Ninjas Are Butterflies – Episode 182

Psyops, Propaganda Weapons & Unrestricted Warfare w/ Jesse Carey
Date: Feb 20, 2026

Main Theme Overview

This episode dives into the world of psychological operations (psyops), government propaganda, secret weapons, and unrestricted warfare, featuring guest Jesse Carey (noted podcaster, documentarian, and comedy guest). The hosts—Josh Hooper, Andy DeNoon, and Sean—combine their trademark comedy with thought-provoking commentary on everything from UFOs and secret defense projects to the manipulation of public perception, both domestically and internationally. The show provides an accessible, entertaining, and sometimes skeptical account of how societies are influenced and sometimes deceived by powerful actors—governments, militaries, social media companies, and even troll farms.

Episode Breakdown

1. Jesse Carey's Background & UFO Storytelling

• Jesse’s Work on "Black Project":

  • Editing at Relevant magazine, previous involvement in UFO documentaries (notably with Andy from SEAL Team Six and credible figures like Stanford neuroscientist Gary Nolan).
  • Importance of only interviewing credible experts to avoid "crazy" rabbit holes that compromise legitimacy.
  • “[Nick Cook]…kind of anchored it so well. I think the British accent helps too, like, credibility.”—Jesse (05:00)

• Credible UFO Witnesses & Black Projects

  • Jesse details how Gary Nolan (Stanford neuroscientist) was involved in studying mysterious brain injuries from DoD personnel, possibly linked to recovered "exotic materials” (02:07).
  • Nick Cook’s hunt for “zero point”—theorizing advanced Nazi technology possibly developed and acquired by the U.S. post-WWII, influencing modern UFO lore and tech advancement (06:00).

Key Quote

“But when you dig into the history of it, it's really interesting. But it also kind of, I think, grounds it a little in the idea that...let's start with maybe this is conventional, highly exotic technology, but it doesn't originate from another planet.”—Jesse (14:59)

2. Operation Paperclip, Robertson Panel, and Government Misinformation

• Operation Paperclip & Postwar Tech:

  • Nazis like Wernher von Braun brought to the U.S., forming the backbone of modern rocketry (07:24).
  • Possible shift in UFO reports correlating with the arrival of Nazi scientists—suggestion: UFOs as secret tech, not aliens (08:07–08:15).

• Roberson Panel & Managing Public Perception:

  • 1952 UFO overflights (White House, military installations); massive public press conference.
  • The key outcome: The main threat is public hysteria, not aliens themselves.
  • “And so the outcome of the Robertson panel was like, whatever these are, we should keep an eye on, but we can't let this get out of control or everyone's gonna freak out.”—Jesse (10:00)

• First USAF UFO Casualties:

  • Strange chain of events: B-25 crash after picking up recovered UFO “material.”
  • Early seeds for government secrecy and disinformation efforts (13:30–14:53).

3. Psyops, Misinformation, and the Birth of the UFO & Abduction Craze

• Paul Bennewitz Story—Military Gaslighting

  • Electronics engineer spots secret aircraft; Air Force actively deceives him, fostering UFO/alien-abduction beliefs.
  • “They had constructed a fake crash retrieval area…this went on for years. They—to the point where he believed an alien invasion was imminent.”—Jesse (18:55)

• Insert of Government-Created UFO Lore:

  • Deliberate planting of extreme ideas—aliens, religious figures as alien plants—into the community, creating modern UFO/alien-abduction religious lore (20:00–21:01).

Notable Quote

“You can trace a lot of, you know, the UFO lore of today...to this. Some of those ideas were planted...with the intention to deceive.”—Jesse (20:42)

4. Unrestricted Warfare & Modern Cognitive Attack Vectors (31:07+)

• Explanation of "Unrestricted Warfare" (Chinese Military Doctrine)
  • Core principles: Erode trust in institutions, sow confusion about reality, tribalize the population, inspire unrest—all as long-term methods to weaken adversaries from within (31:31).
  • TikTok highlighted as an active vector: Chinese version promotes STEM, while Western version pushes self-harm, irrelevant content, and lacks regulation for children (35:28).

Comic Interlude—Musical Psyop Parody

- Hosts perform satirical song about trust, psyops, and government manipulation (22:11–23:52).

• Social Media & Psychological Operations
  • Francis Haugen (Facebook whistleblower): Russian troll farms (Internet Research Agency) orchestrating divisive content, even influencing deadly outcomes in Ethiopia (37:49–42:32).

