Semiotics of Camouflage - An essay on Skóggángr philosophy

The term skóggángr refers to being in the forest for exile. It has an affinity to spirituality, survival and martial arts, and I have established it to sum up an activity that´s not new, but has never been combined that way in a consequent manner.

The primary idea is that while the term "skóggángr" in the times of early Scandinavian medieval age and the so - called "Viking age" referred to the process of being banned from the community of man (which often equalled a death sentence), its modern use is somewhat different. It has to do something with keeping one´s psychological, mental and physical health, if not with bugging out and surviving.

According to my observations, many people in modern society suffer from more or less grave psychological problems. Most people in leading positions are arguably in very poor psychological condition, if not mentally ill. A big part of the population is living a life depending on the authority of phone and internet providers, product identities and fashions and are very much ruled  by antidemocratic forces. In Germany, clinical studies some years ago have depicted that every third person in modern German society suffers from burn-out depression or a similar mental disease. Personally, I´d rather say that every person in Germany does at one point or the other.

Skóggángr is a term for my very own, personal escape. It does in no way claim to be "the next big thing", and I want to beg of my readers to take it all "cum grano salis". It´s just a way of living - and fighting, or better yet, avoiding a fight, if  you so will. To me, it offers a strategy to survive a life that is not exactly easy and have fun with it.

It might be escapism or an escape strategy, and the difference in terminology does not matter at all here. As a "martial art", if it can be called that way, it is aimed at being primarily defensive, and secondarily aggressive. This means that escape is the first priority, and attack is prioritized secondary. If an attack is necessary, it should be done with control and precision and utter commitment to make sure the aggressor will not come back again. To achieve that, any defensive movement has to be linked to an attack.

To achieve defensive and aggressive efficiency, camouflage techniques play an important role. I am no master in that, I am a student myself, but as a student I want to start by laying my foundation. To properly evade a sick world, you also need a spiritual camouflage, by the way.

The key to successful camouflage is crypsis. To define what is done in crypsis, we have to define first what the situation is.

Human beings can process roundabout:

visual 10.000.000 Bit
skin/haptic 1.000.000 Bit
acoustic 100.000 Bit
olfactory 10.000 Bit
taste 1.000 Bit

This might sound quite impressive, but these are theoretical numbers. It is relatively safe to say that only 10 % of this amount of information are actually consciously processed. According to Hogrebe (1995: Metaphysik und Mantik) the procession is established via a telic process and an act of semantics. Semantics in this case refers to the process of creating references between sign and meaning i.e. semantic interpretation (see also Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce) in a psychological and physiological coherence. The telic process in itself is not logical, but fractally organized. What we can relatively safely assume is that every object or subject emits a lot of information. Some of this information is not received by humans in the first place due to biological limitations, most of it is dismissed and cached as subsemantic, and 10 % of the signalled, perceived and processed information is subjects to the process of semantic interpretation.

As individual sneaking through the forest you emit a lot of signs, you cannot help it in any way. Crypsis now has several ways to obscure these signals.

1.visual (optical) and acoustic camouflage such as mimickry
2.nocturnality
3.semiotic camouflage

1 refers to the commonly used camouflage techniques known from the military forces, which are inspired by nature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_camouflage_methods. Signals are obscured by obscuring outlines, countershading, blending into surface signals, and other means of overlapping and contradicting information (see 3). The "grey man concept" is a good example of blending into a crowd and serves a good job in illustrating the principle. What you want to do is avoid creating an optical or semantic stimulus. In order to do that you blend into the environment, obscure your outline, avoid contrasts and send contradictory signals. Movement is dynamic and creates contrasts and rhythms that are perceivable way better than a static perception, so the resulting contrast has to be minimized as much as possible by smooth and slow movements that mimick natural movements such as branches moved by the wind or an animal moving through the underbrush.

2 refers not necessarily to a nocturnal lifestyle, but to make use of naturally diffuse lighting situations to obscure position or movement, a challenge with camouflage in general. Low light situations easily coincide with other camouflage techniques.

3 semiotic camouflage refers to a technique of manipulating signs emitted from an object to give the impression / interpretation of
a) irrelevance, and thusly hypnagogic / subsemantic reference
b) being non - existent
c) being a different object

While b and c are obvious, a has some implications to the philosophy of skóggángr, for while camouflage in this context is aimed to be mainly defensive, hypnagogic reference has more implications than that.

