Not being above, "I told you so..."
Mar. 20th, 2003 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libertangoBack in August, I was having a discussion with a fellow in another forum about psychological warfare. And the topic of Paul Linebarger (known to science fiction fans as Cordwainer Smith) came up:
Sez me: In re all war being based on deception... enh. For a PSYOP guy, that doesn't sound too Linebarger-ish to me. {shrug}
Sez he: As for Linebarger, he was old school but given his due for his time and helping in the birth of PYSOP (about 5 minutes worth during the 1 hour history of PSYOP class). Things changed a lot during and immediately after the war he skipped (Vietnam), but even more so once we were pulled into SOCOM in the '80s.
Sez me: Given the contrast in results between the conflicts in which Linebarger participated and those he didn't, perhaps a bit more study would be in order. Not that that was the only variable, but still...
He huffed and puffed a bit after that.
Still... It was more than amusing to me to see headlines this week like, "Coalition Forces Drop Nearly 2 Million Leaflets Over Iraq." Which would be a tactic right out Linebarger's landmark book, Psychological Warfare...
Fuckin' poser. :)
Sez me: In re all war being based on deception... enh. For a PSYOP guy, that doesn't sound too Linebarger-ish to me. {shrug}
Sez he: As for Linebarger, he was old school but given his due for his time and helping in the birth of PYSOP (about 5 minutes worth during the 1 hour history of PSYOP class). Things changed a lot during and immediately after the war he skipped (Vietnam), but even more so once we were pulled into SOCOM in the '80s.
Sez me: Given the contrast in results between the conflicts in which Linebarger participated and those he didn't, perhaps a bit more study would be in order. Not that that was the only variable, but still...
He huffed and puffed a bit after that.
Still... It was more than amusing to me to see headlines this week like, "Coalition Forces Drop Nearly 2 Million Leaflets Over Iraq." Which would be a tactic right out Linebarger's landmark book, Psychological Warfare...
Fuckin' poser. :)
