1/ I am reading Mindf*ck by @chrisinsilico . Just Ch 7 "Dark Triad" is worth the price of the book. So, looking forward to @EmmaLBriant forthcoming book. My initial view of Ch 7 is that many of the correlations we see in social science research were also explored by Cambridge

2/ Analytica. Ther Mercers and Bannon's goal was to "destabilize" America using the Alt Right, a movement Bannon helped forge by weaponizing young Incel and Gamergate men. Bannon, Breitbart, & the Alt Right "adopted race realism as a cornerstone philosophy" (p. 125). Bannon also

3/ weaponized "white fragility" and the latent raging hostility of straight white men against "political correctness." Bannon also weaponized the evangelical Christian's "just-world hypothesis" worldview. On p. 131 Wylie writes, "Bannon aimed to affirm the ugliest biases in the

4/ American psyche and convince those who possessed them that they were the victims, that they had been forced to suppress their true feelings for too long." Bannon's goal was "to fracture 'the establishment.'" But, this fracture was not solely institutional. In the chapter Wylie

5/ notes how Bannon & CA focused on emotions: "feeling oppressed" (p. 117), "humiliation" (p. 117), "rage" (p. 119), social media content that was "horrible or enraging" (p. 120), "racial bias" (p. 123), and "resentment" (p. 126). Wylie noted that "Bannon transformed CA into a

6/ tool for automated bullying and scaled psychological abuse." CA also weaponized the hypothetical linkage between cognitive biases and "latent racial bias" (p. 127). Thus, Bannon was looking to weaponize the Dark Triad traits with OCEAN traits in order to create a "new man"

7/ psychologically manipulated by "racial bias, authoritarianism, or misognyny" (pp. 119 & 116). But, what also gave Bannon power, was that these young men felt "liberated" and given a sense of "identity, direction, and a sense of self-worth...a feeling of belonging and

8/ solidarity" (p. 118). So, what we see here is the weaponization of narrative, something @ajitmaan3 is an expert in narrative warfare. We also see Fourth Generation Warfare. We see young men that are somewhat marginalized having their emotional & psychological states

9/ manipulated so that they want to destroy political, economic, cultural, and social systems, as well as an epistemological system of rational thought. Fear, anger, rage, threats are emphasized over reason and civility. The white evangelical Christians are weaponized. Now,

10/ is not the master creator. All the fractures in the political, economic, cultural, and social systems predate Trump by decades. 4GW as a Christian Right strategy predates Bannon by 3 decades. Epistemological warfare understood in the OODA Loop goes back a bit further. But,

11/ given financial resources and a firm with a history of engaging in psychological warfare operations for the UK military, Bannon weaponized these fractures, biases, and fears. Just as the Russians would. Which Russia is in Ch 8. I highly commend this book. Congratulations,

12/ Christopher Wylie. And Emma Briant, get that book published. James

13/ Bannon is not the master creator.