<
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/11/17/pete-hegseth-has-turned-state-violence-into-tiktok-content/>
"You know this is a spectacle, right? A show. That’s what it is. A performance
for social media. With blood.
Pete Hegseth just ordered the twenty-first strike on a suspected drug boat.
Three more bodies. Another video posted to X showing a vessel bursting into
flames. “Three male narco-terrorists” dead, the military announces. No trial.
No evidence presented. No due process. Just boats exploding on camera and
bodies labeled terrorists because the Department of Defense says so.
This is governance as content creation.
TikTok foreign policy. Snackable
clips of military strikes designed for engagement metrics while everything that
actually matters falls apart around us.
Blowing up drug-running boats in the Caribbean isn’t going to stop the flow of
drugs into America. Everyone knows this. The drugs will keep coming—they always
do, they always have. Different boats, different routes, same product reaching
the same streets. This isn’t policy designed to solve problems. This is
spectacle designed to produce feelings. The feeling that someone strong is
doing strong things. The feeling that enemies are being punished. The feeling
that something is being done even as nothing actually changes.
But it is illegal. Under United States law and international law. The rule of
law is being killed alongside these men in these boats. Admiral Alvin
Holsey—the four-star admiral overseeing these operations—resigned because the
boats weren’t showing immediate hostile intent. Colombia says we’re killing
their fishermen. Ecuador released survivors for lack of evidence. Congress
hasn’t authorized any of this. The Constitution hasn’t been consulted. Just
Hegseth ordering strikes and posting videos while the legal framework that
makes civilization possible burns alongside the boats.
So they can post it on X. So they can show you what an amazing job they’re
doing. While your prices rise. While the Epstein files document twenty thousand
pages of connections that cannot be explained away. While the artificial
intelligence market bubble exhausts its last breaths of irrational exuberance.
While American citizens are illegally detained by masked federal agents and
some have been shot. This is a show for social media.
Twenty-one strikes now. How many bodies for the algorithm? How many
“narco-terrorists” killed without trial before someone asks to see evidence?
How many boats exploding on camera before Congress remembers it’s supposed to
authorize military action? The carrier arrives tomorrow. Fifteen thousand
troops ready. And still no authorization. Still no debate. Just Trump saying
he’s “sort of made up my mind” while Hegseth produces content.
This is what authoritarian governance looks like in the age of engagement
metrics. The policy is the spectacle. The spectacle is the policy. You’re not
supposed to ask whether it works. You’re supposed to watch the boats explode
and feel like winning is happening. You’re supposed to see bodies labeled
terrorists and feel safer. You’re supposed to consume the content and move on
to the next post before you have time to ask: Where’s the evidence? Where’s the
legal authority? Where’s Congress? What is this actually accomplishing besides
producing clips for social media?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
