...Psychological Operations (PSYOPs): A Conceptual Overview Sunil Narula Abstract The psychological dimension of a conflict is as important as its physical dimension and psychological Operations (PSYOPs) have become even more relevant in this age of information, especially for a nation-state where the threat in the socio-psychological domain is more pronounced. While combating the menace of terrorism, the psychological dimension assumes great significance, as terrorists use violence as a psychological weapon by terrorising the multitude, rather than physically affect a few, and in this sense, they fight a psychological war also. The relevance of psychological operations is much greater than the successful conduct of tactical operations. This article is an attempt to conceptualise the term PSYOPs in the Indian context. The changed dynamics of international relations following the end of the Cold War and changes in the South Asian strategic landscape, postSeptember 11, have made PSYOPs more relevant for the region. It is also important to know that differences between various related concepts like Propaganda, Information Warfare, and Perception Management are waferthin, and may lead to contested perceptions amongst various agencies working under the overall ambit of national security, if not viewed in the current perspective. Therefore, clarity of the concept will set the stage for an effective implementation of policies and help in setting up of a policy structure in India (which...
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...viewer’s eye along with Rosie who stands out with her tones the colors and text that makes the image pop. It’s a well put together image that did serve as a WWII propaganda, but it also can be considered as a work of art. Additionally this artist and his art work leads into another artist that was also know for the same type of WWII propaganda. Normal Rockwell was another well-known artist that was known for his paintings and illustrations. As an artist Rockwell received his first commission at the age of 17 when he was considered to be very talented at a young age (Biography.com). As an illustrator in 1961 he created the first of 321 cover for the Saturday Evening Post. His images were classic Americana that were love by the public. He also...
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...McCarthyism and The Second Red Scares impact on Media in the 1950-60s decades (Research and Analysis Paper) In 1950, fewer than 50,000 Americans out of a total US population of 150 million were members of the Communist Party(Gilder Lehrman). However following WWII the the time period of the 1950-1970 was marked as a period of mass fear of Communism. American fears of internal communist infiltration reached Its highest point since the First Red Scare of the 1920-30s. Government organizations investigated millions of americans, “asking what books and magazines they read, what unions and civic organizations they belonged to, and whether they went to church” (Gilder Lehrman). This time period was also marked by the major shift and blacklisting of celebrities primarily in show business. One of the people who took full advantage of the mass hysteria was Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin. McCarthy began his crusade by giving a speech at the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, in West Virginia, where he stated that he had a list of over 220 confirmed communists living in the US. The numbers of this statement dropped over the years as people began to watch him more closely. However this didn’t stop him from rising to more power, after the Republicans regained a majority in the senate, McCarthy took control of a subcommittee, and performed investigations on government agencies. Other Cold War “activists” consisted of Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, union leader Walter Reuther...
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...Historical Studies 333 The Age of Totalitarianism Instructor: Mikkel Dack ASSIGNMENT #1: DOCUMENT ANALYSIS Joseph Stalin: Industrialization of the country, 1928 Prepared by: Yulia Kirillova ID: 10095380 The Soviet Union was founded in 1922, when the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. After the death of its first leader, Vladimir Lenin, there was a power struggle from which Joseph Stalin emerged as winner for the control of the Communist party. By the day of Lenin’s death there were five candidates with the potential to emerge as the new leader of the U.S.S.R: Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev; Bukharin belonged to the “Rightists” and wished to continue Lenin’s economic policy, which gave more economic freedom for the peasants and promoted agriculture, Zinoviev and Kamenev wanted state control of economic life, Trotsky believed in the importance of a worldwide communist revolution, and Stalin filled the room for interpretation in Marxist though with the concept that he called “socialism in one country”. That was a significant shift from the previously held Marxist position that socialism must be established globally, and was in sharp opposition to Leon Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution. In contrast to what Trotsky thought and envisioned for Russia, Stalin believed that the success of Marxism in Russia was dependent on the construction of a successful soviet union, rather than a multitude of communist revolutions throughout the world. ...
