Patterns of Conflict
| The works of |
| Works of John Boyd |
|---|
OODA WIKI Edition
Quantico Transcription
We’ll read the second one, and then I want to comment on both of them.
[long pause as audience reads slide]
Boyd: All right. [unintelligible] That’s just the second chart. Look at these words by Lenin. What’s he bringing out here? The mistrust between what? The citizens and the government. To generate these many non-cooperative centers of gravity, he’s doing it in a moral/psychological content.
Now many Americans, that stuff doesn’t grab them. Why doesn’t that grab Americans? You’ve read two charts. [unintelligible]
Audience:[40:00] Because we already mistrust our politicians.
Boyd: Huh?
Audience: Because we already mistrust our politicians. We’re used to it.
Boyd: No. The reason why is, we’re pretty well-off relative to other people. That’s like putting you down where you can’t get food and you’re being crapped on by everybody. You’re in a terrible goddamn position, you get this kind of stuff, you’re going to be interested. You’re going to be prepared to accept this kind of stuff. In other words, you’re going to be mentally prepared.
Remember what I said, without a crisis, they don't have an operation. They’ve got to have that crisis. Remember what I said last night? Without anomalies, no mismatch. No mismatch, no crisis. Without a crisis, no change.
Remember I said that crisis is important to them because then they can insert, work the propaganda, tear apart, generate these many non-cooperative centers of gravity. People go oh, those dirty bastards. You’re all mad at Wright now.26 Took a poll, 75 percent of the American people, get rid of that son of a bitch.
Wyly: That’s what I was going to say. There are some instances— Boyd: Oh, yeah.
Audience: [unintelligible].
Boyd: They said get rid of that son of a bitch. In the meantime, though, but that’s not in his district. In his district, oh, he’s great, because they’re getting all the benefits, I mean, at all the other taxpayers’ expense. Oh, he’s great. Don’t worry about that stuff. We’re doing wonderful.
They went on TV and said it. Look what he’s doing for our district, bringing all that federal money. It doesn’t make any difference whether he was dishonest, corrupt, or whatever it is.
Wyly: Your Vietnam example is another one. I mean, people found out— Boyd: Exactly.
26 Boyd is likely referring to Congressman James Wright (D-Texas), who at the time was Speaker of the House of Representatives. At the time, Wright was at the center of several scandals: his aide, John Mack, was the focus of a Washington Post interview with a woman named Pamela Small, whom Mack had brutally attacked sixteen years earlier and then served a brief sentence before being paroled; the House Ethics Committee was investigating both Wright and his wife for receiving excessive speaking fees and gifts; and Wright allegedly received campaign contributions from “control frauds” involved with the Savings and Loan crisis.
Wyly: —they were being lied to and—
Boyd: That’s right.
Wyly: —and it got to them.
Boyd: And not only that, remember, people were being sent over there, and getting killed, and not coming back. And this really made them mad. And in the meantime, they’re being lied to because you see they aren’t. It’s just going on and on. So we didn’t lose a battle over there. We lost a battle over in this country on the home front, which Harry Summers has a hard time coming to grips with. Go ahead.
Audience: This hinges on being able to predict a crisis.
Boyd: Or if not predict it, as it unfolds. You may not predict it right away, but you can see the circumstances are leading to it, and then organize yourself so you can deal with it. That’s exactly right.
Audience: You’re not creating the crisis. The crisis—
Boyd: No, they might be. They might be able to. They might—
[Cross talking]
Boyd: But they can amplify the crisis. If it’s there, they can amplify it. You know, if there’s no crisis, everything’s working good, who wants a goddamn— the name of the game is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Audience: If there are people that perceive themselves as have-nots, can there be a crisis— Boyd: If they perceive themselves as have-nots and there’s a sufficient number of them, that’s exactly right. There has to be a sufficient number. The people in the top side, like Marie Antoinette, screw them. Let them eat cake. They were living great. Let them eat cake. No crisis for Marie and her crowd. That’s exactly right.
But if there’s sufficient number of them, and there’s some leadership there, they can— it’ll really come about whether the other people want to perceive it or not. And that’s why, in some ways, when people say what’s this mean, let’s boycott— This is bullshit.
But if you’re in a— people are getting hosed, hey, this is great stuff. Let’s take those assholes out. We’re going to get a piece of the action. We’re talking about human nature.
Audience: That’s the real strength of the terrorism movement today.
Boyd: See, and that’s why as a leader— that’s why I keep going backwards. I’ll get into it later on. You have to set the example. If you say things, you may make some mistakes, but at least try to correct them. As long as they observe you correct them, you’re going to retain your following. But if you start playing games, saying one thing and doing another, and your people observe you, when the squeeze comes on, they’re not going to be there when you need them.
I can’t overemphasize that. Do you like it when somebody tells you one thing and does another, and after maybe one or two times that doesn’t bother you, then you finally say, this guy’s really doing a number. I’m getting goddamn tired of it.