Memorable Quote

“But really, the crux of [unrestricted warfare] is...if you can't beat them externally through conventional means, you have to launch a plan to defeat them from within. And how you do that is...erode trust in basic social institutions...”—Jesse (31:31)

5. Propaganda, Confusion, & "The Zone"

• Surkov & Disinformation as System
  • The “Zone” concept (inspired by Russian sci-fi "Stalker")—deliberately funding all sides to make reality ambiguous and control the narrative through confusion (47:01–50:07).

Notable Moment

“Old school Soviet propaganda is like the Shepard Fairey Obey posters…The Surkov method was: we just don’t want you to know what is real and what is not.”—Jesse (50:07)

6. American Psyops, MK-Ultra, and Weaponized Misdirection

• U.S. Uses Same Tactics on Its Own

  • Examples of CIA and military misleading witnesses (drugs, fake crash sites, Disney Imagineers allegedly enlisted to design alien encounters for disinformation—53:33–54:25).

• Sun Tzu & "Deceive the Sky to Cross the Ocean"

  • The motif: In Chinese strategic culture, deception is seen as the ultimate weapon—Three-Body Problem cited as modern narrative analogy (55:04).

7. Occult, NASA, & Symbolic Misdirection

• Nazi Scientists, Jack Parsons & NASA

  • Deep dive into the strange overlap between occultists and architects of American rocketry/NASA (Jack Parsons, Aleister Crowley, L. Ron Hubbard)—the mystery of why occult symbolism and figures feature heavily in early American aerospace history (57:01–59:39).

• Conventional vs. Fringe Theories

  • Jesse breaks down the value (and danger) of entertaining both sides—sometimes, it is beneficial for government agencies to intentionally appear to harbor secrets, cultivating mystique as a deliberate psyop (59:39–60:21).

8. Cognitive Warfare & Directed Energy Weapons (69:12+)

• Psychological vs. Cognitive Warfare
  • Psyops (what people think) vs. cognitive warfare (how people think).
  • Tools: targeted frequencies, direct energy weapons, crowd control via "confusion fields," brain-altering sound/beams (71:09–78:26).

Standout Segment

“There are cognitive warfare weapons... Imagine you're an infantry... storming an area... and this weapon is deployed and it creates a confusion field. And you walk into it and you're totally like disoriented...”—Jesse (77:26)

• Modern Example:

  • Venezuela, 2023: U.S. special forces allegedly used “discombobulators” creating confusion, disorientation in enemy soldiers (76:51–78:26).

• LRADs, Bone-Conduction Voice Transmission, Project Bluebeam:

  • Demonstrations of "voice-of-God" weapons—projecting voices into heads, simulated telepathy, showing that military ability to induce "paranormal" experiences is no longer just fantasy (83:45–84:44).

9. Healthy Skepticism, Discernment, and Avoiding Rabbit Holes

• Flooding the Zone with Disinformation

  • The explicit goal isn’t just to keep secrets, but to overwhelm the truth with so much noise that people cannot distinguish real from fake (86:42).

• Practical Wisdom for Listeners:

  • Discernment is key—being aware of manipulation reduces susceptibility (“The quenching of the Holy Spirit… just let me guide you. And if you don't, it’s going to become more and more numb to you.”—Sean, 91:44).
  • Importance of restricting exposure to endless, negativity-driven social media and remembering the reality of normal, peaceful social interaction beyond the digital sphere (94:04).

10. The Tartaria Conspiracy: Roots, Refutation, and Weaponized History

• What is Tartaria?
  • The idea: a global, highly advanced empire erased from recent history by “mud floods” and plotters.
  • Jesse traces this theory to:
    • Stalin’s erasure of the religious minority “Tartar” region from Russian maps/history
    • The influence of Russian mathematician Fomenko, who theorized all world history is Russian, and that centuries were fabricated (95:17–100:00)
  • Tartarian theory shown as fertile ground for psychological operations—true elements twisted into narratives for divisive or even geopolitical use.

