Taliban Jack shares gay pride in Vancouver

[Brad Sallows]

If my musty old recollection of doctrine is correct, Public Affairs does not do Psychological Operations.  PAff is in the business of passing factual information, not influencing opinion.

 

[Reccesoldier]

So politicians tend to listen to "groups" as opposed to individuals, and we are in a "group" which by law and custom, remain silent. You can share your concerns with friends, family and neighbours (in a non partisan fashion; "these are the facts, and they seem to lead to this conclusion") and they can speak to the politicians. One of you might not have clout, but six or seven letters from voters attracts some attention, and if your friends and neighbours each tell one of their friends and neighbours (and so on), then real attention gets paid.

So in a politically plural society like Canada the effect of a segment of the population NOT making use of that plural nature has the effect of destabilizing the plural framework in favor of those who are in no way constrained by any such directive.  Our silence skews the scale, however little.

I have long been an against this military self censorship. As others here have pointed out we (members of the CF) are a diverse group.  No doubt we are as politically diverse as some have alluded we are sexually diverse. 

Even if we were not however, we are some 89,000 pers spread pretty evenly amongst a civilian population of 32,000,000.  We do not have the power to enforce change through elections and even at the most ludicrous levels of militant insanity the Civilian police have more ready access to weapons and vastly outnumber us. As I said before this is all allowing for the inexplicable possibility that we (CF members) would all agree on a single course of action.  And anyone who has spent more than .05 seconds on this site would know, a snowball actually has a better chance in hell than we do of that.

 

[a_majoor]

With @66% of the Canadian population supporting "left" leaning political parties,  it would take every serving member declaring ordinary residence in one riding and all voting the same way to influence an election (and then you'd get one MP out of 305......)

While the PAO is not doing PSYOPS in the sense we would think of it here, the dissemination of factual matter and the ready availibility of trained and informed poeple to expand on the facts is a powerful means of influencing public opinion, even if it only serves to make people pay more attention to what the other side is saying ("If the CF has set up "x" schools and clinics in Kandahar province, why is person/group "A" saying we are losing the fight?")

Informed public debate is what is required in a democratic society, and what is lacking in most public debate these days (on any topic, not just the military) is informed points of view.

 

[Greymatters]

With @66% of the Canadian population supporting "left" leaning political parties,... 

While 66% of this site supports... 'right' leaning policies? 

It is uncertain what the actual percentage is for site members, but if the majority here are 'right', then opposition with most of the rest of the country's opinion is inevitable...

But its certainly true that most of the Canadian public is either ill-informed, misinformed, or uninformed on far too many topics.

 

[1feral1]

But its certainly true that most of the Canadian public is either ill-informed, misinformed, or uninformed on far too many topics.

Thats the nail hit on directly on the head!

Regards,

Wes

 

[zipperhead_cop]

But its certainly true that most of the Canadian public is either ill-informed, misinformed, or uninformed on far too many topics.

You forgot about disinterested, lethargic and in denial. 

 

[Greymatters]

You forgot about disinterested, lethargic and in denial.   

I think the list would get rather lengthy if we started listing all negative attributes...  ;D

 

[cameron]

Canadian politics at its worst is US politics on a good day. I don't want to see my country go down that road. I don't want to see a political climate in Canada where lowlifes like Anne Coulter can thrive and flourish.

DG

Well you certainly won't get any argument from me there.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Well you certainly won't get any argument from me there.

He has a signed Nancy Grace poster in his office.  Don't let him fool you.  8)