If bullets were reusable....

We are all soldiers in a war, it's true, we are. While sitting on our phones and tablets, or behind our PC's, each time we share, like, or air an opinion in any matter, be it war, immigration, or other political causes, we all fire a shot.
A single shot in a propaganda war which is raging across social media.

Of course we are all entitled to have opinions, and of course social media is there, so why the hell not share it. I know I do. But just for a second, take a breath, and think about this.

Wars are fought on propaganda, they have been for decades, and will continue to be for decades to come. Its a big and sometimes complex word, and really not as simple as one government telling their people how well they are doing, and forcing the message onto the people of the opposition.
Instead, these days it is done through hatred, confusion, and lies. Most of it which finds its way into our minds through the media and social media.

Posts reporting one side of a complex story, or taking a single snapshot of something that has been happening for 2 years, and using its powerful image or story to impress on others how serious the situation is. Why it takes ONE thing to make the whole of society to burst into action, I don't know. And quite frankly it pisses me off. If we are that high and mighty, that interested in humanity and the good of our country... What exactly have YOU been doing for the past 20 years to support that ethos? For many, I will hazard a guess and say naff all! (me included)

Look at 9/11 for example. There we were, rolling into a new millennium, not a care in the world. Then an organisation who most had never heard of struck with horrific force, taking the western world by surprise. This followed on with 7/7 in London, and with that the scene was set. All brown people are Muslims, Muslims are evil, Muslims want to kill the West. Clearly no doubt about it, 2 acts, (with a few more after) and a whole load of hype by the media and extremists on both sides, and it was job done. A religion resigned to the history books as one who reigned terror on the West. (A little like the Christians of centuries before, but we won't talk about that as it was for the greater good and all eh!)

And now here we are again. Syria.
There are two parts here, which I will try and separate, but I apologise in advance for any cross overs.
Firstly there is the refugee situation. I say refugee and NOT immigration for a reason. Let me explain for those who don't get it. The media have done a number on you, so it's ok, you are forgiven.
Immigration is the act of someone who has decided to move from the country of their residence, to another country. Hoops are jumped through, papers are complete. Requirements are usually met, in order to be accepted and integrated into the country of their choice.
Refugee is a person who is fleeing violence or threat of harm or violence in their current country of residence. Not through choice, but through necessity and persecution. The move is sudden, undesired, and usually involves dropping everything and running.

Now, I am not for one second saying the issue is not clouded or taken advantage of. Lets be honest, its perfectly clear in most refugee situations, that some of it is fuelled by greed and the want of a better life. Countries endless decisions to make travel between countries easier, encourage freedom of movement, and welcome migrants into their countries with arms maybe a little too wide open clearly doesn't help. But I'm not going into detail about the whole EU freedom of movement thing, as that's a whole other bone to chew on. That is migration, carried out by immigrants, seeking economic migration to better themselves.

The part I will comment on however are those from outside the EU, who are not part of the freedom of movement agreement, but still want to seek a better life and settle within certain choice parts of the EU. Travelling from their country of origin, way across Europe, before presenting themselves to the officials of their country of choice and applying for asylum. Falsely claiming asylum, straining many systems from border control, to transport, right through to the actual immigration and asylum systems.  The problem is, we are so fed up of seeing people trying to get onto lorries to get across the Channel, that we have become intolerant to genuine asylum seekers.
Now again, I am not saying every person trying to get across the Channel is a fake, but there are plenty of questionables.

Fitting then don't you think, that the media, one of the group of instigators for hatred and anger towards whatever their target is for the current week or month, started showing huge interest in Calais, getting the UK wound up tightly about how it would affect everyone as more and more immigrants and asylum seekers bled into the country. Even taking the time to berate the government for using words such as a swarm. How despicable..... Or is it.
Well, there is an algorithm used when planning evacuations and people flow through buildings when they are at their design stage. It predicts movement behaviours in certain situations. The algorithm is called Distributed Swarm Evacuation Planning . How dare they indeed!

