Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
Part of this springs from the fact that much of our civilization is not
forward-looking, that neither young Americans nor old Americans have a
clear-cut or hopeful picture of what the world should be, will be, and
must be, by A.D. 2055. On the Communist side it is frequent, but not
universal, to discover that the best Communist cadres are made up of men
who are dead sure that Communism will win, who are equally sure that
Communism does not have to be right in order to win, and who are sure
that "objectively and scientifically" (whatever that may mean), the
Communist system is almost certainly destined to succeed. If Communism
cannot get out of succeeding, the responsibility of the individual
Communist becomes bearable; he is still seriously and tragically
responsible for the expediting or the delaying of the inevitable, but he
does not take the mantle of God or Karl Marx and state that this is the
world as he wishes it to be and that the world of his desires will come
into existence if, and only if, he fulfills his personal
responsibilities to the utmost.
In Asia, perhaps more than in Europe, there are many persons who are
turning toward Communism, not because they think it is good or just, or
even because it is powerful, but simply because it is _likely_. Every
individual in his own life has known that he cannot undo the passage of
time, the aging of his body, the death of his loved ones, the loss of
opportunities which might have been seized, or even his own death; in
their individual lives men of all nations perform the feat,
characteristic of the human being and apparently shared by no other
species of life, of living from day to day in a constant reconciliation
of the past and present with their own estimate of the probable future.
At times in history, _that which should happen_ seems to be unleashed
like spiritual lightning and men rally in frenzy around causes which for
the year or the decade seem inspiring, terrifyingly beautiful, and
within human reach; through most of history, _that which is apt to
occur_ provides a more sober guide to the future and men prepare to live
in accordance with its standards.
In the battle of the probabilities the PsyWar of the Western powers has
been weak, high-pitched, and uncertain, while the insistence of the
Communist themes has been as monotonous and hypnotic as a jungle drum.
For better or for worse, the Communists have broken a path through to
what they think to be the future; we of other nations have not.
The chief element of anti-Communist victory--practical, sober
expectation of a certain and final downfall of the Soviet system--has
thus far been lacking on the anti-Communist side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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