Governments
Disclaimer: We would like to state that none of the articles or ideals here necessarily reflect the opinions or thoughts of those contributing or owners of social-engineer.org, but merely show some articles, ideals, facts and thoughts on how governments around the world may employ social engineering.
Governments employ social engineering methods on a regular basis in efforts to sway public opinion to support government actions. Politicians and government agencies may use a structured basis to achieve this. Psyop operations are often created by governments for formalized social engineering tactics.
Social Engineering by Governments— What it Means
When speaking about social engineering by a government, the term takes on a whole new meaning. At least in a broader sense, it is the manipulating of a larger group of people. Laws and principles telling people what is and is not acceptable usually achieves this goal. Of course, this does not denote that all law are bad. For example, a law on murder and child abuse can be a protection for its citizens.
Control of Public Opinion
Governments will often use various methods of social engineering to direct public opinion. These can take the form of fake news casts that appear to be real news stories but which are actual government sponsored propaganda. Another common method is the release of only select facts that support an objective. Yet another common but sensitive method is linking an unpopular objective with a popular topic that people accept. Examples of this are, “It’s to protect children” and “Support our Troops” slogans.
To quote the site soyberty.com regarding social engineering by government:
- “… even the government could have its own forms of social engineering which has a deeper clout among innocent citizens…..Political correctness is often a motive among moralists in government positions. These laws could come in good as they tend to dictate the proper human behaviors yet they could be so far-reaching as to affect some citizens’ free will. Social engineering has, indeed, evolved and its effect can now be felt by everyone. Only education and law would promote preparedness and security among citizens… “
Monetary Policy
Monetary policy by the government, in part determines the value of a country’s currency. Governments have different goals as to the target value of the currency based upon goals such as, ease of exporting goods out of the country, or spending power of local currency on imports. In addition, governments may use the social engineering tactic of scarcity to influence and control how much currency is available in the market. Thereby affecting the overall value. In this blog found about Free Press it actually suggests some government policies and agencies employ social engineering to manipulate people.
Control of Food
Control of the nation’s food supply has been used as a social engineering tactic. The concept is that when food is in short supply, the government rewards it’s citizens with food, if they behave in a manner desirable to the government. This is another example of scarcity.
Use of Language
A common social engineering method governments use is influencing the use of language to alter public opinion. By dictating words to describe people or events, governments are able to frame discussions in a manner that is favorable to them.
Examples
- Terrorist vs Freedom Fighter
- War on Drugs vs Narcotics Enforcement
- Pro-Choice vs Pro-Abortion
- Torture vs Extreme Interrogation Tactics
- War vs Police Action
- Bomb vs Smart Bomb