Posted on:
Saturday, October 10th 2020 at 9:45 am
Origianlly published on www.medium.com
In June of 1944 Operation Titanic had 10 soldiers of the Allied Air Service parachute over the French countryside along with 500 "ruperts." Ruperts were dummies, fabric stuffed with straw and sand tossed from the airplanes along with the soldiers. They were equipped with incendiary devices so that, upon impact, they ignited, leaving no trace that they were decoys.
It gave the illusion of an invasion far from where the actual invasion was taking place, which was Normandy. The Germans were duly deceived, diverted their resources, and this deception was decisive in making the Normandy invasion ultimately successful.
Intentional deceptions such as this have been part and parcel to warfare for centuries. These deceptions have often been the deciding factor in determining the outcome of battle.
The war against Covid-19 is no exception. Language around Covid-19 is infused with war metaphors. Time Magazine explains to us "Why the U.S. Is Losing the War on COVID-19," while the NYTimes