by Sam Culper III
I read an article today about a militia. This post isn’t intended to demean them or any of their members, however, it’s a great case study from an Operations Security (OPSEC) perspective. I’m not against militias (I’m also not in one), this is not an etymological argument, nor is it a legal one. It’s obvious that security groups have served and will serve an important purpose again in this country. These are solely my personal observations and there are five points I’d like to make.
1. Public Relations. Organizations, whether they’re protest groups, militias, survival groups — whatever they are — always seem to do poorly when they don’t engage with the media. On one hand, we all expect a liberal media outlet to twist words in interviews or make outrageous claims, and then once the furor is over and the page traffic dies down, quietly update the story to reflect what was really said or what was really meant (if you’re lucky). You may do very well during an interview and feel like you’re getting your message out there, but after your interview is over, you lose control of the narrative. Period.
One of the major takeaways from the Bundy Ranch standoff was that events like these need a strong public relations effort. As far as that’s concerned, I applaud the Bundy Militia at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for holding press conferences and being generally open to the public and media. They were able to dispel some misinformation and push their own narrative through both independent and national media. Ammon Bundy’s updates have been sincere, heart-felt, salt-of-the-earth-kinda-guy displays and he’s done very well at expressing the reasoning of why they’re there (despite the best efforts of others on-scene).
On Sunday, the event was trending like a stand-off; at least that’s how the media and commentariat made it out. But once Ammon Bundy began pushing his message of focusing on the Hammond Family and the thugs at the BLM, and Western land rights at large, more and more people understood that this was a protest, not a deathwish for Waco 2.0 (although there are still agenda-driven media outlets painting the Waco picture). I was surprised at the objective views and articles published by even some national mainstream media outlets (local media reporting seemed much, much worse). So this absolutely has to be Lesson #1: if you allow someone else to control the narrative, then your uphill fight gets steeper. Don’t allow a media outlet to tell your story for you. You must find someone capable of delivering your message and humanizing your efforts. If you allow someone elses propaganda to dehumanize or vilify you, then killing you is more easily justified.
Discernment is a Blessing and a Gift from YHVH. You will know them by their FRUITs.
Gathering baseline data and info on your AO NOW is the most important thing that you can do!
Isaiah 37: 26-38 But I know thy abode. and thy going out, and thy coming in, And thy rage against me. 35: For I will defend this city to save it For mine own sake, and for my servants sake.