Edward Bernays wrote about the need to manipulate the perceptions of others if we are to shape human behaviour in our favour. But, because different people have different ideas about how society ought to be run, there is conflict over who gets to manipulate perceptions, who gets their perceptions manipulated and to what degree. As such, we live in a state of informational warfare, which could be said to constitute a Third World War.
The ranks of this information war relate to the amount of influence a person has in shaping the perceptions of others. This essay describes a simple base-4 logarithmic scale that ranges from the most passive and receptive consumer of media to the most influential producer of media.
To act as someone’s main source of information means that a media channel sets the agenda for that person, shaping their basic reality. It tells them what to worry about, who to hate, and what to talk about with their peers. If it’s quality media, it will also tell them what will happen in the future or give them hidden insights into the nature of either the physical or metaphysical world.
As a basic rule of thumb, a media will be the main source of information for a number of people equal to the number of subscribers to that media divided by the average total number of media those subscribers are subscribed to. So a FaceBook channel with 1,000 subscribers, and to which the average subscriber is also subscribed to about 50 other media, will control the perceptions of about 20 people.
Another way of looking at it is that the average person consumes media for between 300 and 500 minutes every day. Taking 400 minutes as an average, that means that controlling 400 minutes of eyeball time is the equivalent of controlling the perceptions of one person. Therefore, a content creator whose content is viewed for 8,000 minutes per day will control the perceptions of about 20 people.
Yet another way of looking at it is in terms of votes. How many people’s voting decisions does this media control? After all, the main benefit of controlling a person’s voting choice is that it means you can destroy your enemies with the arms of the State, namely the Police and the other security services. As such, you have a strong incentive to try to climb as high as possible in the hierarchy of information warriors.
0. Cannon fodder/Civilian.
People at this level don’t even know there’s a war on. For them, war is something fought with bombs and machine guns, and those aren’t killing people right now, therefore there’s no war on. Any talk about informational warfare is “conspiracy theory”. People in this category range from the borderline skeptical at one end to those who believe 100% of what the television says at the other.
The cannon fodder in the information wars are those who watch the television news, listen to the radio or mindlessly click through YouTube, FaceBook and Twitter. They are the receptive principle that is battled for by the ranking officers of the information war: the middle-aged soap opera-watching housewives of the digital age.
1. Corporal (control 1-4 viewers)
This level is when a person controls the perceptions of a handful of other people as well as themselves. It corresponds to Aristotle’s idea that the head of a household was the basic unit of political structure. It’s roughly the amount of influence wielded by a part-time op-ed writer for a small town newspaper – just enough to tip the balance for a few people.
Someone at this level will control up to 1,600 minutes of eyeball time every day. This is like having one article of 800 words read 320 times, roughly the rate of a high-quality post on a decent-sized Internet forum. It might be equal to the ability to make a handful of sales per day.
2. Sergeant (control 5-16 viewers)
This level is equivalent to a person who has moderatorship of one medium FaceBook page or Telegram channel, or ownership of one small FaceBook page or Telegram channel. Someone at this level will control up to 6,400 minutes of eyeball time every day. This is like having 1,280 reads on one’s articles.
A person at the sergeant rank of information warrior should be able to influence others to further propaganda from the sergeant on their own initiative. This means that at least some other people will seek out the sergeant for information, and will repeat that information to others.
3. Lieutenant (control 17-64 viewers)
Someone at this level will control up to 25,600 minutes of eyeball time every day. Assuming two minutes of reading time per page, this is like having 12,800 pages of one’s material read in book form per day. If all this reading was done on Amazon under the Kindle program, it would pay some $US80 per day.
It’s a level of influence roughly equivalent to the amount wielded by a clan representative at a council meeting of village leaders, i.e. someone who represented half a dozen or so families. Someone at this rank will be expected to create original content and disseminate it to followers.
4. Captain (control 65-256 viewers)
Someone at this level will control up to 100,000 minutes of eyeball time every day. This is the equivalent of someone’s 800-word article being read by 20,000 people, or someone’s 10-minute-long video being seen by 10,000 people. It’s enough influence to rile several dozen people up into action.
It’s roughly equivalent to having up to 50,000 pages of your material read on the Amazon Kindle program per day, which would easily pay enough money to live on in most parts of the West. This is a significant amount of influence, because it means that someone at this rank can work as a full-time propagandist (or information warrior).
5. Major (control 257-1,000 viewers)
To rank as a major in the information war means to be the main source of information for between 257 and 1,000 people. This is about the amount of influence wielded by one news anchor or chief journalist at a regional (i.e. subnational) television station, or by a YouTuber at the top of a small niche.
The larger bloggers are at this level, those getting at least 100,000 hits a day. They are comparable to majors because they will direct the perceptions of dozens of people who will themselves go on to direct the perceptions of dozens of others each. To fully control the perceptions of around 1,000 people is the equivalent of partially controlling the perceptions of a few tens of thousands.
6. Brigadier (control 1,001-4,000 viewers)
Such a person would be the main source of information for between 1,001 and 4,000 viewers. This equals roughly a million minutes of daily eyeball time, like holding the attention of a small city for long enough to recite a civil defence broadcast.
Being a contributor to the single most-received media in a major city or minor country would qualify a person for this rank. It reflects a significant level of responsibility, as someone at this rank will themselves control the equivalent of half a dozen full-time information warriors. A brigadier ought to be able to summon enough warriors to significantly alter public perception on minor topics.
7. Colonel (control 4,001 to 16,000 viewers)
A colonel in the information war controls several millions of hours of eyeball time per day. This means that their content either has a minor global presence or a major presence in a major country. Such a person will have many tens of thousands of other people discussing them and their propaganda on a daily basis, all around the world.
Information warriors at the rank of colonel will heavily influence those who themselves have significant media influence. Legions of people will come to them directly every day to hear what the agenda is, or what to think about certain major issues.
Examples of colonels in the information war would be Alex Jones or Jordan Peterson.
8. General (control 16,001+ viewers)
A general is the highest rank of the information war. The perceptions of the whole world are effectively under the control of people at this rank. Such a person would either be a global celebrity reknown for their opinions, or in charge of a major global media channel, such as chief editors of the most influential global magazines, or chief directors of major 24/7 television news channels.
Some might argue that controlling the perceptions of 20,000 people isn’t really very many, but most people’s perceptions are already tightly controlled by previous influences over the course of their lives and, as such, can only be influenced to a limited degree. So a person who ultimately controls the decisions made by 20,000 or more people is extremely powerful. It’s the equivalent of partial control over the perceptions of millions.
An example of someone at this level would be Joe Rogan.
The main network television news in New Zealand gets 750,000 viewers a day for a 60-minute program. Assuming that 30 minutes is watched of that program on average, that equals 22,500,ooo eyeball-minutes, or perceptual control over more than 50,000 people. The hundreds of people who work on these broadcasts would reflect the efforts of several colonels working together with their many underlings.
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