Psychologist and author Kaleb Gorman joins Tim to talk about the way in which military psychological operations strategies have found their way into the mainstream. Kaleb is the author of an Amazon best-selling book called, “Psychwars: Self-Defence Against Psyops, Propaganda and Mind Control.”
A few episodes back, we had a great conversation with a former CIA propaganda operative named Joe Goldberg. In the course of my research for that episode, I came across a book written by our guest today, Kaleb Gorman. It’s called Psychwars.
Here’s how Kaleb summarized the book. He says there has always been a psychological element to warfare, but in the 21st Century, the tactics used by military geniuses to control the behavior of their adversaries have now been coopted by governments, corporations, ideologies, and the general public in order to wage psychological warfare against you.
He says he wrote his book to help you recognize and defend against the mass and targeted psyops you encounter.
Now, let’s take a step back from that. If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you know I’m a communications professional and have been so for several decades. At no point have I ever seen explicit or direct proof that psychological warfare is being used by governments, corporations or the general public on me, you or anyone else. Does this mean it’s not happening?
No.
I read Kaleb’s book, and what he’s saying is much more subtle, and possibly more pervasive than that. Once you learn about the strategies and tactics of psychological operations, it’s actually impossible not to see the proof that yes, the competition for your mind is far-reaching and intense. And those same tactics that were honed in the military and around the world many years ago have indeed become a part of our public life.
Kaleb approached this issue from the vantage point of a trained psychologist. He dug deep, and he breaks it all down in ways that will make you think twice the next time you click on a news story, read a social media post or watch that video online.
So, when I sat down with Kaleb for this episode, I started at the very beginning. I asked him, “What are psyops?”
Links
- Psychwars: Self-Defence Against Psyops, Propaganda and Mind Control, by Kaleb Gorman (Amazon)
- Psychological Warfare, RAND Corporation
About this Episode’s Guest Kaleb Gorman
Kaleb is a psychologist and writer from Canada. Somewhat of a contrarian. Trying to make sense of the overload of information, culture wars, and mass formations with which we are constantly bombarded. No ideological home but partial to liberal, humanist values. Skepticism > certainty.
