Game Eaters

Monday, February 06, 2006

Truth is just as scary as Fiction.

Remember how Metal Gear Solid 2 had this goofy plot about the U.S. government wanting to censor the Internet? The story went they were terrified with the unchecked flow of global information and wanted to create a filter, defensible by the military, to make sure Americans got only the information they sanctioned first.

Orwellian stuff, but not far from the real U.S. government's plans it turns out. A recent BBC article outlnes a declassified document called the "Information Operations Roadmap." The author explains:

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.

"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads.

"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on.

The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.


The above quote isn't even the half of it. Be sure to read the part where they talk about the U.S. military's plan to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum". (!)

Amazing stuff, especially considering MGS2 came out almost 5 years ago. Who says life doesn't imitate art?

1 Comments:

  • I think this is another one of those cases where satire becomes reality much sooner than the author ever thought it would...

    "Raiden, you seem to think our plan is one of censorship."

    What do you mean?! Of course it is!"

    "You're being silly! What we propose to do is not to censor content, but to *create context.*"

    "'Create... context?'"

    Playing MGS2, it never occurred to me that the real U.S. government wouldn't try to do what the Patriots were doing--the only questions in my mind were whether such a thing was technologicaly feasible, and whether we'd let them get away with it.

    Sadly, the answer to question #2 is almost definitely yes. This whole moronic "War On Terror" has proven how quickly the idiotic American populace is willing to throw away its hard-won civil liberties in the name of "security."

    I take comfort in the knowledge that teh answer to the first question is still no... but it's chilling to think how soon that could change.

    Where's Solid Snake when we need him?

    --Caleb

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:18 PM  

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