Alright it is late at night where I am in and this is probably going to have a bunch of spelling and grammar errors, but I need to get this off my mind with this post
After mentioning it it this post it stayed rent-free in my mind for a while and Iāve developed a few thoughts about it
- Bread and circuses
This was originally ādiscoveredā by Reuters investigations and was subsequently covered by several other major corporate media outlets, but something about it seems very controlled. First, coverage seems to vary sparingly. There doesnāt seem to be any mention of it in major outlets like the BBC or CNN. It seems the NYT has an article about it, but itās only a subscriber opinion piece.
Also, Iāve noticed that the outlets that cover it seem very dry. usually in stuff like this, they bring it some āexpertā from āBurger-fart-institute-of-not-Fed-funded-orgā who voices ātheirā opinion of the situation, stuff like its āstrategic implicationsā, but the articles that cover this only show the reaction of various officials but almost no actual commentary.
What Iām trying to show is this is how the US controls the narrative, not truly by censorship (but they will resort to that, like what we have seen with the pro-Palestine/Gaza protests), but more of a bread and circus act. And by the looks of it, it has succeeded.
The U.S gov doesnāt truly need to censor stuff like this, because the public has been ādefangedā to like this and wonāt do anything significant about it (they didnāt even do protests), the public seems to tamed with some open-washing and the idea that āat lest we know what atrocities the government has committedā.
Iām reminded of this Maxim āAt least we can talk about itā, while itās a joke, it does encapsulate the mindset of people like Americans.
These āfree speechā advocates seem to view free speech as the end, rather than a means to an end! What is the point of āfree speechā if you donāt have any real will to act!
Of course, another tactics is using fall guys, saying āIt happened under Trump, but Biden stopped it!ā
Letās just ignore other things like the āfake Hepatitis vaccination campaign in Pakistanā which happened under Obama or Bidens list of crimes.
A sad attempt to pin the blame on a gross symptom rather than the true sickness that causes and perpetuates it, the system itself.
- Us bot army implications
A more significant was an admission that the Pentagonās Psyops include running a troll army.
āThe Department of Defense (DoD) conducts a wide range of operations, including operations in the information environment (OIE), to counter adversary malign influence. DoD activities, including OIE, conducted outside areas of armed conflict are coordinated and deconflicted with other departments and agencies, as appropriate. This process is deliberate, methodical, and comprehensive,ā DoD Spokesperson Lisa Lawrence told TASS.
Of course the Pentagon tries to defend itself
āAs it relates to Covid-19 disinformation, China [in 2020] initiated a disinformation campaign to falsely blame the United States for the spread of Covid-19,ā Lawrence noted. āIn line with the US National Defense Strategy, the DoD continues to build integrated deterrence against critical challenges to US national security, including deterring the PRCās spread of disinformation under the scrutiny of the Departmentās coordination and deconfliction process,ā she said.
Just donāt ask why they didnāt just use the troll army to refute the āChinese disinformationā online and instead just used it to spread inarguably worse disinformation that got people KILLED.
Meanwhile, this bot army is very likely still active, just that it doesnāt talk about COVID anymore (and hopefully at least doesnāt put public health at risk)
According to the document, the Pentagon also conceded it had āmade some missteps in our COVID related messagingā but assured the Philippines that the military āhas vastly improved oversight and accountability of information operationsā since 2022.
According to the June 25 document, Pentagon officials concluded its anti-vax campaign was āmisaligned with our priorities.ā It says the U.S. military told Filipino officials that operatives āceased COVID-related messaging related to COVID-19 origins and COVID-19 vaccines in August 2021.ā
While I donāt like calling people āFedsā or āBotsā, it really does feel like some of the online accounts are really actually āFedsā or āBotsā
- US vassals
Now lets talk about that country that got fucked in this situation, the Philippines.
I know that the Philippines is involved in the SCS dispute with China in particular, and have poor relations.
But it seems that this situation got entirely swept under the rug by the Philippine government, media, and people.
