Public Documents Reveal How the Branches of the US Military Are Instructed To Harness Internet Culture To Advance Their Own Messaging (theoutline.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: It's common practice for brands or government agencies to use social media marketing tactics -- such as recognizing internet holidays like #WorldEmojiDay, #NationalDogDay, or #HumpDay using emojis, or generally speaking in a more conversational, down-to-earth tone -- in order to spread their messaging and communicate with the public. However, the stakes behind military Twitter accounts are fundamentally different than that of, say, the Department of the Interior. These accounts aren't just encouraging people to go to national parks; they're propagandizing and idealizing military valor in order to normalize their actions, elicit acceptance from the public, and recruit new members. The report adds that the government organizations maintain social media handbooks to encourage curators to "create a voice and be authentic." In the recent months, many branches of the military have been criticized for insensitive tweets.

Comments

Marketing

[110010001000]

So does every Marketing department on the planet. Welcome to Earth.

Re:Marketing

[Dread_ed]

Exactly my binary friend. This blurb reads like a hit piece on a product that some people feel would be better put out of the market, like cigarettes or Coke. Going to a second meta-level you can see the writer took particular care in choosing words that are intended to incite anger, fear, resentment, and mistrust while alluding to nefarious intentions and predatory motivation on the part of the military.

Sure, the US military has issues, but that's no reason to bash the shit out of them for advertising.

One thing to always remember, especially on Hiroshima day, or as I like to call it "Don't fuck with US day": if we didn't have the US military we would certainly have another country's military.

Re:Marketing

[swillden]

if we didn't have the US military we would certainly have another country's military.

I don't think this is as true as you think it is. Consider the apocryphal quote attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." While it's unlikely that Yamamoto ever said it, it was also very true in the middle of the 20th century (modulo the hyperbole, obviously). The notion that a heavily-armed populace was the best deterrent to invasion was the Founders' primary strategy for national defense.

It's debatable whether a purely volunteer militia-based defense (plus a navy) would be sufficient to prevent invasion. But even if it isn't (and I think it isn't), the US military is clearly not a defensive force. The goal and focus of the modern US armed forces is force projection, not defense. In fact, the primary US military doctrine for decades has been that the US military should be capable of conducting two full-scale foreign wars simultaneously.

So while it's probably true that without any US federal armed forces the US might be or have been at risk of invasion, it's clearly not true that the current US military is actually necessary to prevent invasion. Something much smaller would also do that job.

Of course, you can argue that America actually wants to be able to project its military power around the globe. There are, in fact, lots of good arguments for that. Many -- even outside of the US -- argue that US military power has been a tremendously beneficial stabilizing force in the world that contributed to our current unprecedented global peace and prosperity. But that's not the argument you made.

Outraged!

[Kohath]

Organizations that interact with people try to be appealing in public, so it's easier to succeed in interacting with people. Mind blowing, I know.

Re:This is new?

[ShanghaiBill]

It's not some magical way to gain skills or potential you don't already have to some extent.

Actually it is. Where else can an 18 year old kid with no experience, who has never had a job before, walk in and say "I want to be an aircraft mechanic. I want you to train me at your expense, and I want to be paid while I learn. I also demand free food and housing, and 30 days of vacation every year. Also, I plan to quit after 4 years, and then I want you to then pay my college tuition."

For many young Americans, the military is a very good deal. It was for me. Semper fi.

Your Selective outrage

[skam240]

"This coming from the same "woke" camp that..."

This coming from the same camp that constantly complains that the world has gotten too PC and that no one can take a joke anymore,

But if you follow the outrage logic of this group it makes sense:

* Outrage over conservatives making bigoted comments = "SJW are repressing us!"
* Outrage over a couple of professional comedians making tasteless jokes = "Oh the horror, think of the children!"

Ergo, it's evil social justice warriors taking away our rights!

But when we make bigoted comments about Muslims, minorities, or anybody else not just like us... that's just us joking or engaging in "legitimate political discourse".

This sort of hypocrisy will not be sustainable for long going forward. You want to know why the center-left increasingly takes a reflexive "fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on" attitude toward the right? This is why. Even most of the mainstream conservatives I know refuse to call this out and try to suck the oxygen out of the room rather than admit most of the people to their right are grade A assholes.

Just holding a mirror up to your post. There are assholes who are just looking for something to be outraged about on both the Right and the Left. In this case though, you're it.