No910

the910group

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Open Society

"The Open Society is death for Closed Cabals".

Thanks to ThunderPig, again, for bringing the tdaxp blog to my attention. It's a rich resource along with a few others in that sphere.

Plus, an editor's note: The concensus usage of the term 5GW is exactly the meaning I argue against here. In order to participate in the wider discussion, I'm going to leave that question aside and allow that 5GW is a stealthier, spookier and more super-villain-genius like version of 4GW, at least for now.


Now to go on. From ZenPundit.
"Are democratic governments inherently poorly organized to fight 5GW? What structures (gov and non-gov) should a democratic nation-state develop to fight/detect 5GW?"

I think open societies are actually better poised than authoritarian or totalitarian ones to survive 5GW attacks because decision-making is decentralized, information flows are wide open and the degree of transparency is far higher ( if not actually transparent).

Nicolae Ceausescu was undone by elements within his own Stalinist security apparatus that kept him in the dark, manipulated and betrayed him. By his own orders and actions Ceaucescu's information feedback loop had come to resemble a funhouse mirror so that he did not even seem to realize that he had become the most hated figure in Romania until a fenzied mob was shouting for his blood. He died running frantically around a room screaming as Army recruits vied to be the first to blow his head off at close range. Three days earlier Ceaucsescu had the life of every Romanian in his hand - or so he thought.
What happens when access to the avenues of speech are closed, or when a small group or an individual control those avenues? We know what happens. Horizons narrow, flexibility dies and robustness wanes. The organization (or society) becomes an easy target for 4GW or 5GW attack.

What makes The 910 Group different from all the other anti-jihad organizations? That question was asked here once in one of the comments. One of the answers is this blog, where the gadfly and the rabble become part of the discussion. It's the rare and exceptional organization that takes this step right from the start.

It's this step that
keeps this group from becoming just another closed cabal, a few people exploiting your passion for liberty without scruple. The fact that I'm here, shouting from the hilltops, is the reason you should join The 910 Group.

I make it my business to explore strategy in the context of principal, looking for the modes of action that maximize both. I admit to a bias. My bias is that strategy and principal are natural allies, so that efficacy is greatest when they're in sync with each other, as is true in the case of 4GW and Jihad. The West's answer to that is somewhere in this discussion.

2 Comments:

Blogger Bobby Coggins said...

Wow.
I am willing to accept your line of thinking on this, and 5GW, as being well thought out. I guess that is why some people (me among them) feel comforted by the nice presentation of past events as inevitable, and that there is a smooth line (with appropriate, and predictable upheavals if one only had enough information) to the future.
I am interested to see where this goes, and what others have to say.
This is perhaps Off Topic, but I have noticed what seems to be an increase in the frequency of self-organizing group formation of citizens to combat one or more perceived evils.
Locally, there have been several such groups form recently (within the past year), and I wonder if something is afoot, or am I drawing connections where there is none?
Within the past week, another new group was announced that plans to offer an alternative news portal for the area because the local paper and TV refuse to cover real news.

2:03 AM  
Blogger Abu Nopal said...

I do think something is afoot. I think the internet, particularly the 2.0 stuff, is allowing people to discover each other.

It's a simple thing, but what follows will be (is already) akin to a cambrian explosion.

so it's a big deal.

7:12 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home