Joe Rogan Experience #2237 - Mike Benz

Whole Society

Mike Benz unveils the concept of the "whole society" approach, a strategic narrative used to justify censorship. This framework involves a collaboration between government, private sector, civil society, and media to create an appearance of a spontaneous democratic response to misinformation. Benz explains that the government funds allies to astroturf this perception, while maintaining a top-down control to avoid appearing authoritarian 1.

The government has the money and the resources, but not the credibility. Civil society organizations, the universities, the NGOs, they've got the credibility, but not the money.

--- Mike Benz

He highlights how universities and NGOs play a crucial role in this framework by lending credibility to government initiatives 2.

   

Pentagon's Role

The Pentagon's involvement in disinformation mapping and censorship is explored through its funding of AI-generated network maps and psychological operations. Benz reveals that a Pentagon-funded psyOps firm conducted political mapping to protect the reputations of figures like Bill Gates and George Soros from conspiracy theories 3. This initiative extended to mapping COVID-19 narratives, with organizations like Graphica playing a significant role in monitoring and censoring social media content 4.

This is us paying the Pentagon to pay a PsyOps firm to protect the reputation of Bill Gates and George Soros from conspiracy theories online.

--- Mike Benz

These operations highlight the intersection of military influence and information control in shaping public discourse.

   

Institutional Influence

Benz discusses the deep-rooted influence of institutions like universities and NGOs in supporting state censorship initiatives. He notes that disinformation studies have become entrenched in academia, with significant funding from government departments, making them "too big to fail" 5.

They're so deeply funded by 12 different US government departments and 50 different US government programs. There's no way to get rid of us, even if you want to.

--- Mike Benz

The shift from counterterrorism to counter-populism is also examined, highlighting how global engagement centers pivoted to counter right-wing populist movements, fearing their potential to disrupt international order 6.