The 62-foot long American F-22 Raptor has a 44.5-foot wingspan; yet, this warplane’s radar cross section is a mere 0.0001 square meter. * That makes it appear, as one commentator has remarked, as small as a bee on radar screens. It is, however, a bee with a deadly sting, and just the threat of its presence is enough to frightened pilots in less capable military jets. **
Having a small cross section isn’t a detriment in a confrontation. In fact, as an incident between a Raptor pilot and Iranian pilots reveals, the bee can frighten off an enemy without having to use its stinger. I think of all those times when I’ve seen large humans running from the threat of a little bee at a picnic.
The principle here is simple: A person doesn’t have to be large to control others. Stealth works well. Whereas it is true as evidenced in elephants spreading their ears and bears standing tall that a large cross section can intimidate, it is not necessarily true that appearing “larger” is more effective than appearing “smaller.” And nowhere is this more true than in social media, where stealthy hackers and online trolls do what they can to destroy the work and lives of others. Hidden from identifying radar, hackers and trolls have one goal: To unseat the Good.
If Friedrich Nietzsche were writing today, one of his key concepts would be inapplicable. Nietzsche wrote, “To expect of strength that it not express itself as strength, that it not be a vanquishing will, a subjugating will, a thirst for enemies and obstacles and trumps, is just as foolish as to expect of weakness that it express itself as strength.”*** Nietzsche’s analogy for this principle is the relationship between the bird of prey and a lamb. There’s an obvious truth to this concept in the real world of animal interactions, including human interactions revealed in Hitler’s and now Putin’s hegemony, and the Nietzschean concept applies, in that sense, to the twenty-first century as much as to the nineteenth century when Friedrich wrote it. But today’s world isn’t exactly the same as Nietzsche’s. Whereas it is true that strength often imposes itself on weakness, it is also true in the world of social media that the weak and seemingly powerless can impose themselves on the powerful. And nowhere is this more evident than in hacked social media accounts in which the hackers, the anonymous weak, can wreak havoc on the lives of the strong simply by making comments and ascribing them to another.
Cybersociety is filled with nearly invisible “Raptors.” These online “trolls” fly under the radar to destroy both random and specific targets. People who come under attack by these raptors usually have no forewarning other than that they are trying to do Good or exhibiting a talent or strength that is visible to all “out there.” Powered by engines of hate and envy, the trolls attack all that is Good as soon as it becomes visible.
Unfortunately for anyone who attempts to ward off the raptors, there’s not much of a defense, and once the damage is done, it’s done. Reputations suffer because some anonymous weakling has found a compensating strength. It’s as though lambs have, contrary to Nietzsche, discovered the secret to making eagles the victims.
In the universe of social media, the anonymous weak and cowardly have acquired inordinate strength that they could never possess in the real universe. That they are driven by an inherent need to destroy is a reality that anyone with a public presence will have to dismiss as a hazard of being Good, doing Good, or supporting Good.
*See YouTube video: Top 5 Combat Aircraft with Lowest Radar Crosssection (RCS).
**See four YouTube videos: 2013 That Time US F-22 raptors Told Iranian F-4 Phantoms to “Go Home” /DCS Reenactment; How the F-22 Flew Undetected under an Iranian F-4 Phantom #Warthogdefense; Iran Panic: That time an F-22 pilot told the Iranian Air Force to go home; and Here’s How an F-22 Raptor Flew under the Iranian Fighter Jet and Told Him to go Home.
***The Genealogy of Morals (1887).
Having a small cross section isn’t a detriment in a confrontation. In fact, as an incident between a Raptor pilot and Iranian pilots reveals, the bee can frighten off an enemy without having to use its stinger. I think of all those times when I’ve seen large humans running from the threat of a little bee at a picnic.
The principle here is simple: A person doesn’t have to be large to control others. Stealth works well. Whereas it is true as evidenced in elephants spreading their ears and bears standing tall that a large cross section can intimidate, it is not necessarily true that appearing “larger” is more effective than appearing “smaller.” And nowhere is this more true than in social media, where stealthy hackers and online trolls do what they can to destroy the work and lives of others. Hidden from identifying radar, hackers and trolls have one goal: To unseat the Good.
If Friedrich Nietzsche were writing today, one of his key concepts would be inapplicable. Nietzsche wrote, “To expect of strength that it not express itself as strength, that it not be a vanquishing will, a subjugating will, a thirst for enemies and obstacles and trumps, is just as foolish as to expect of weakness that it express itself as strength.”*** Nietzsche’s analogy for this principle is the relationship between the bird of prey and a lamb. There’s an obvious truth to this concept in the real world of animal interactions, including human interactions revealed in Hitler’s and now Putin’s hegemony, and the Nietzschean concept applies, in that sense, to the twenty-first century as much as to the nineteenth century when Friedrich wrote it. But today’s world isn’t exactly the same as Nietzsche’s. Whereas it is true that strength often imposes itself on weakness, it is also true in the world of social media that the weak and seemingly powerless can impose themselves on the powerful. And nowhere is this more evident than in hacked social media accounts in which the hackers, the anonymous weak, can wreak havoc on the lives of the strong simply by making comments and ascribing them to another.
Cybersociety is filled with nearly invisible “Raptors.” These online “trolls” fly under the radar to destroy both random and specific targets. People who come under attack by these raptors usually have no forewarning other than that they are trying to do Good or exhibiting a talent or strength that is visible to all “out there.” Powered by engines of hate and envy, the trolls attack all that is Good as soon as it becomes visible.
Unfortunately for anyone who attempts to ward off the raptors, there’s not much of a defense, and once the damage is done, it’s done. Reputations suffer because some anonymous weakling has found a compensating strength. It’s as though lambs have, contrary to Nietzsche, discovered the secret to making eagles the victims.
In the universe of social media, the anonymous weak and cowardly have acquired inordinate strength that they could never possess in the real universe. That they are driven by an inherent need to destroy is a reality that anyone with a public presence will have to dismiss as a hazard of being Good, doing Good, or supporting Good.
*See YouTube video: Top 5 Combat Aircraft with Lowest Radar Crosssection (RCS).
**See four YouTube videos: 2013 That Time US F-22 raptors Told Iranian F-4 Phantoms to “Go Home” /DCS Reenactment; How the F-22 Flew Undetected under an Iranian F-4 Phantom #Warthogdefense; Iran Panic: That time an F-22 pilot told the Iranian Air Force to go home; and Here’s How an F-22 Raptor Flew under the Iranian Fighter Jet and Told Him to go Home.
***The Genealogy of Morals (1887).
RSS Feed