Zero Day: Psychological Warfare

(Essay from the Archives)

! ~ ! ~ Spoiler Alert for ‘Zero Day’, Netflix series ~ ! ~ !

The Battle for the Mind

This essay analyzes the new Netflix series, Day Zero, under the lens of Idealism in International Relations theory. Idealism posits human nature is cooperative; people seek survival through connection, truth, and self-awareness. Fear-based tactics under corrupt power is what has twisted this natural state and suppressed our intuitive wisdom. Zero Day is a perfect, fresh example of governments maintaining their control through weaponized collective trauma—all under the guise of ‘security’. Governments and institutions have exploited our traumas, brainwashing our collective narrative to one of ‘rational self-preservation’ instead of the reality: fear-driven compliance. 

Keywords: Institutions, corruption, control, power, trauma, intuition

Psychological Warfare as a Control Strategy

In some cases psychological warfare creates fear, but the overlooked dangers of this method is the amplification of collective pre-existing trauma. This is what keeps the national population ‘safe’ and non-reactive. In history we see this most clearly in measures taken after the September 11th attack on the twin towers, the Patriot Act used this fear to justify a massive increase in surveillance. Earlier on in history we can point out McCarthyism during the Cold War which promoted paranoia. These two events are still in the collective consciousness of the nation, present as trauma waiting to be exploited in the present day. Zero Day shows us this potential through every single episode. 

Zero Day echoes the governmental security measures post-2001 as well as the Cold War polarization insanity in the masses. Realism argues that governmental management of the population through fear is necessary if that is what facilitates control. Idealists disagree, acts that play on fear are a distortion of governance and are a tendency of corrupt power. 

Clarifying Trauma and Intuition

Traumas whether personal or collective create hyper-vigilance in the persons affected, a permanent state of fight-or-flight and irrationality. Oppositely, intuition is when humans are most in tune with our awareness, grounded in simply knowing how to act correctly. Both of these aspects of the human mind are frequently confused since they are considered to operate outside of rational thought (E Sherin & B Nemeroff, 2011). 

In the series we see through ingenious cinematography and audio engineering the mental struggles of the former president, George Mullen, our main character. He experiences hallucinations, paranoia, blurry vision, and ringing in his ears. Blurry vision and ear-ringing could also be attributed to intuition, this is hinted at when Mullen responds to those signs with acts of truth and motivation; talking to the government workers and following investigative leads. So where is the line drawn between intuition and his paranoia? We never truly find out. Zero Day’s finale leaves us wondering if the cause is psychological warfare or simply an old man dealing with his skeletons in the closet. Due to this ambiguity, we also share his doubt on whether his son committed suicide or was murdered. 

We see Mullen “losing his mind”, yet his instincts consistently lead to truth—the biggest threat to authoritarian control.

Institutions, Conditioning Fear, & How to Resist

Keeping populations in an ever-lasting trauma cycle is justified in security states, governments don’t want their populations to be intuitive because reactive populations are much easier to control and manipulate. Tell fearful citizens that Russia is the enemy, they will gladly accept. However if you tell intuitive citizens the same thing, they will ask why (not ideal for the government). Part of this control is executed through extensive surveillance and the culture created around it. If we feel watched, we self-censor, which is exacerbated by misinformation, distortions of truth to make the people fear their instincts and only react to what they are being told. This is a crisis mentality, where the constant feeling of emergency leads us to believe reactive decisions are rational. 

Zero Day highlights these tactics with the haste to blame Russia and externalize the fear, avoiding national introspection. Then the weapon, Proteus, presents us with the idea that our own minds can be attacked—nowhere is safe. 

How to Resist Psychological Warfare?

How does a population resist psychological warfare from an unknown source? With the willpower of the mind, by reclaiming our Idealist, intuitive knowledge. By questioning everything we are told, and trusting how we truly feel. Instead of falling into the traps of fear, question them, their sources, their purpose in the nation. Questions along the lines of, ‘why do I feel fear watching/reading the news?’ and most important, ‘how is this fear serving the government?’. 

