Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
missed you at the ball on saturday night sir. good times in fresno
al Reuters had a completely different take on the same event. Our military is “stressed,” doncha know. Typical for Reuters, though.
Scoff if you will, but its time to call PAOs “Warfighters”.
Didn’t say it too well in a previous post, but we are getting badly mauled in the “information battle”. The reason for that is because information warfare -the way we fight it- is all about the technical aspects of data denial. Our tactics are purely defensive. We ignore content largely due to the rapidly obsolescent notion of a “fair press” to our peril.
Meanwhile, our enemy already has posession of the “high ground”; a western media culture that is largely sympathetic to their views, and Arab media entities (which are often granted sole access which in turn garners inestimable advantage) that are overtly so.
I won’t claim to know how to fight this kind of battle…problem is nobody on our side does. It’s time to focus money and talent into what has become a quite valid 21st century area of warfare.
The media caused our loss in Vietnam, and is eager to repeat their feat, for whatever motivation. Internet blogs and talk radio have made slight inroads against their biased monopoly, but only those who care to pay attention have noticed. Many Americans do not care about the news, or swallow whatever lies are being served up. The wild disparity between “news” and reality has been noted by deployed troops and their families, and that may increase distrust in the media.
Leaders must use the bully pulpit and articulate the threat, their vision and LEAD! Hope the PAO’s can assist, but it will be tough to penetrate the media monopoly. FOX News is a bright spot! Fauxtography evidence needs to be highlighted more. WE all NEED to write letters to editors, and a few will make it thru the media censors to reach the masses. That just barely gets us to an even keel.
Helping our side WIN the fight is a huge leap beyond that. Information Warfare is a weapon we have yet to unleash, with no qualified warriors in that specialty, nor a plan to grow them. They won’t come from Journalism schools, but will depend on clever minds in advertising, entertainment, shyster lawyers and sneaky politicians who can spin, shade, convince, guide, twist, distort or shape public opinion here and abroad. Words and images are powerful weapons we leave holstered at our own peril.
Let the historians seek truth later, but use every tool in the arsenal to WIN NOW!
Hornet Ball, was it? Geez, I never get invited to any of the good parties any more…
Sid, what’s a PAO?
John S, I don’t think “bully pulpit” means what you think. In Teddy R’s day, “bully” meant “excellent” rather than “intimidating.”
PAO: Public Affairs Officer.
Seems to me this person, given his background and current position, is in a good spot to start working this problem…
http://www.nps.edu/Aboutnps/President/PresidentBio.htm
yep. hornet ball was fun. first time for a cone like myself and im excited for next year. i’ve got the hornet ball video. let me know if you want a copy.
As long as “Fake but Accurate” is an accepted norm in Journalism, then any claim they are “neutral” is crap.
Seems to me that CBS would have learned their lesson, but I see certain heads are still stowed tightly in dark squishy spots…
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/weighing_anchor_nationalnews_don_kaplan.htm
Its time to assign some blame and one big time place it rests is squarely on this jerk’s shoulders:
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/kalbbooks/scandal_author.gif
http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/marvin_kalb
…since he is the biggest defender of CBS’s behavior-being an alumn-and is teaching this crap to the next generation.