Many of us have commanded and served at many levels within the
military. Personally, I have commanded at the platoon, company and battalion level as well as serving as the DCO of a NATO Task Force at the Four-Star Level. At
one time or another I always felt that my opposite number always had an easier and
more responsive chain of command to work with than I did.
Today’s example is the People’s Republic of China. While the US
scrambles around trying to figure out how to synergize the various government
instruments of power to get the best bang for the buck in cyber influence,
Russia and China are already down the Road.
The New York Times print edition of October 5, 2019 ran an article
“Chinese Propaganda For The Digital Age”. You can find it at: https://nyti.ms/2Mnj4Xm, which is also a
photo source. The article can be summed up in one of its paragraphs: “Beijing
may be still struggling to influence the outside world more
effectively, but at home it has learned how to compete with short videos,
Hollywood movies and mobile games for the public’s attention span. While
imposing tight censorship, the Communist Party has also learned to lean on the
most popular artists and the most experienced internet companies to help it
instill Chinese with patriotic zeal.”
You don’t have to speak Chinese to appreciate a good cartoon (see:
http://bit.ly/311og8q, also a photo source).
Notice the hero in the cartoon. He was scorned by his peers in elementary school
and went on to be a pillar of the Party and an example to one and all.
The Chinese have also harnessed their own movie industry as
another influence medium. Apparently, all this influence is working because of
the positive impact it is having on the young adult audience. In the words of
one Chinese Blogger ““When I was
growing up, it was considered uncool to be overtly patriotic and take photos
with the national flag,” he said. “Not anymore.”
I will hazard the
guess that any attempt at “Patriotic” movies in the US market would not be a
very profitable venture.
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