Quote

“But you could see how some, something like that could be used for geopolitical purposes if people are conditioned to believe something.”—Jesse (99:40)

11. Final Thoughts: Christ, Discernment, & Enjoying the Mystery

• Spiritual and Moral Perspective:
  • Jesus’ refusal to take sides in earthly power games; Christian discernment and the practice of stillness amid chaos (93:52–94:04, 101:15).
  • Importance of maintaining hope and not descending into nihilism or paranoia—a call to “be in the world but not of it,” and keep seeking truth, not just more intriguing rabbit holes.
  • Encouragement to enjoy the fun side of mysteries (like Bigfoot!) but not lose touch with larger, hopeful narrative.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “It's really interesting…let's start with maybe this is conventional, highly exotic technology, but it doesn't originate from another planet.”—Jesse (14:59)
• “The outcome of the Robertson panel was...we can't let this [UFO stuff] get out of control or everyone's gonna freak out.”—Jesse (10:00)
• “They assigned a guy to basically gaslight [Paul Bennewitz] for years...He believed an alien invasion was imminent.”—Jesse (18:55)
• “Unrestricted warfare...how you do that is you first, you erode trust in basic social institutions...then you want to make people confused about what is real and what is not.”—Jesse (31:31)
• “[With TikTok] In China…their algorithm is completely different. In the West, we get all the self-harm, trash videos; they get science and engineering.”—Host 1 (35:28)
• “The main troll farm was called the Internet Research Agency. Sounds really nice…”—Jesse (38:05)
• "Old school Soviet propaganda is like the Shepard Fairey Obey posters…the Surkov method was: we just don’t want you to know what is real and what is not."—Jesse (50:07)
• “Cognitive warfare is not just about what you think; it’s about how you think. That’s where it gets creepy.”—Jesse (71:12)
• “Imagine you're storming an area…and this weapon is deployed and it creates a confusion field. And you walk into it and you're totally like disoriented. Those types of weapons exist.”—Jesse (77:26)
• “You might have to let secrets out…with a bunch of disinformation. Flood the radar.”—Jesse (86:38)
• “Just know that [psyops] exist so you don’t fall for it…being aware makes you stronger.”—Sean (90:29)
• “The winners get to write history, for sure. But going as far as saying there was this whole advanced civilization? That’s a leap.”—Host 1 (100:26)

Important Timed Segments

• 02:07 — Gary Nolan, Stanford neuroscientist, and Men in Black-level military encounters.
• 06:29–08:15 — Nazi Bell, Operation Paperclip, and implications for modern UFO waves.
• 13:08–14:53 — Kenneth Arnold and the government cover-up cycle.
• 18:21–21:01 — Paul Bennewitz, intelligence deception, and folklore creation.
• 31:07–35:28 — "Unrestricted Warfare" and the modern role of social media.
• 37:49–44:00 — Russian troll farms, Facebook, and real-world consequences.
• 47:01–50:07 — Russian propaganda, confusion, and "the Zone."
• 69:12–85:21 — Psyops vs. Cognitive Warfare; Directed Energy Weapons, real-world Pentagon projects, and Project Bluebeam.
• 94:04–100:00 — Social trust, media, and healthy practice for mental health.
• 95:17–100:00 — Tartaria conspiracy thoroughly debunked and contextualized.

Tone & Language

The tone vacillates between lighthearted, irreverent banter and sincere, informative discussion. Jesse Carey is articulate, measured, and keenly aware of the real dangers of disinformation, but delivers his points with an easy conversational style, perfect for a comedy podcast that nonetheless wants to seriously inform its listeners.

Humor is constant ("Is it all a psyop, or did I just poop my pants?"), but never undermines the episode's depth. The hosts apply self-aware skepticism, sometimes parodying conspiracy logic to make a point—always inviting listeners to enjoy the journey without becoming paranoid.

Summary for the Uninitiated

If you haven't listened:
This episode gives a whirlwind tour through the history and practices of psychological operations, ranging from Cold War-era UFO psyops to modern social media disinformation campaigns. You’ll learn how governments, militaries, and even commercial interests deliberately manipulate the public—and how both paranoia and healthy skepticism are natural responses. Jesse Carey blends deep research with humor, debunking certain rabbit holes (like Tartaria) while affirming the weird, wild, and dangerous world of cognitive warfare and psychotronic weapons. The episode closes with practical advice: stay discerning, keep a sense of humor, and above all, don’t let the noise drown out real life—or the quiet voice of discernment.

Listen for:

• Entertaining true stories from UFO history
• Illuminating breakdowns of modern psyops and cognitive warfare
• Parodic songs and jokes about paranoia
• Accessible social and spiritual insights for digital natives