U.S. Navy Torpedoes YouTube

YouTube is on the U.S. Navy's radar. On Monday, the U.S. Armed Forces division uploaded the latest of several viral videos it has posted to YouTube in the past month. Called "Defending Freedom in the 21st Century," the Navy's latest propaganda clip is breaking out: It is the third most watched movie this week, well ahead of LonelyGirl15 and the latest Britney Spears and Donald Trump gossip vids.

"Defending Freedom" is your garden-variety recruitment-style clip, complete with an inspiring jingoistic soundtrack and a masculine voice-over recounting the "high-stakes missions" of U.S. Navy Seals--"warrior-diplomats" of "the war on terror."

On the military-related blog D-Ring--"where the military and new media collide"–-blogger Steve Field asks the Navy "how they want to be viewed in the online video world of YouTube? Like this?" Or like this?" -- pointing to two negative examples of Navy PR. "The bottom line is, if you aren’t defining yourself," he writes, "then others are defining you." Seems the Navy has taken up Field's suggestion.

It's not the first time the U.S. government has tried to harness the power of YouTube. In September, the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy used YouTube to distribute anti-drug videos in its war on drugs.

But nothing is so simple in the YouTube propaganda war. While "Defending Freedom" is one of the most popular videos on the site, it's also one of the most debated: As of Wednesday, it was the #7 most discussed and #1 most linked video, with over 1,600 comments, including raging debates about terrorism, the U.S., Europe and the war in Iraq. And few people are buying the advertising ploy, many seeing for what it is. As Colin Robinson, a 19-year-old French vlogger, writes, "I am so sad this is on YouTube."