Black Propaganda Techniques and Psychological Warfare
Highlights of various propaganda techniques used by the Doge Foundation and different actors involved
Since 2021,The Doge Foundation, its board members, its members and other actors gravitating around them, have all been actively engaged in various black propaganda techniques and psychological warfare forced upon the Ðoge community.
This article will not and cannot focus on all the different situations that have happened over the recent years because quite frankly there are just too many. So we will focus on the two most recent events where The Doge Foundation and bad actors have purposely engaged and forced upon the Ðoge community various black propaganda and psychological warfare techniques.
But first, what is black propaganda?
Black propaganda refers to false or misleading information that is spread with the intent of deceiving or manipulating people. It is often designed to appear as though it originates from a different source, making it harder to trace back to its true origin.
The goal of black propaganda is typically to create confusion, sow discord, or manipulate public opinion in favor of the propagator's agenda. It can be used in various contexts, including politics, warfare, or even in social and cultural spheres.
Keep in mind that black propaganda is unethical and can have serious consequences for trust and stability in society. It can also cause serious harm to people, whether it is permanent psychological damage or literal physical harm done. It is one of the most devastating and damaging psychological manipulation technique.
This type of propaganda is associated with covert psychological operations.
Well detailed and explained here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_propaganda#:~:text=It is typically used to,an example of black propaganda
The Emerging Risk of Virtual Societal Warfare rand_rr2714.pdfThe major characteristic of black propaganda is that the audience are not aware that someone is influencing them, and do not feel that they are being pushed in a certain direction. It is usually done by a friendly figure or a leader in order to dupe the public.
For example, Governments conduct black propaganda for a few reasons. By disguising their direct involvement, a government may be more likely to succeed in convincing an otherwise unbelieving target audience.
People aware of the deception or aware of the potential of it and who purposely report on these in a way to help push the propaganda efforts can also be considered bad actors involved.
People who are aware of the situation and play dumb can also be part of the deception.
Most recent propaganda pushed by The Doge Foundation and bad actors
After having lost a recent trademark attempt on Ðogecoin based on false declarations made to the trademark offices and after having to give back the tipjar earlier in 2023, The Doge Foundation and their self-appointed board members had decided they would target individuals they see as obstacles in their incessant attempts to control Ðogecoin and the public's opinion.
August 30th 2023, one of the Doge Foundation's board members wrote this
Full tweet here :
https://twitter.com/tjstebbing/status/1697074213679710401?t=OzBbK7FXoEXqlB0WbQSjBw&s=19
Some very severe accusations were made. Accusations of Swatting for example, which is the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address. This can result in the person being swatted to be shot or killed by the police in some situations. These accusations are very serious.
Other lies and shaming tactics were used as we can read.
Obviously, the people targeted by this accusation were extremely worried for anyone who could have been swatted and were also very preoccupied by this situation.
Many people investigated on their own, phone calls and tweets to the police
https://twitter.com/StillSalty624/status/1699066673918247180?t=PMVCGqZh9KVKDYXNALci_A&s=19
and various communications attempts with the Doge Foundation themselves were made.
Then, no police reports were found nor made about a possible swatting and it was confirmed it actually never happened
https://twitter.com/StillSalty624/status/1697866545299390549?t=ywtLaLhjj7UOi8vU7Llspw&s=19
The lies from The Doge Foundation were once again confirmed and unfortunately the real damages were done.
3 individuals were unjustly targeted and accused by someone who is supposed to be a leader and a friendly figure within the Ðoge community. Their followers were also indirectly targeted by these false accusations. And the Ðoge community was also a victim of this psychological manipulation.
Over 12 thousand people had seen this and many prominent actors in the Ðoge community fell once again, willingly or unwillingly, for the lies and manipulation.
Unfortunately, the deception did not stop there.
Before the swatting could be confirmed false, a report/letter was published that helped consolidate and push the propaganda even further.
The tweet:
https://twitter.com/GoodShibe/status/1698730872772481380?t=xxNWdAetkGfep_p3wiLu3Q&s
The letter: https://reddit.com/r/dogecoin/s/jpNU49aXuF
The tweet and the report/letter actually did as much damage as the fake accusations. Even more people saw it, over 18 thousand people saw it and many people actually thought and still think this was confirming the accusations.
The letter not only pushed the false accusations narrative about swatting and other lies but it also helped to paint The Doge Foundation as victims in the eyes of a simple reader who's not fully aware or not aware at all of the lies and manipulations that have been going on for years in the Ðoge community.
The combined views of both propaganda articles sums up to 30.8 thousand.
This technique of reporting on unverified severe events coming from a source publicly known for pushing propaganda is in itself part of the overall psychological manipulation.
Since then, the letter has been edited because the accusations were totally unfounded. But the damages were also done and irreversible. Not even 10% of the people who saw the propaganda articles actually saw the retraction.
Here you can see the views of the retraction tweet. 3004 total views at the moment of writing this article. So not even 10% of the combined total views of the 2 deceptive articles.
The tweet:
https://twitter.com/GoodShibe/status/1699552752278335507?t=_5Q8G4MyBLSAGV5zZTnr8A&s=19
Since this entire situation will keep on evolving with time, I cannot write a proper conclusion so I'll leave you with this :
Was the retraction also a form of propaganda?
Are the people who you interact with on a daily basis involved in these psychological manipulations?
Do you think staying neutral has really helped in anything and do you think it will help?
**********************************
May 20th 2024
- Small follow-up -
Since writing this article, although the overall situation with the Dogecoin Foundation has not changed, I can actually now confirm that OneGoodShibe was not intentionally part of the manipulation. After his retraction letter and after having done the research and ground work himself, he realized what was going on. I have to add quickly that I am writing this without having spoken to him directly and have had very low interactions with him publicly and none privately over the last months. So this is from my personal point of view after watching the situation develop and unfold over time.
I do not regret what I have previously wrote and I honestly think it was a necessary response at the time and given the gravity of the situation.
Once again, I will not totally end this article and I'll leave it open in case of possible new developments.