If we assume a discrepancy between sign and meaning, and assume the setting of signs as a semantic, telic and psychocreative process, that leaves us with a whole world of subsemantic processes  happening all the while. The so called process of "hypnagogic vision" (Hogrebe, 1995) is a technique to gain access to the subsemantic aspects of perception and also offers access to subconscious processes. Subsemantic perception, however, is just a dynamic part of the subconscious, but not disconnected from the rest. In that manner, if we see something that "strikes a note" but "cannot put the finger on it", it is relatively safe to say that we are faced with a subsemantic, subconscious process that has a whole lot of implications. In Crypsis, we want to appear irrelevant, so, spoken in a defensive sense of the technique, we want to appear irrelevant. The "gray man concept" makes use of this, and in woodland camouflage we want to
-move stealthily
-avoid sound
-use woodland colours, i.e. "Ghillie suit"
-appear "sanitized" in a woodland sense of the word, meaning creating no stimulus for animals or human aggressors
-not "mimick a bush, be a bush"

In Skóggángr I want to turn defence into an attack. This can be done in this context by sending paradox stimuli to the aggressor. There are toads using bright, vivid colours to imply that they are poisonous. In a similar manner you can try to look unattractive or stick to an environment no one in their right mind would voluntarily walk into: Swamp, rockslide etc. Looking "poisonous" in this context has to be handled a bit careful, for human aggressors will not stay away from you if you wear neon ;-).

I am practicing for something different that at the first glance sounds a bit weird. There is a connection between the subconscious and the subsemantic, which is a psychological commonplace. There is also a connection between concept (idea) and reality, or better yet, idea and physis / phenomenon. The idea is linked to the subconscious, which makes techniques like hypnagogic vision and reference possible in the first place. The subconscious is partly universal, when human beings are concerned. It takes root in the body and can have an effect on the body. This means, there are psychological implications made by subsemantic processes not prone to semantic perception, and these implications can have an effect on the body. Vision is a physiological property. This means, if you send psychologically relevant signals in a subsemantic manner, you can have a direct effect not only on the psyche but also on the body. Hypnagogia commonly refers to the state of "drowsiness" before sleep, but is used also to describe the state of mind in meditation and hypnosis. The laid Dr. Karl Pribram (2007)( http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Holonomic_brain_theory) with his holonomic brain (perception) theory not only showed some heavy evidence of the  nonexistence of time and space in neuronal networking and in my understanding, the universally connected linking of the network, but also (in: Brain and Perception, Addenda) experimental evidence of the possibility of creating alpha brainwaves voluntarily. This is not a one-way street in that this "drowsyness" can be used in camouflage and mental attack techniques on the opponents psyche by using subsemantic key signals. To put it simple, you emit key signals that dazzle the opponent. In its simplest form it means confusing the aggressor, in a more sophisticated form inducing hypnagogia by using key signals, and, possibly attacking his own subconscious psyche via hypnagogia. You move from reality to idea and from idea to different reality, to put it down in a bit of an abbreviated manner.

This does not necessarily mean some metaphysical concept of magic, but, as Sun Tsi put it "knowing your enemy". To achieve this you have to keep a psychological journal of his behaviour and identify key signals. Those have to be combined in the common techniques of (sensible) hypnotism. To be quite plaintive, digital camouflage works along the same lines, but with physical properties.

I will talk about the more aggressive aspects of this theory in a future post and also give you some examples and insight into my hypnagogic training.

It´s here

 

So, we all have talked about it in the bushcraft and survival community. We have marvelled about the ins and outs of catastrophe with a sick and morbid fascination. I had not exactly a part in it, because I always knew it would be shit.

It´s here. The end of the world as we know it. The end of freedom, the end of communication.

Terrorism is bad enough in itself, but the reactions of our respective governments will be but a tiny bit less bad. We will be faced with severe restrictions, we will be faced with death every day. One could either get depression or laugh one´s head off for the stupidity of mankind.

I refuse to give up. War is here, but I will survive as long as I can.