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...To: Meegan Zickus Attorney From: S S Paralegal Re: Jane Doe Asylum Case Date: April 21, 2013 CITATION Gonzalez v. Reno, 86 F. Supp. 2d 1167 (S.D. Fla. 2000) FACTS The parties of this case are Elian Gonzalez with Lazaro Gonzalez and Attorney General Janet Reno. Six-year-old Cuban national Elian Gonzalez, on November 25, 1999, was rescued by two Miami anglers who found him floating on an inner tube several miles off Fort Lauderdale. Elian was transferred to a United States Coast Guard vessel so he could be transported to a nearby hospital for treatment for dehydration and hypothermia. Elian's mother, Elisabeth Brotons, drowned during the voyage from Cuba. The INS temporarily paroled him into the care of Lazaro Gonzalez, his great uncle, in Miami. On January 19, 2000, Lazaro Gonzalez, instituted alternatively as interim temporary legal custodian, of Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old child, against the Attorney General, the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS"), and other federal defendants. The complaint challenged the INS's refusal to accept and adjudicate two asylum applications that Lazaro submitted with respect to Elian and an essentially identical application that bore Elian’s signature. PROCEDUAL HISTORY On January 27, 2000, the government filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. The district court heard oral argument on the government's motion on March 9, 2000. On March 21, 2000, the district court...
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...Your E-Book is Reading You Alexandra Alter's "Your E-Book is Reading You" appeared in The Wall Street Journal in 2012. In the essay Alter aims to explain to readers that publishers are compiling vast data repositories containing information on a wide array of statistics on how and what we read. He explains the possibility of using these analytics to provide a more directed approach towards the reader’s desires. "Now, e-books are providing a glimpse into the story behind the sales figures, revealing not only how many people buy particular books, but how intensely they read them." Enumeration, anecdotes, and a hint of propaganda are techniques the author employs to sway the reader and develop a convincing essay. Alter opens the essay with a couple of numbers and statistics about reading speed and passages highlighted passages in a particular book. This enumeration technique immediately establishes the tone of the essay and has a “scientific” feel about it. It is an effective way to project the author’s legitimacy and gain the reader's trust that the writer has done their research and knows what they are talking about. Also, this paragraph uses an extremely popular novel named “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, which is the first in a trilogy, to illustrate how the data is used. “The first thing that most readers do upon finishing the first ‘Hunger Games’ book is to download the next one.” Almost immediately after peaking the reader's curiosity with the statistics of their...
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...provided by any business should be complete and truthful (Hosey, 2018). In 1985, the United Nations expanded these rights to include the right to satisfaction of basic needs, the right to redress, the right to a healthy environment, and the right to consumer education. The right to consumer education asserts that consumers should have access to programs and information that help consumers acquire the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions about goods/services (Hosey, 2018). “Ethicists suggest that if we could just supply people with the facts, they would put aside opinions and act rationally. Unfortunately, there are no such things as pure facts” (PERS, 142). According to political scientist and pioneer in scholarly analysis of propaganda Harold Lasswell, “manipulation of the mass public was possible because individuals tend to react to emotional impulses rather than to sober analytic statements” (PROP, 114). Without the Consumer Bill of Rights, citizens have insufficient means of defending themselves against fear appeals (PERS, 388), product placement (PERS, 500), and other forms of covert persuasion. Even though consumers have a right to defend themselves against such persuasive messages, these rights are easily ignored. For this reason, various laws and consumer protection agencies exist. For example, Anti-Trust Legislation was designed to protect the consumers’ right to choose by banning price gouging and preventing monopolies. Similarly, the Federal Communications...
