[cmap38]

Admiral Steele and the Fedayeen aren't the only ones adept at meta-psychological warfare.


http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/19/13340828/hillary-clinton-debate-trump-won


This article makes the case that Hillary Clinton's debate strategy was based on a psych profile of Donald Trump that would make Al-Dawa proud. It involved predicting topics and turns-of-phrase that Mr. Trump would find aggravating, and then deploying said topics mid-debate to subtly throw him off his game and goad him into emotional responses.   

Of course, no direct comparison with Freespace or Blue Planet was ever made (filthy casuals), but the parallels are clear to well-cultured observers such as ourselves. Trump, as easily provoked as he is, would no doubt be a prime target for influence by the Vishnans. If you've had the creeping sensation that this election is happening in an alternate universe, this should be the proof you need.

Despite her psy-ops success, it isn't yet clear whether the Clinton campaign has access to a Cassandra-style prediction asset. If so, how will she use this to deal with foreign adversaries and improve our economy? I hope Wikileaks (Granite Hunter, is that you?) can clear this up for us.

Finally, let's talk about ISIS. Trump - despite his predictability - has a penchant for advocating "sneak attacks" against ISIS. He thinks this is how we should have started the offensive in Mosul (not possible, but hey), and has mentioned this general idea in campaign speeches for over a year. Why is he so obsessed with sneak attacks?

If you think about it, the answer is obvious.

ISIS has a red asset, and Trump knows.

Game, set, match, reality.

--

Let's make sure this thread doesn't devolve into political argument. I understand there is discussion of the U.S. presidential campaign in the off-topic forum; I'm more interested in how we can relate this sort of psychological campaigning to the Blue Planet universe.

[Luis Dias]

Yeah, let's not devolve a politically charged thread with political arguments, only idiots would do such a thing...

That Vox article isn't deep enough for Blue Planet analogies. Sorry. Vox has been hilariously hysterical in all of this election cycle. And that's all I have to say about all of this.

[CT27]

Gen Disc can seem to be hostile at times, can we not have that here?

[cmap38]

I talk about politics a lot too, but not here. I'm treading carefully so the post isn't deemed inflammatory or off-topic.

So you didn't find the article "deep enough" for the analogies? Fine, I disagree.

It's not like the psych warfare aspects of WiH were much deeper. "Her Finest Hour" boils down to Lopez likes her troops more than she likes her orders. Delenda Est boils down to baiting a group of desperate people into an option that seems a bit too good to be true. Interesting, but not the deepest.

In a different world, perhaps the crucial fault written into Lopez was, rather than loyalty, a "hit back harder" mentality. Perhaps this alternate Lopez would have been baited into over-extension, as Trump was baited by the Alicia Machado gambit in the first debate. Forget jumping the Carthage in to save her subordinates; instead imagine the War Gods committing some minor war crimes in a targeted effort to bring Lopez's blood to a boil and send her on an ill-advised offensive.

The power of psychological warfare and prediction is one of the most interesting themes of War in Heaven. And it happens in real life. We've talked this game to death in these forums, but maybe there's some fertile ground here. So let's talk.

If the simple psych profiling in the Vox article isn't deep enough, there are other examples. It's known here that WiH was inspired by World War Two's Pacific Theater. We could dive into that. I also see parallels to the American Civil War and the Napoleonic Wars, for starters.

And then there are the nebulous techniques of the Vishnans and Shivans, which we haven't scratched yet.

[Buff Skeleton]

I dunno how realistic the comparison is, but at the very least the first post got me to crack a smile

[CT27]

In a different world, perhaps the crucial fault written into Lopez was, rather than loyalty, a "hit back harder" mentality. Perhaps this alternate Lopez would have been baited into over-extension, as Trump was baited by the Alicia Machado gambit in the first debate. Forget jumping the Carthage in to save her subordinates; instead imagine the War Gods committing some minor war crimes in a targeted effort to bring Lopez's blood to a boil and send her on an ill-advised offensive.

Wouldn't committing war crimes (even minor) give the GTVA political ammo to use against the UEF to the people back home (in order to try and get more support for the war effort)?

[Nova Terran]

Nope. I can't see this thread ending well.

[karajorma]

This article makes the case that Hillary Clinton's debate strategy was based on a psych profile of Donald Trump that would make Al-Dawa proud. It involved predicting topics and turns-of-phrase that Mr. Trump would find aggravating, and then deploying said topics mid-debate to subtly throw him off his game and goad him into emotional responses.

So?


All I can say is that if a potential leader is that vulnerable to psy-ops then it's probably best that it is exposed before they are put in a position of power. Cause you can be certain that the leaders of an opposing faction would definitely do the same thing.

[procdrone]

please no. stop please. stop discussing elections or candidates here, it has nothing to do with freespace OR blueplanet.

we understand that you have urge to express your opinion, but its done, please close this thread, and move on.

none good will come of this.

[The E]

Yeah, I don't see this going interesting places anytime soon.

[Scotty]

Neither do I.