For my  readers: Here are some links for some sensible preparations (English versions available via the mainpage)

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Pers_Notfallvorsorge.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Pers_Notfallvorsorge.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Lebensmittel/lebensmittel.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Hygiene/hygiene.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Hausapotheke/hausapotheke.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Stromausfalll/Stromausfall.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Dokumentensicherung/Dokumentensicherung.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Notgepaeck/notgepaeck.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Radio/Radio.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Baul-Sicherheit/Baul-Sich.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/Verhalten_bei_besonderen_Gefahrenlagen/verhaltenbeibesonderenGefahrenlagen.html

I want to add up to this with my very own random thoughts on preparing for SHTF, with no claim of perfection whatsoever. Just ideas to inspire your own way of dealing with it:

If disaster strikes home, get out of urban areas. Prepare bug-out sites, but, most importantly, build your own countryside networks. No farmer will be enthused if you get out to him when disaster has struck. In fact, many inhabitants of the countryside will kill you or at least treat you with hostile force.

If you get to know them first and offer your help, skill and firepower in an emergency and work together with them, they will take you. Remember nothing´s free. I am a blacksmith with a smithy that can operate without electricity, and have a load of tools that could be of a valuable service. I have several skills to offer and so I was able to generate several networks where they would take me and some other individuals.

If at all possible, build up neighbourhood assistance networks. Talk it through and dispatch responsibilities in case of an emergency.

Any Southerner of Arabian, Albanian, Syrian, Afghan, Pakistani, Turkish, Kurdish, Jordanian and similar provenience (any Islamic country), is a potential deadly enemy and should be treated as a potential lethal threat. Treat them with a respectful cautiousness. But don´t go arse over tit by getting lost in hate fantasies. Learn as much as you can about Muslim culture. Use your brain and common sense.

Don´t visit festivals, concerts, sports events or political demonstrations. If you get into a political demonstration by accident, address a police officer and ask him to show you a way around it.

Don´t visit urban areas after 10 pm. The woods are far safer. If possible, walk detours.

Don´t visit pubs or restaurants known for big events and a lot of customer traffic, if you can´t find it in you to leave it be altogether.

Don´t use trains or buses. Walk or ride a bicycle, if you have no car.

As long as it possible, visit a doctor to get yourself in the best possible state of body health before everything goes foul. Get your teeth done, for instance, before doctors can´t help you anymore and you need to visit the blacksmith. Less teeth mean less energy, because it can become hard to process the food available.

Become the gray man.

Train in a martial art, but also go for a run or ride at least three days a week. Train your endurance, but also your sprinting prowess. Every family member should do so.

Train walking barefoot. In case you lose your shoes, this will make you easy prey for any pursuer if you have not trained your feet.

Gather up provisions, resources and victualies. Gather non-electric tools. Learn how to use them. Learn homesteading techniques and start a garden, if possible. Even in a flat you can grow some herbs and vegetables. Keep your house apothecary well stocked. Include a tactical first aid kit and bandaging material also for bullet, arrow and cold steel weapon injuries. Prepare comfrey balm and keep medicinal alcohol ready for disinfection. And, most importantly, and even more important than just piling up stuff, revisit your first-aid skills. Get a refreshment course if necessary.

Minimize your trash. Get a heavy lid for your toilet with a heavy weight standing besides to keep rats out. Seal any holes in your walls  to keep critters at bay. Get killing rat and mousetraps and pesticides. Chance is, you will have to fight pest and critter animals more than actual terrorists when waste disposal comes to an end.

Get weapons legal to access. This means crossbows, slingshots, slings, bows, machetes, swords and muzzle-loaders in Germany (the latter require a "small" weapon license and a permit to handle explosives). Best use weapons with a tool character. For instance, a hoe´s handle will make a formidable and deadly pole weapon, as does a machete and an axe. Rid yourself of scruples and try to develop a killing attitude. This is crucial, because you can heap up as many weapons as you like if you are not capable of doing it. A skilled and determined fighter can use anything as a weapon, from PET bottles (even empty ones) to apples to kill, but if you lack the attitude, even automatic weapons will not do you any good. It is all in your head. Just remember a terrorist WILL kill you if you can´t get away, and if you can´t, you have to be faster. To be faster than a trained fighter (and they are) requires constant training.
Best run away, of course. But IF you are faced with a situation that requires killing, you have to keep in mind that it is you or them. I am not saying, however, that you should get yourself into trouble, and I cannot emphasize this enough. Just remember that IF the situation arises, there is no time for thinking.