Iāve tried to see Philippine media outlets and government to gauge their reaction, and it seems the media donāt really talk or mention it frequently too, the government has originally claimed to prosecute the Pentagon but it seemed nothing came of it, and I havenāt seen any reports or protests in the Philippines calling for Pentagon officials to be held accountable. (can any Philippine users/comrades hopefully correct me if Iām wrong?)
This should be a huge turning point where the Philippines questions it relationship with the US. It should question if the US legitimately cares about the defense of the Philippines or if it only sees it as a sacrificial pawn against China (especially since the Philippines has a defense pact with the US and has US army bases there) But it doesnāt seem like any major reflection has actually happened.
I am genuinely curious if this is the amount of influence the US has on its vassal, or if this a only the case of the Philippines due to other factors (i,e being colonized by the US)
What should we do?
Well, I dont know, we really canāt do anything against the Pentagon, but I have a few suggestions. Maybe try to spread awareness of this? maybe in the Philippines too? I donāt man, im just tired Ill check up on this post soon
What is to be done
Jokes aside, itās no coincidence that the main point of that book (obfuscated as it is through a lot of dialogue with organisations now on the dustbin of history), specially its final Chapter is about centering the party apparatus around a newspaper, then Iskra. āWhere to beginā is a good place to, well, begin.
Regarding this specific situation, thereās not much a bunch of nerds on an internet forum can do, given most here canāt even read Filipino. But I find myself often wishing there was something like the āWorld Newsā community here but for interesting and insightful articles rather than necessarily being new stuff. Everything moves so fast and I tend to find a lot of articles about old but very relevant events that deserve to be shared and compiled. I also try my best to keep up to date with the English-language party newspapers I know to post them here.
Regarding the lack of Filipino backlash to that campaign, the leading communist party is in Protracted Peopleās War, so I doubt being an open communist or moderately critical of imperialism publicly is a safe endeavour.
This one is bothering me in particular. I donāt think any demands would be particularly revolutionary or anti-imperialist, it would just be rudimentary like demanding the U.S to hold the officials responsible for the campaign accountable and punish them (Since there doesnāt seem to be any indication that the officials responsible were even disciplined or demoted) something that I can see bog-standard liberals doing.
Iāve also done some other research about anti-US protests (at least in the US embassy) in the Philippines and found:
2014? - 2016 Protests against US troops in the Philippines
2022 Protests against Biden supporting the newly elected president Marcos due to the elections being corrupt and rigged
2023-2024 Pro-Palestine Protests
2025 - Anti-Trump Protests.
(I might have missed some others, Iāll wait for Philippine users to correct me)
What is most interesting is that there doesnāt seem to be any more recent anti-US military protests in the Philippines, even though the US has further expanded itās presence there recently.
I think this is indicative of how US uses propaganda. The US doesnāt care how the Philippines views it, it only seems to care that it can use the Philippines as a stepping stone for its imperialism and military presence.
It seems to focus more on slandering China to make it appear that the US is the only good option and that the Philippines has no other choice but to side with it and it also justify its military presence there.
2014? - 2016 range also represents the evolution of the āPivot to Asia Policyā into the āIndo-Pacific strategyā, perhaps the lack of major or significant protests beyond that represents the maturation and solidification of US influence in the Philippines, perhaps by using soft power to justify US presence there and prevent protests from happening. (Although, I donāt know what kind of control the US has on Philippine media outlets)
The US knows it canāt use too much propaganda or control in the Philippines otherwise the Philippines would get too suspicious and weary. So the US prioritizes stopping any Anti-US military sentiment over things like Pro-Palestine sentiment (I donāt think there is much the Philippines can do to impede Israel in the first place)
I think this was one of the moments the US used its control in the Philippines and why the āDoD sinovacc misinformationā news didnāt seem to become particularly popular in the Philippines. Because the Philippines would start asking questions like:
When I was checking Philippine media they seemed to be more concerned over China in the SCS, so this could be one of the US tactics, to deflect and distract attention.