Sun Tzu's 9 links of weaponized narratives

I've often defended my rhetorical framing as legitimate in a war against fascism. I now turn to Sun Tzu's Art of War in support from this article. I'll just highlight a few phrases from each of the 9 links. See the article for more details.

You'll see that fascists use quite a few of these tactics effectively. Progressives need to first recognize that we are indeed in a rhetoric war and we need to fight back accordingly if we are to preserve democracy while preventing a military war.

"Sun Tzu suggests the faction perceiving its social system to be more just has an advantage in warfare. [...] Weaponized narratives can leverage partisanship and perceived miscarriages of justice to create divisions. [...] Weaponized narratives of injustice may claim that leaders don’t protect one group."

"Chaos drains energy, but drains less from the side already prepared for the chaotic environment.[...] Using a fast-paced, weaponized narrative can undercut proactive, strategic thinking in favor of reactive, tactical thinking. [...] Weaponized narratives can showcase urgent crises to distract the public and leaders from more important events."

"Weaponized narratives attack an enemy’s strategy. [...] In informational conflict one story means "a thousandfold increase in power if it goes viral and gains global attention." 

"By targeting strategy and creating chaos, the weaponized narrative favors revisionist powers. [...] The weaponized narrative can distract, allowing a slow series of gains, such as claiming small, contested regions while keeping potential adversaries focused on new crises."

"Narrative is a low-cost weapon. [...] Weaponized narratives exploit short-term stories to support long-term themes. [...] The narrative is the campaign plan that coordinates repeated, rotating themes."

"Narrative can win a conflict by preventing it.[...] Key themes might assert that a conflict is unimportant."

"Weaponized narratives leverage combined energy. Varied sources amplify assorted crowd-sourced stories, bolstering one narrative. [...] Bots will prove increasingly powerful as chatbots convincingly replicate humans."

"Narrative is typically fast, difficult to predict (which benefits those with little to lose over those with much to lose), and concentrates actions. [...] A new idea can take root before it can be debunked. [...] Groups such as Anonymous can similarly mass thousands of hackers, each perhaps with dozens of autonomous attack programs/bots for a cyberattack. [...] The appearance of many sources and supporters make the movement persuasive."

"Weaponized narrative targets our minds- and we rarely defend our minds well. We tend to accept stories uncritically (the illusory truth effect). Even if we know a story is false, a desire for the story to be true, or a story framed to support preexisting beliefs (confirmation bias) might make us believe the story in part."