PsyWar.Org - Psychological Warfare and PSYOP

PSYOP name change. (Read 1703 times)

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der Chef

June 25, 2010, 01:21:00 PM

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It seems the name Psychological Operations is rather too sinister for some. Apparently a new prosaic term is required to help dispel the myths surrounding the military's PSYOP activities. The current contender for what has previously been called 'propaganda', 'political warfare', psychological warfare' or 'psychological operations' is "Military Information Support to Operations" - MISO.

See Wired article here:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/military-mulls-new-name-of-psychological-ops-miso/

And Colonel A Paddock's excellent article here:
http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/images/jfq-56/13.pdf

Is MISO really going to dispel the sinister overtones? Perhaps just explaining what PSYOP/s is and showing its contribution to previous military operations is a better approach? Either way that is what we try to do here at PsyWar.Org - Damn our name is so out of vogue! I see miso.org is already taken... Oh well PsyWar.Org it remains.

So if you were renaming PSYOP what would you call it?

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« Last Edit: June 25, 2010, 01:25:17 PM by der Chef »

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Lee
der Chef
www.psywar.org

der Chef

June 26, 2010, 04:45:12 PM

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Colonel A Paddock responds to PSYOP name change:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/journal/docs-temp/463-paddock.pdf

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Lee
der Chef
www.psywar.org

der Chef

June 30, 2010, 05:54:16 PM

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More on the PSYOP name change from the PSYOP Regimental Blog:
- The PSYOP Brand – A Commercial Perspective
http://tinyurl.com/29h4em8

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Lee
der Chef
www.psywar.org

der Chef

July 02, 2010, 01:11:53 PM

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I hear "Psywarriors" are going to be known as "Soupsayers"!

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Lee
der Chef
www.psywar.org

bamboo_tele

July 07, 2010, 10:55:21 PM

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Hate is a powerful word and should be used carefully. Imagine my surprise to come back and find that PSYOP's name has been changed to MISO which is a prefix that means hate in English. As with all responsible PSYOP professionals the first thing I did was research the situation to make sure I wasn't mistaken (I referenced the definition below). I am pretty sure that we can all agree this name change was meant to help us, however, as the sayings goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and "nothing is more dangerous than a PSYOPer attacked by the good idea faerie".

I strongly suggest that the name gets changed to something better before anti-American propaganda professionals use this to there advantage.

P.S. Can we still use the term 'PSYOPer' as our branch is still named 'PSYOP'?

miso-
a combining form meaning “hate,” with the object of hatred specified by the following element: misogyny.
Also, mis-.

Origin:
< Gk, comb. form of mīseîn to hate, mîsos hatred Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

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der Chef

July 08, 2010, 09:21:35 AM

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Quote from: bamboo_tele on July 07, 2010, 10:55:21 PM

Hate is a powerful word and should be used carefully. Imagine my surprise to come back and find that PSYOP's name has been changed to MISO which is a prefix that means hate in English. As with all responsible PSYOP professionals the first thing I did was research the situation to make sure I wasn't mistaken (I referenced the definition below). I am pretty sure that we can all agree this name change was meant to help us, however, as the sayings goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and "nothing is more dangerous than a PSYOPer attacked by the good idea faerie".

I strongly suggest that the name gets changed to something better before anti-American propaganda professionals use this to there advantage.

P.S. Can we still use the term 'PSYOPer' as our branch is still named 'PSYOP'?

miso-
a combining form meaning “hate,” with the object of hatred specified by the following element: misogyny.
Also, mis-.

Origin:
< Gk, comb. form of mīseîn to hate, mîsos hatred Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

An interesting perspective bamboo_tele, thanks for posting.

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Lee
der Chef
www.psywar.org