299 Days: The Stronghold

Chapter 128 I Miss America II (May 13)

It was another morning briefing at Camp Murray. Jason came in and said, “A light briefing today. We just have some political things to discuss,” as he got a PowerPoint ready on the screen.

“PsyOps,” Jason said, which meant the Psychological Operations soldiers of the National Guard, the propaganda unit, “has become concerned about some graffiti messages. We’re seeing more and more of this. This graffiti appears to be organized. Standardized messages and, as you’ll see, standardized colors. This alarms the PsyOps guys, who have seen this standardization as a sign of a strong insurgency in every country they’ve operated in. They’d like some suggestions on counter messages. That’s what you guys, the political people, are for. Tell me your reactions to each message and how we can counter it.”

Jeanie noticed a female soldier in the room who was new to the briefings. She was taking notes. She must be PsyOps.

Jason showed the first screen. It said in red letters “Resist!” He asked, “Thoughts?”

“Looks communist or revolutionary,” someone in the conference room said. “Kind of old fashioned. Like the 60s. Red Brigade kind of stuff.” The group agreed it was not effective because it was associated with the Red Brigade. No need to counter that message because it actually drove people toward the government. They would want the government to protect them from the Red Brigade.

“OK,” said Jason, “now what do you think?” It said in yellow paint: “Resist.”

“More effective,” someone else said. “Doesn’t seem communist, especially with the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ yellow color. And no exclamation point. More of a statement to resist than a call to an uprising. It seems more adult and even keeled than the red ‘Resist!’” The group agreed this was an effective message. The best counter message they could come up with was “why resist recovery?” Someone proposed a counter message of “why resist returning to normal?” The group quickly shot that down because returning to the “normal” of, say, a few weeks or even years ago was returning to a budget collapse, massive unemployment, inflation, a dysfunctional political system, and corruption. The group agreed that a yellow “Resist” was a powerful message for the Patriots.

Another screen showed “Be the Resistance” in Patriot yellow. The group agreed this was effective, too because it was asking people to be drawn into something bigger than him or herself. It was recruiting people. And they could join by just “being.” The PsyOps soldier said, “This is the perfect ‘Gray Man’ message: Just be yourself and quietly resist. No one is asking you to die. Just ‘be.’ This is a powerful message.” No one had a counter message for “Be the Resistance.” It was a great slogan for the Patriots.

The next screen said, in black, “There is no gov’t.” The first person said, “I think this helps us. ‘There is no gov’t’ drives people toward safety and security, and that’s us. People want government now since it’s the only thing getting food onto the shelves. So saying there is no government adds to the crisis atmosphere and makes government even more needed and desired.”

Jeanie disagreed about the “There is no gov’t” graffiti. She said, “I think it’s fairly effective. It challenges our authority. That’s how insurgencies win. The black paint is a symbol of anarchists, which most people don’t like, so that part of the message is ineffective. But you put that message in yellow, the so-called Patriot color, and people will say, ‘Yeah, there is no government. They’ve screwed everything up. We’ve got nothing to lose by turning on the government.’ That hurts us.” Jeanie realized she was able to peer into the mind of the Undecideds and even the Patriots a little too well. Because, she hated to admit it, that’s where her natural sympathies laid.

The next screen had in green paint, “They’re not listening to you.” Everyone agreed that message hurt the government, but people thought the green color conveyed an environmentalist message, which was confusing. “You put ‘They’re not listening to you’ in Patriot yellow and you’ve got a powerful message,” someone said. Most nodded.

“This is the last one,” Jason said. It was the most powerful one in his opinion. It said “I miss America” in yellow.

“Wow!” Jeanie said. “That one stings. It captures everything we don’t want people thinking. The past was good: no shortages, no serious crime, no financial collapse, no states ‘opting out.’ No bad stuff.”

Jeanie continued, “This ‘I miss America’ message captures everyone’s hopes and dreams about the greatness of America and how it has been destroyed. That captures the sentiment of,” Jeanie almost said “most,” but settled on “many people out there. Not to mention the play on words about ‘Miss America’ the beauty contest. That,” said Jeanie, “is a powerful message.” Jeanie looked around the room. Most of the people were not pleased that she was so enthusiastic about what a great message “I miss America” was. So she needed to focus back on her job: a counter message.

Jeanie said, “The only counter message is ‘America always sucked.’ No one wants that to be their argument.”