I still believe the biggest battles will be fought online. However, it’s not so much cyber warfare but information warfare. There are almost no advantages these days in choosing one operating system or software package over any other. The primary tactic is the data: covering up accurate data and planting false data. This is not particularly new, but it’s quite egregious and obvious this time around.
After learning that the NZ mosque shooter also shot a video of his actions, I fully expected independent forensic analysts to find it despite monumental efforts to keep it hidden. There is at least one report on such an examination. These results are echoed by others if you take the time to look it up. I can verify parts of it from my own law enforcement experience, but I’m not a video analyst. The experts say the video appears a badly directed fictional movie.
Part of the battle here is that those who seek to oppress have long struggled to silence those who would dare to offer honest data on that oppression. Along with this, oppressors have hired people who would present similar data with a mixture of falsehood, as controlled opposition. The result is that the pool of information is polluted with crackpots and dishonest dealers. At the same time, the whole system seeks to inculcate an attitude of reduced interest and will so that honest people are kept from digging into the mess to try filtering out the crap.
So TPTB have moved to censor any honest reporting on the incident. Furthermore, the NZ government in particular has taken drastic measures to prevent anyone from even seeing the video, lest they discern events were not as publicized. The only way for folks in NZ to see the video is to use a VPN or something like the Tor Browser. Anyone daring to publish dissent from the official message is threatened with jail and further punishment.
How such a thing happening in NZ could affect us here in the US is a subject for debate. However, this echoes recent political moves by governments in the UK, Canada and Australia, as well. The same kind of draconian censorship has long been established in selected European countries on certain subjects of public interest. There have been attempts made in here the US with mixed results, but we have the bigger problem of major tech corporations acting on their own political biases.
It’s not that cyber warfare — attacking the software and operating systems — has reduced any, but that the primary field of battle has always been information and human awareness. It’s tough enough when we know that quantum level reality is so highly variable, but when the simple business of getting the facts, even without analysis, is blocked by governments, we can be sure nobody in their right mind would trust those governments or Big Tech. It tends to back up the joke that “you should never believe anything until it is officially denied.”
With Congress becoming quite literally a stage presentation (the video is worth your time), we should not take seriously the underlying claim that this is serious business. It’s all scripted behind the scenes by powerful thinkers who lack the charisma to run for public office. This is what our form of government encourages. I can’t wait to see who plans to take over the Republicans, and how they’ll script it. We aren’t cynical enough.
Why is everything like this a conspiracy?
Because those things are conspiracies. Every modern government arose from a conspiracy to rule, and for each one that succeeds, there are several more conspiracies that fail. The folks who do crazy stuff like that either get caught and stopped or someone hijacks them and steers them into a place where it can be used by someone else. But almost nobody has the wherewithal to actually do stuff like that. Such incidents are exceedingly rare.