censorship is encouraged in these small scale societies or tribes, a censorship which is similar to the informing behavior of the larger scale societies mentioned before. It is a type of thought policing, and it works by using an individual’s social need of belonging, or Identifying, with a group.
“The psychological need of Identity holds immense power, Cadets. It can be substantially influential, not only altering an individual’s socially expressed thoughts and behaviors, it can also, drastically, conform their basic fundamental beliefs, integrating them further and further into the cult or group.
“Some refer to this process as Indoctrination, but you will learn much more about this process when we discuss Individuation, Herd Instincts, and The Psychology of Crowds… For the moment, just understand that defining another’s Personal-Identity for them is a powerful tactic in psychological warfare. It works specifically well on individuals who lack strong guidance figures early in childhood, figures who might encourage aspects of self-determination and exhibit traits of individualism. For those who are lacking in these traits, in general, they are more prone to the acceptance of the cult social dynamic.”
The General reversed his stroll.
“Many of the activists you see on TV or online, the ones exhibiting extreme behaviors, the ones protesting and setting fires, or looting for whatever political, economic, or environmental cause, many of them are of this same cult-esque ilk. The groups they have identified with have defined their personal identities for them. The individuals themselves have taken on the archetype of The Warrior, and their behaviors are nothing more than expressions of the group they serve… Think of them like a hive mind, Cadets. The individual group member is only an extension of the collective body. A kamikaze pilot would be good example this dynamic. A suicide bomber as well. A tribe’s willing human sacrifice to appease the gods may be the ultimate paragon of the group-defined personal-identity type.”
The General faced the students and spoke softly.
“There is a reason why orphans make the best soldiers, Cadets… It is because of their internal need to belong to something greater than themselves. They posses a capacity, a capacity of loyalty to the highest degree, and it is this psychic energy which can be channelled out of their isolation and vectored toward a group or community. This characteristic is spawned early in life and nurtured by a lack of familial bonding.”
The General resumed strolling.
“But back to the point. Social Censorship or thought-policing endures due to the threat of outcasting, the act of removing or banishing the individual from the group, and for many group members, this fate, this isolation, it is worse than death, for it is The Group who defines who they are, and without the group, without the hierarchical structure, many individuals become lost. They feel dejection. They possess no meaning or direction in their lives.
“Social Censorship is usually more effective for group members who identify zealously, and you could call this zealousness a ‘devoutness to a cause’, but you could also categorize it as a lack of critical reasoning and character development… Regardless, the behavior is not only exhibited in the small scale society like the cult or tribe, but it is also present in the large scale society of the nation and even of a civilization.
“Closed form societies breed more of these individuals, individuals who socially censor themselves out of a fear of isolation. The increase is in part due to designed cultural shifts surrounding the concept of Family. The closed society generally attempts to de-bond the family, father from child, and eventually mother from child, replacing these bonds with relationships to hierarchical institutions. These institutions intern increase the likelihood of a devout citizenry, especially if the institutions provide education, sustenance, and sheltering programs. Many of these programs are thought of as Entitlements, but major problems can arise concerning scalability and large populations. This is why many closed societies are firmly set on war footings and they often take economic resources through conflict.”
The general clicked the remote.
“In general, the social and traditional forms of censorship are rampant in closed societies. Educational Systems are vastly expanded and micromanaged. Political Dissent is criminalized. Non-sanctioned religious sects are crushed. Slave Labor and extermination programs are installed via work camps. Entitlement programs increase in order to garner public support, and any cause or banner or flag marched under by The People in a closed society is nothing more than a manufactured campaign of The State… In summation, closed form societies posses versions of cult psychologies and are, by no means, free.”
The General walked back to the podium.