Embracing intuition in this way will be a risk to the current state of national security. I would currently classify intuition as only a vulnerability, it will be a risk once it is applied by the majority of the population, and it will evolve to be a threat once this intuition causes mass-questioning of the current system. Truth-seekers challenge propaganda, disrupting the narratives of control. This organically leads to resistance, but from a place of instinctual justice instead of controlled fear. 

To go along with that risk, we can see the biggest vulnerability of them all; that intuition fosters unity. Intuition connects us humans, whereas trauma isolates and fear divides. A united population, unhappy with the government, is a powerful force. When the people see that together we are stronger than the few who control us, revolution will be born. 

Zero Day’s Resolution 

The former president in his final speech encourages the masses to break away from fear, to choose truth. The letter from his daughter that he read to the public teaches us how to combat the corrupt voices; not by jailing them, but to stop listening. To stop being controlled and propelled into the seemingly infinite cycles of fear. Even in this speech, we see the president’s mental lapse of trauma/intuition before he decides to speak the ultimate truth on the investigation. 

He exposes the guilty parties with no mercy, including his own child along with other members of congress in front of him. From the Idealist perspective, this moment reaffirms the potential for good leadership even in a corrupt system that is designed to avoid truth. 

Conclusions on Zero Day and Psychological Warfare

1. Trauma is weaponized by governments because only a reactive society can be controlled. 
2. Security vulnerabilities, risks, and threats are all both external and internal. As we see the real world’s carefully crafted fear-inducing news headlines making history, it becomes clear that this battle is being fought with the consciousness of individuals. 
3. The future of security, national and international, must be based on truth and transparency.
4. A population guided by true intuition, not trauma, is a powerful force.
5. A nation led by fear will always be vulnerable. 

Idealist Afterthoughts

I recognize that Idealism cannot survive as a theory on its own in the real world. It must be balanced by science and a healthy dose of Realism if it is ever to be applied in the current systems.  

In my investigations for this paper, I came across a study by Juarez-Garcia (2025)– their work presents the ‘non-ideal theory of corruption’, which argues that corruption is not an individual failure, nor is it an exception to the system. It is a structural inevitability in flawed institutions that prioritize power over morality. This differs from classical theories of corruption, which often frame it as a deviation from the norm; non-ideal theory asserts that corruption is embedded in governance itself. 

According to their work, corruption is an imperfect solution to government failure. These findings could go with or against traditional Idealism in International Relations. Human nature isn’t the problem—it’s the institutions we created. But then, we humans created them, so I’m left at a draw. Maybe not the institutions as they were created (many were created with good intentions), but the deformations they have picked up and solidified along the way from corrupt individuals. 

If Idealism is to function in reality, it must recognize that corruption is not just a deviation from good governance but an existing, built-in feature of the current systems. Only by dismantling fear-based structures can Idealist principles evolve beyond theory and into meaningful change.

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References:

1. Zero Day (TV Mini Series 2025) ⭐ 7.0 | Drama, Thriller. (2025, 20 febrero). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23872886/
2. GovInfo. (s. f.). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-107publ56
3. McCarthyism. (2025). En Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/McCarthyism
4. Juarez-Garcia, M. I. (2025).  What philosophy can teach political economy about corruption: A non-ideal theory. Southern Economic Journal,  91(3),  969–987. https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12692
5. Idealism versus realism. (2023, 5 mayo). CFR Education From The Council On Foreign Relations. https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/idealism-versus-realism
6. E Sherin, J., & B Nemeroff, C. (2011). Post-traumatic stress disorder: the neurobiological impact of psychological trauma. National Library Of Medicine, National Center For Biotechnology Information, PubMed. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3182008/
7. Lyon, D. (2017). Surveillance Culture: Engagement, Exposure, and Ethics in Digital Modernity. En International Journal Of Communication (N.o 11, 824-842). https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/5527/1933