Anyway, getting back to Calais, or moving on from it at least, we have Syria. Clearly currently undergoing a devastating war, people terrorised, and genuinely fleeing violence. Again, most of them are anyway. I am sure there is a small percentage, like in any walk of life, taking advantage of it. Given the opportunity, most would. So now that the media have stirred the pot, built up intolerance and hatred towards anyone helping anyone else from another country, transferred that to social media, and built up a load of support for it. Now we have Syria, a genuine cause, which now no one has any time for and is blinkered by past events.

So as things in Syria unravel, and their world falls apart, we in the Western world continue with the important stuff. Bigotry, propaganda, and our faithful belief in anything we read in the media or social media. Very rarely do people ever bother to find things out. Instead we read something, go through the "its on the internet, so must be true" verification process, and immediately share, with a strong worded opinion of our own. Shot fired!

The funny thing is, each time we fire a shot of ignorance onto the internet, two things happen. One group take our comments, and use it to show others how fed up of the situation we all are. Waving it in the face of the undecided, screaming how many people have liked their status, and its proof, all the proof we need that its all a scam.
The other group take our negativity, and hatred, and show it to the other side. Showing their supporters and again the undecided, how much hatred and anger is directed at them. Their race, religion, or beliefs, and justifying why they should make a stand against you. Its always so easy to see one side of a story, and once we have our beliefs, it is almost impossible to open your eyes wide enough again to take a second, better look.
Think of it this way, if bullets were reusable, would you think more carefully about how many shots you fired at the enemy, knowing they could fire them back at you?

Now, the latest twist in the story is a message from ISIS (apparently) A threat that 500,000 would flood across Europe, claiming asylum, but in fact they will ALL be terrorists, and will destroy us all. Holy shit! Is this for real?
No, its propaganda at its finest. Like I said, most wars are fought with propaganda. Take a section of the world which is not paying much attention to the other. Put in place an all out assault which will displace tens of thousands, maybe millions. In the meantime, tell the country which isn't paying any attention that you will send an army to destroy them. Now launch your attack, drive the people from their homes and seeking refuge, and crank up the propaganda, media hysteria, social media assault vehicle.

Let me explain it simply.
IF, and I mean IF, this is all part of the plan to "destroy" Europe, its working well, and we are all playing our part.
Just like someone splitting from their cheating ex, hitting someone where it hurts (the pocket) is always the way to go.
Without weapons, without firing a shot or detonating any bombs, ISIS can cause serious damage to the UK and most of Europe.
Firstly by displacing the people of its country, it places strain on a country and its economy, let alone its resources and manpower, as well as infrastructure to cope with the sudden influx. Then in turn the influx causes stress, anger, hatred, and instability in society. This alone is powerful, and as I said before, is fed back to the extremists to fuel their cause. But also while all this is going on, the economy of any country involved in the whole matter, be it armed forces, taking refugees, or just part of the situation, takes a battering. Shares drop in price, currencies devalue, stability turns to instability.
Like I say, the crazy part about this, is its warfare at its finest, but without any fighting (between the counties at least)

So right now, as I look in my social feeds, I see fear, distrust, anger, and a call to push back. Social instability. How long before there is a high profile, mass attended protest march. One planned as a peaceful one, but joined by the extremists on the West side (so they believe), and one which will turn into a violent, expensive, distraction, and cause even more instability.
The cycle is endless, and not about to lose momentum any time soon. I don't expect this post to make any difference whatsoever. I did however want to go on the record, put my thoughts out there, and get it off my chest.

If you have read this far, kudos to you, and thank you for reading. I would also hazard a guess that there is hope for you yet.

Whatever your belief, whichever side you support. I'm not saying stop posting, I'm not saying stop caring. I am simply asking that you put a pause between the seeing and sharing routine. A pause just to see if it's true, believable and not just hateful bullshit.

This what the Snopes website was built for, but on steroids.
Snopes made it's name from disproving stories posted on the internet. Gang initiations, celebrity stories, scams, police alerts etc. Think about this for a moment. Snopes made its name for one reason, and one reason alone. There are SO many gullible people on the internet who follow the belief that if you read it on the internet its true. It still to this day continues to make fools of people stupid enough to read any old bullshit they see on the internet, and then not content with being dumb enough to believe it themselves, they share that shit, and perpetuate it!

You got to admit, it's a fair point.!

Right, I'm done here for now, thanks again for reading.