Once upon a time, we lived in a world where pseudo-socialists spoke about the problems of poverty while sipping scotches in their fancy drawing rooms. Those days are passe now! Thanks to a small invention called smartphone which has created a platoon of people who seldom stop to think before letting words flow through their fingertips. Of course, these cyber secularists are a little different from those pseudo socialists of yesteryear. How?
Well, unlike the pseudo socialists who were confined to the comforts of their plush living rooms and thus posed little threat to national security, these cyber secularists on the other hand have the power to use technology for ulterior motives as well. Through false propaganda that can actually be propagated by the simple push of a button or touch of a screen. Courtesy: the world wide web!
Even before the world wide web was made available to common man, rumours had the potential to destroy nations and civilisations. In fact, it is now a known fact, thanks to the declassified conversations between US President Richard Nixon and his NSA Henry Kissinger, how the USA used rumour-mongering to plant stories against Indira Gandhi that ultimately led to her assassination at the hands of her Sikh bodyguard in 1984. In fact, the same has been confirmed by several respected contemporary writers, journalists and American officials of the time as well. What’s more appalling and scary is how this whispering campaign against Indira Gandhi was accomplished without the widespread web. Now imagine what could be accomplished if they had the internet at their beck and call. Scary thought, isn’t it?
Of course, now imagine what would be the result of a propaganda campaign that was undertaken against nationalism and through the potently powerful weapon like the internet? Like the whispering campaign against Indira Gandhi, this too would prove deadly. Of course, while the campaign against Indira took years to disseminate, these cyber secularists could prove deadly in a much shorter span of time.
The problem arises is how does one differentiate between fact and fiction? In the murky world of technology, that is a hard call and one that is impossible to achieve. Because of which these pseudo secularists can sit in the comforts of their homes and spew venom online and can actually sway public opinion against nationalism.
After all, psychological warfare is far more subtle yet surprisingly strong. In fact, almost all intelligence agencies in the world have a specialised units devoted completely to PSYWAR. In fact, we also have a specialized intelligence unit inside the Ministry of Defence whose sole responsibility is to combat these cyber threats, aptly acronymed DIWA or the Defence Information Warfare Agency, which not only collects and monitors information, it also undertakes psychological operations. What’re more, nearly all intelligence agencies of the world have dedicated psychological warfare divisions, whose only jobs are to disseminate false information amongst the unsuspecting public.
Thus, what the presence of these agencies must tell you is that not all wars are fought on the battlefields. Some are fought in people’s minds as well and those are the battles that are far more deadly and dangerous.
