Welcome to my Substack
My Story as a PSYOP Vet and Why I Write
About me
My name is John Kirbow. I’m an Army war vet with a PSYOP background – that
odd word that is almost never quite understood but used to mean everything from
goat staring to large-scale propaganda campaigns. At the heart of it lies an
understanding of human vulnerabilities, as well as motivations and behaviors. How
people are analyzed and targeted to move them towards a desired behavior.
I am deeply saddened to see the country I love, whose Constitution I swore an oath
to uphold, support, and defend, become a breeding ground for violent extremism
and dangerous ideas.
Why this, why now
We need to harden our country against disinformation and
radicalization, and this will require an assembly of skillsets and experiences, from
behavior science and cyber to Special Operations and PSYOP warzone lessons.
This is a missing link in the durability of our nation. However, it is something
that I am confident many more vets will get behind as this moves forward.
My Aims
My longtime aim has been to bridge ideological and demographic divides based on shared values and common ground, while decisively combating and singling out dangerous, harmful ideas and movements.
Communities and People I want to connect with
Everyday people who cherish the principles of reason, science, human rights, and democratic freedoms, and leaders, media, and subject matter experts and organizations focused on extremism, disinfo, propaganda, civil conflict, and social science around these areas.
PODCAST, PUBLIC FORUMS, AND RADIO SEGMENTS
Alongside co-hosting the NYC Political Forum, I’ve appeared on Malcolm Nance’s Black Man Spy podcast, the KPFK Rethinking Heroes radio show, the Layer8 Podcast, Andrea With The Bangs podcast, Charles Kennedy IV podcast, The Radical Secular podcast (Ep. 4 – The green Pill: Counterinsurgency with John Kirbow), the Skepticamp conference, the NYC Motion Debate, several 2017 NYC Left Forum panels, and other platforms.
I have written articles for Skeptic Magazine, Areo Magazine, The Humanist, and Medium.
Subscribe Now