Build your home with retreat in mind. Fortify the rooms up to a last respite, where you stock most of your weapons. Keep food and drink provisions in every room that can be defended, and a camping toilet in the last respite. Get a reinforced main door. If there are local restrictions on the layout of front doors, build it in behind the front door. Ideally, reinforce the whole entrance area with steel beams and concrete so that it can´t be levered out, even with hydraulic devices. Reinforce the respite room with a steel door and reinforce the entire wall with steel and concrete. Build steel-reinforced hardwood shutters for any windows and screw them in with tempered square-headed mushroom bolt screws if the need arises. Keep lighting at hand and enough batteries plus a dynamo-powered handlamp. Keep your communication devices and a shortwave receiver in your respite room.

If you are faced with an attack, NEVER play the hero. Get out of the way if at all possible. But also remember that any radical Muslim, Christian, Nazi or other terrorist will not trade you in for money and cannot be convinced to spare you. They WILL kill you. Get out of the way or kill them. When automatic weapons are involved, seek shelter behind something massive (concrete, bricks, stone, sandbags). A car door will not do. Keep silent, and keep a low profile. You can train on a softair site, but remember: Best stay way clear of any place where it could happen. Automatic weapons are extremely lethal, as are explosions. Best get out of areas with a high risk expectation.
All of these are just suggestions, of course, and you have to use your own brain for prepping. I will, for instance not waste my time with fortifying my flat, because I live very close to a potential target of terrorism, but put my energy into bugging out.

Get familiar with camouflage techniques in the environment you will be faced with. The "Reibert" handbook for soldiers in the German army gives some first insights on that. You can find essays about camouflage all over the place. In my opinion

-you have to know the environment
-you have to adapt to and blend into it as much as possible
-obscure your silhouette (with twigs, leaves, branches)
-offer digital overinformation (the principle of digital camouflage, i.e. offering too much information with an obscure background for human perception)
-avoid any contrasts (use paint  etc.)
-develop a mindset "don´t mimic a bush, be a bush"
-make or buy a Ghillie suit
-transfer the "Gray Man" concept onto your area of camouflage, meaning, if you are in a forest environment, observe it closely and blend into it. Make it a habit of moving in stealth - at all times.

These are also principles I will refer to in another post on Skóggángr. I hope to take up training soon, but I first have to get a training facility. Might be it can be at the ironforge.

(picture source: www.galdrasyning.is)

All in all I regret that it has come thus far. It could still be reversed, if only common sense would prevail. But we all know it will not.

I want to say that I still respect Muslims and Christians and I am meaning no offence, but the monotheistic religions are prone to a terroristic mindset. This war has been started in the early medieval ages when Bernhard de Clairvaux (and other Christian fanatics) instituted the "Holy War" with the crusades. Then Hasan bin-Sabah established the order of the Assassins, and modern IS fighters still work along the same lines. Both were a shitty excuse for a priest and should rather not have been alive. But they were.

The deity had no part in this as far as their legitimation went. It was entirely an all-too-human affair. And it is not the whip of God or Allah we are faced with, but the effects of our own ignorance, blindness and plain stupidity. And our failure to accept that we are living on a ball of rock moving through light years of void, so we´d better get along with each other. That is not to say there is no deity, and to assume so would be plain illogical, but we simply should stop our sandbox games to wake up to the real world.

Personally I am sick of hierarchic religion with people in charge who do not deserve so. They are playing at collateral damage in a sandbox made out of the world. They could not wait for hell after life, so they keep making a hell on earth. I am tired, and If I have to die, I believe will give up this life not eagerly, but calmly. But I refuse to give them the right to dominate my thoughts and feelings.

Take care and stay alive! Keep loving your loved ones and do not forget that life is not always running, hiding and fighting, but that there are still sunbeams floating through the flittering leaves. This will fuck them best. And surviving this war means more than just staying alive, but overcoming the trauma we will inevitably be faced with. For it is this trauma and the resulting fear, hate and anxiety Evil feeds on.


(Picture source: www.hedendom.com)