What is White PSYOP?

White PSYOP is tantamount to the official posture of a state, and vice versa. White messages/themes may emanate from mouthpieces for virtually any agency within a government, e.g. in the US: USAGM, State Dept., DoD, or strictly "civilian", domestic-facing organizations like the Department of Education, or the National Institutes for Health. This includes situational assessments (cf. tactical PSYOP) as well as communications intended to inform broader ideological footing (cf. strategic PSYOP). White messages/themes change over time, as states reshape and reorient themselves according to strategic imperatives. Oftentimes white messages/themes are transitioned to black after being officially abandoned in favor of new ones that better suit a new or different direction of governance/policy.

Examples of basic USG white PSYOP messages/themes:
  1. "The United States is a free, open, democratic / liberal capitalist society." (ongoing)
  2. "Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba, et al. are rogue states." (ongoing) 1, 2
  3. "Communism represents a grave threat to the United States, its allies, and the world order." (largely defunct c. 1990s) 1, 2
  4. "Fascism/Nazism represents a grave threat to the United States, its allies, and the world order." (largely defunct c. 1945, revived c. late 2010s.) 1, 2
  5. "Islam(ic extremism) represents a grave threat to the US, its allies, and the world order." (largely defunct c. late 2010s) 1, 2, 3
  6. "Black people and white people are/should not be equal" (defunct c. 1960s) 1, 2
  7. "Black people and white people are/should be equal." (ongoing) 1, 2, 3, 4
  8. "Homosexuality is sinful/wrong/dangerous/impermissible" (variously defunct c. 1960s-2000s) 1, 2, 3
  9. "LGBTQ+ individuals are / should be entitled to acceptance/tolerance/equality" (ongoing) 1, 2, 3

White PSYOP in a vacuum is simple. In essence, it inevitably boils down to a base contention that "there are good guys/things and there are bad guys/things. We're the good guys (doing/believing good things) and they're the bad guys (doing/believing bad things). Support/allow us to do what we need to do in order to beat the bad guys/thing."

The complexity of modern PSYOP, especially where a country like the US is concerned (see: 1. above), comes about not in the presentation of individual white or black products, or their individual truth/falsity, but in how the body of products interact with one another--how group and personal identities forged by them are instrumentalized in the process of maintaining the illusion of politics.

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Pub: 01 Oct 2022 00:50 UTC
Edit: 09 Oct 2022 23:05 UTC
Views: 369