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...from The New Yorker January 8, 2007 DEPT. OF PUBLIC POLICY The Formula Enron, intelligence, and the perils of too much information. by Malcolm Gladwell 1. On the afternoon of October 23, 2006, Jeffrey Skilling sat at a table at the front of a federal courtroom in Houston, Texas. He was wearing a navy-blue suit and a tie. He was fifty-two years old, but looked older. Huddled around him were eight lawyers from his defense team. Outside, television-satellite trucks were parked up and down the block. "We are here this afternoon," Judge Simeon Lake began, "for sentencing in United States of America versus Jeffrey K. Skilling, Criminal No. H-04-25." He addressed the defendant directly: "Mr. Skilling, you may now make a statement and present any information in mitigation." Skilling stood up. Enron, the company he had built into an energy-trading leviathan, had collapsed into bankruptcy almost exactly five years before. In May, he had been convicted by a jury of fraud. Under a settlement agreement, almost everything he owned had been turned over to a fund to compensate former shareholders. He spoke haltingly, stopping in mid-sentence. "In terms of remorse, Your Honor, I can't imagine more remorse," he said. He had "friends who have died, good men." He was innocent—"innocent of every one of these charges." He spoke for two or three minutes and sat down. Judge Lake called on Anne Beliveaux, who worked as the senior administrative ...
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...the main component to sustain control, whilst David Crew and Dick Geary believe it was propaganda that made it possible. However, there are other factors that are supported, for instance, contextual condition was backed by Ralph Flenly and Hans Rothfels and the people’s consent, as A.J.P. Taylor proposes, was the imperative constituent. Most historians have the same problem evaluating as they have different definitions for people’s consent. “Silent opposition” is the term used for the people who passively opposed. Dick Geary proposed, “Consent can only be measured in situations in which individuals can choose between real alternatives.” and opposition till death was not a real alternative. Therefore, “silent opposition” does not count for people’s consent. This hugely undermines the role of people’s consent in maintaining the regime as the most people were not actively involved in Nazi action despite its “overwhelming success” [1]. In the first interpretation, Flenly emphasized that although the German people were well-educated, they were blindfolded from the truth of what was really going on. The Nazis did make the German people more literate, for example, scheme of the People’s libraries where every parish of over 500 inhabitants was to have its own library allowed people to have access to books and further education[2]. However, strict Nazi censorships control and brainwashing propaganda “produced a full rather than a wise man”. The German public were persuaded into believing...
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...Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages According to the introduction of Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages, Patrick J. Geary sets out to examine the similarities between how the people of the Middle Ages dealt with the dying and death and how our modern-day society manages the same. Geary somehow mostly misses this assessment, and instead through a collection of essays provides an in-depth appraisal of the reverence of the lives of saints, their burials, and the subsequent respect of the relics of saints. Geary’s essays are divided into the following sections: Reading, Representing, Negotiating, and Living. These chapters highlight the challenges that have been faced by early medieval specialists in terms of the sources available to them. Reading the sources is perhaps the most challenging as seen by Geary. Geary advocates for a triple process of evaluation: a traditional interpretation of written sources, examination of how...
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...different counter strategies by the RSF but propaganda as one of the strategy has been partially covered. The study focuses on Rhodesia Front government’s propaganda as a counter insurgency strategy to the guerrilla activities. Propaganda is the control of public opinion. There are three types of propaganda that is white, grey and black propaganda. White propaganda is the dissemination of the truth to someone’s advantage, grey propaganda is the mixture of lies and truth and black propaganda consists of largely but not total lies. All these types were exploited upon implementation of propaganda at different levels through different tactics. Psychological operations which were executed as forms of propaganda involved planned use of communication through words, symbols and actions to influence the behaviour of the targeted audiences and achieve set objectives. The government’s use of propaganda warfare was prompted by a number of reasons which ranged from economic, political, social and military factors. It is worth noting here that, the tempo and conduct of the war varied from one locality to the other depending on the terrain and proximity to strategical areas like borders, transport networks and close to government’s administrative offices. The study is presented in three chapters. The first chapter outlines the reasons for the introduction of propaganda warfare in Chilonga in 1970. It majors on the motives behind implementation of propaganda warfare before the intensification of the...
