Col. Paul M.A. Linebarger

“Propaganda vs. Truth. How can I tell them apart? The answer is simple: If you agree with it, it is the truth. If you don’t agree, it’s propaganda.”
–Col. Paul M.A. Linebarger, Psychological Warfare

Have you ever watched a military news conference? Have you ever watched political coverage? Have you ever watched the nightly news, period? Have you ever read New Wave science fiction? Have you ever owned anything “Made in Taiwan?”

If so, the work of Col. Paul Linebarger, directly or indirectly, has affected your life.

You probably never heard of Col. Linebarger, but you’ve likely heard the epigraph, or something approximating it. His seminal work, Psychological Warfare, is still considered one of the greatest texts on the eponymous subject (although it has been out of print since the 70s.)

Col. Linebarger led a fascinating life. He was born in 1913 in Milwaukee WI, grew up in China (and other countries.) His father advised Sun Yat-sen. Col. Linebarger was a friend of Chiang Kai-shek’s (who led the Chinese Nationalist movement throughout the Chinese Civil War and into the exile to Taiwan.) At 17, young Linebarger negotiated and obtained a substantial loan for the fledgling Chinese Nationalist government. He earned a doctorate at 23. He spoke six or seven languages, taught East Asian Politics at Duke and Johns Hopkins, served in Military Intelligence during World War II, was a tremendous influence in Washington during the late 40s and early 50s, and consulted in psy-ops in various conflicts thereafter (including Korea.) He died in 1966.

Col. Linebarger wrote science fiction under the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith, and was instrumental in the turn away from “science fiction of the gadget” to “science fiction of the mind,” the latter embraced by Harlan Ellison and countless others since the 1960s. His contributions to the subculture are often overlooked because his body of work is relatively small compared to his peers. His fiction is deep, witty and insightful; often full of puns and obscure references. His characters are rather complex and believable (whereas his worlds stretch and twist the imagination.) Almost anywhere you may read others’ reviews of his fiction, you’ll find words such as “life-changing” or “enlightening.” He wrote literary science fiction; it speaks to the human condition.

His most important contribution, however, is to the battlefield of the mind. For something that gets around as much as war-fighting techniques, it is difficult to say who might have fathered modern psychological warfare, but Col. Linebarger delivered our little bundle of joy. He helped make the science a permanent fixture of the American arsenal. While many of his specific contributions are unavailable to the public (either due to classification, or to being stored away in university libraries,) we know from his extensive resume he was, perhaps, one of the more significant men of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, the propaganda techniques he advocated to defeat Communism, are regularly used in media and communications, while ignoring the principles he prescribed for their usage. On the nightly news, unpopular views are mocked, if not disregarded entirely. Notable examples are 9-11 or the war in Iraq. The worst possible spokesmen are interviewed on talk-shows to represent the opposing, unpopular, even “enemy” sides. A cursory glance at the “9-11 Truthers” we see on TV (when we see them) should suffice to prove my point. Also examine how the media frenzy after 9-11 led to the conflict in Iraq. We were told to fear the WMD, and fear leads to hate. This is maddening when all the time we are being told how horrible it is to hate, so there is a level of dissonance: we are told to hate while being told how horrible we are for doing so. Like an individual, a society full of self-loathing is likely to lash out against others.

Col. Linebarger was a good man, by all accounts. While he helped develop and catalogue the techniques used to mal-inform us today, his vision was to use them to bring down the cruel murderous regimes of Russia and China, led by Stalin and Mao respectively. He saw psychological warfare as a means to save lives, when put in the right hands:

“Apart from PsyWar, what military weapon destroys the enemy soldier’s capacity to fight by saving his life? PsyWar tries to bring him over alive and tries to send him home as our friend. No rival weapon can do this.” –Psychological Warfare.

Like Richard Gatling’s gun and Alfred Nobel’s TNT, this weapon to “end war” is used to enhance bloodshed, against Linebarger’s principles: “Whatever PsyWar does, it certainly does not and should not increase the bitterness of war. Fighting itself is the supreme bitterness. Radio broadcasts and leaflets even in wartime only rarely should promote hatred.”

One thing Col. Linebarger envisioned in his fiction was the computer network. He wasn’t the first to do so. He, as many other writers of science fiction, saw it coming. Yet even in his imagination, he had no idea how powerful such a communications medium could become. I imagine he would be happy to see the wired world of today: a world in which any of us, great or small, can be heard and have access to truth, all while bypassing those who jockey for positions of power. This is the power of the internet.

Colonel Linebarger contributed to the way wars are begun and fought today. Leaders take him less seriously on how wars should be won, by making enemies into friends. He desired a peaceful future. He was no utopian, but he was humanitarian, and helped develop tools which–in the right hands–could be used to that end. Whether that happens or not is up to the future, but even so, his contribution to Science Fiction enriches the lives of those who read him. Therefore, Col. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger is an American you should know.

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