“A State’s desire to control information is nothing new, and none of the examples I have given to you reach the extreme closed end, a society where all information is controlled, because, in truth, the human species has never had a completely closed society. The form itself is incompatible with the human condition. It is our genes of individualism, Cadets, the a priori traits we possess due to evolutionary development, characteristics which go back as far as the first cell receptors. It is our Human Nature which makes us incompatible with the completely closed form. We seek out the causalities of our environment. We discover the secrets which obscure our reality. We search for Truth, inevitably, and it occurs at our most basic levels. In essence, the Human Condition abhors illusion, but this does not mean we cannot be tricked. This does not mean our minds cannot be shaped by deception and falsehood, but a population living in a constant state of hoodwinking cannot thrive. There is always a part of us, a deep part of us, which questions our reality. It is one of the things that make us human, and if a population were to exist in the completely closed form, a society where all information was controlled by a single power, we would think very oddly about that society’s citizenry. Few of us would consider them to be human.
“The People of the completely closed society would be something more akin to biological robots, automatons receiving their thoughts, emotions and ideas via some sort of remote apparatus. They would posses no internal debate. No reflection or philosophy. No free will. Just human bodies reacting to external stimuli with no higher brain functions. Cogs in a wheel, Cadets, nothing more. The completely closed form is incompatible with human experience. Which brings us back to our reality.”
The General clicked the remote.
“All societies exist in between the open and closed extremes. Some are closer to the open end. Others are closer to the closed end. All should be thought of as being in a constant state of flux or movement, sliding away or toward one extreme or the other.
“Now, as I stated before, throughout history there has never been a completely closed society due to its incompatibility with human nature, but let me, for a moment, express a word of caution.”
The General took a breath, scanning the auditorium.
“With the rise certain sciences and technologies, some of those being Genetics, Quantum Computing, Nano Tech, and Bio-Interfacing Tech, the bridging of the technological with the biological is being attempted. It is being attempted and it is progressing. Some call this phenomenon, Trans-Humanism, the idea of becoming more than just human, or transcending the human experience.
With our current advancements in science and technology, the possibility of altering the human condition is probable. In the future, you, or your children, may witness the emergence of a completely closed society. I do not know if this society will be one of a People, or of an army of clones, but it will be one that functions not through fear, or propaganda, or group defined identity, but one which operates with direct control of individual thought and perception. How well this closed society will operate, I also do not know, but right now, the Human Condition is being stress tested. Cracks are being found, backdoors are being opened, Bioelectrical data is being recorded, stored and analyzed, and it will be up to you, your generation, and the generations that follow you, to deal with whatever comes of these technological advancements. I would advise this: take control of the situation now while you still can.”
The General leaned on the podium and scanned the auditorium. The Cadets sat motionless and staring.
“Now, warning concluded.”
The General looked at the projector screen and clicked the remote.
“The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, in theory, pushes the US toward the open side of the scale, but the US is in no way a completely open society. It’s institutions, be them media, educational, governmental, religious, medical, or economic, all shape and mold the public psyche toward desired ends. Much of this molding is done through Institutional Authority, and much of it is also done with honesty and integrity, but some of it, Cadets, some of it is done with deception. In societies like the US, societies whose institutions are not exactly extensions of The State, but are also not exactly, not, extensions, the population’s ability to discern falsehood from fact, or black propaganda from white propaganda, can be extremely difficult. A good method of discerning institutionally pushed deception is to discover what materials are being censored. This endeavor, however, can also be a difficult.”
The General checked his watch again.
“Are their any questions before we move on?…”
The students stared as The General waited. After a long moment, one cadet in the middle of the seats raised his hand.
“You, Cadet, stand and speak.”
The Cadet stood as ordered, his seat flapping up in the silence.
“General, Sir… Sir, you spoke of closed societies and gave examples of their extreme forms, Sir. My question is: are their any examples of extreme open societies, Sir?”
The Cadet held his pose of attention, and the General smiled.
“Yes, Cadet, there is one example of the extreme open society, but there is only one. It existed in ancient times, in a land called Shinar. No one knows that society’s original name. We only know what it later became known as after it scattered… It became known as Babel.”