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...Introduction: The use of IT and social media was the differentiating factor in the US politics, which catapulted Barack Obama ahead of Mitt Romney and has secured Obama’s second term as the President of the United States. For a long time, traditional social media has been the medium of communication of ideas in politics. Dating back to the 1950s, shrewdly assembled team of social media experts would have designed and crafted political campaigns that appealed and rallied the emotional side of supporters. Most of the occasions, contesting candidates would have carefully selected controversial policies that the majority were against, to garner support by invoking them to think that dethroning the current office would be “changing for the better”. Social Media experts would then exaggerate these feelings of unrest and protest in the undecided voters by publishing contents that citizens feel that are controversial. The reigning party would also, with the help of traditional social media, attempt to strengthen their foothold in the office by reinforcing the pathetic few policies that they have implemented during their term. Traditional social media has indeed played a pivotal role in all political elections all around the globe. However, with the ubiquity of smartphones and personal computers, coupled with a massive surge of online social platforms, the pivotal change of politics seem to lie in the hands of the party who knows how to play the game of IT. There have been numerous...
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...Misuse of Statistics Studying about misuses of statistics with example: Statistics: Statistics is an aggregate of facts. Individual facts do not constitute statistics.The height of an individual does not constitute statistics. But the heights of 50 students in a class constitute statistics, since they are affected by multiplicity of causes, like age, heritage etc.The facts must be related to some department of enquiry. Collection of facts will not form statistics unless they are subjected to enquiry.Statistical data should be collected in a systematic manner keeping the purpose in view. Statistics means the methods used for collection, classification, analysis and interpretation of numerical data. Statistics is also defined as the science which deals with collection, analysis and interpretation of numerical data. Limitations and Misuses of Statistics with Examples: Statistics can be used only to study numerically valued data. Statistics deals only with aggregate and not with individuals. Statistical data are true only on an average. Statistical data collected for given purpose cannot be applied to any situation. It is not always possible to compare statistical data, unless they are homogeneous in character. Misuses of Statistics with Examples: Statistical methods should be intelligently and carefully used as their misuses may lead to unsatisfactory results and dangerous conclusions. False conclusions will follow if the data collected is incomplete...
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...United State. Since the early decades of the 20th century, abortion was used as a measure of limiting families to a manageable size. In the past, due to the lack of knowledge, many families usually gave birth to a lot of children that they could not afford to raise, which is why abortion was abused in early times as an extreme measure of birth control to avoid further poverty to families. Today, many abortions are given to women under the age of 22. There are not many teenage girls who have sex use protection the first time. Impulsive, ignorant, and irresponsible behavior often lead to unwanted pregnancy. Forcing a woman to raise an unwanted child is the ultimate form of child abuse, for the child will receive less of the loving maternal relationship she or he deserves. Moreover, given birth at the early age may cause a great danger on the young mother as well as the baby, etc. By these reasons, we should consider the right of women to decide whether she should keep the baby or not. Nowadays, many teenage girls have sex in their early age and get pregnant by the lack of knowledge in sexual relationship. If they can not have abortion, they are forced to give birth to the child and raise it while they are still in school. It's not fair for them because they still have the whole school life and their future ahead. That will interrupt their education and even their dream. These teenage girls will have to live the rest of their lives in sadness and despair and the child will be...
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...OVERVIEW OF SOUTH KOREA WOOD, WILLY 09, JULY, 2015 Introduction This paper is an analysis of the country of South Korea. Using the operational variables of PMESII-PT this paper will identify the current situation in South Korea and the countries current issues. The overall objective is to understand the motives of South Korea. Political The Republic of Korea has a liberal democratic political system. South Koreas political foundation resides in the sovereignty of the people and the responsibility to maintain every citizen’s welfare. Currently the president of South Korea is Park Geun-hye. The 11th and first female president was elected on February 25th, 2013. With Korea’s limited 5 year presidency she has until 2018 to implement her current goals. President Park’s main goals are to maintain the prosperity and safety of her country. She believes that one day tensions will cease with North Korea and continually pushes for a peaceful unification despite the constant threats and military provocations of North Korea. As long as the United States and South Korea maintain their strong relationship, Park said, "You may rest assured, no North Koreans provocation can succeed."(1) North Korea is a shared enemy of the US and the Republic of Korea. The ROK relies on the US for protection against a possible invasion of North Korea and in return the US maintains a strategic hold in Southeast Asia. Military The ROC currently has the 7th strongest military power...
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