01/25/2026
OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE: Lower Command Archive
Sender: Undersecretary Screwy (via Fred P. Gallo)
Recipient: Junior Tempter Wormy
Subject: Strategy for Civil Discord and Algorithmic Manipulation
RE: Based on The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, where Screwtape (Senior Tempter) coaches his nephew Wormwood, a Junior Tempter
My dear Wormy,
I note with a weary sort of satisfaction your reports on the "civil unrest" across the Atlantic. You are young, so you find the smoke and the shouting delightful. But do not be deceived by the spectacle. Our goal is not merely a broken window; it is a fragmented soul.
To maintain this discord in the modern age, you must master the new tools at your disposal. I am speaking, of course, of those delightful little glowing rectangles they carry in their pockets.
THE ALGORITHMIC "SILO"
The Enemy (the "Patient’s" Creator) values a terrifying thing called Objective Truth. To counter this, we have provided them with the Algorithm. You must use it to achieve the following:
The Echo Chamber: Ensure the Patient only sees information that confirms his own vanity. If he hates a certain group, see to it that his "feed" provides him with three fresh examples of that group’s villainy before breakfast.
The Illusion of Consensus: Make him believe that "everyone" thinks like him, and therefore, those who do not are not merely wrong, but willfully insane or "evil."
The Death of Nuance: Use the platform’s character limits to ensure no complex thought can survive. Force them to speak in slogans. A slogan requires no thought, only a throat to shout it.
THE DISTORTION OF VALUES
To truly capture a soul during a time of national crisis, you must distort their sense of "Duty." Follow these three protocols:
The Universalization of the Local: Convince the Patient that every minor squabble on the internet is a cosmic battle for the soul of the nation. If he spends four hours arguing with a stranger in another time zone while his own children go ignored, we have successfully diverted his "love" into a vacuum.
The Virtue of Indignation: We want the Patient to feel that being angry is the same thing as being good. Let him mistake his rising blood pressure for a "passion for justice." As long as he is "outraged," he will feel no need to actually practice the boring, quiet virtues of patience or humility.
The Weaponization of Language: Change the meanings of words. Call "cowardice" tolerance, call "cruelty" candor, and above all, call "hatred" activism.
THE CLOSING INSTRUCTIONS
Keep them scrolling, Wormy. Keep the blue light hitting their retinas until three in the morning. A tired, agitated man is a man who cannot hear the "Quiet Voice" of the Enemy.
Do not let them look at the sky. Do not let them talk to their neighbors. And for the love of our Father Below (Satan), do not let them realize that the person they are "canceling" on the screen is a human being made of the same clay as themselves.
Your affectionate uncle,
SCREWY
