posted on October 17, 2001 04:31:13 PM new
Ultimately we may have to simply accept that most non-900 pound gorillas are not going to like the only 900 pound gorilla around and then make the price of attacking us so high that it won't happen anymore.
No one dared molest a Roman citizen. Pax Americana. I'd rather not be dead, if my choice is "dead and hated" or "alive and hated".
posted on October 17, 2001 04:37:04 PM new
You say 900-lb gorilla and I can't help but picture Dino DeLaurentis's 1977 remake of King Kong, in which Kong climbed one of the World Trade Center towers.
posted on October 17, 2001 04:47:47 PM new
When a person's born in a country that teaches hatred, no matter what crime they've committed, they will consider it a victory. Showing pictures of the World Trade collisions probably make them cheer. To try and understand these people's motive, you have to find out what it is they're so mad at us about (besides Israel). Nobody's been able to pin-point it yet, so it makes it all the more difficult to figure out. It's all so foreign to me but I'm really trying to understand it all too.
posted on October 17, 2001 04:59:25 PM new
I disagree. We've made it easy for them to see themselves as victims because we've abandoned our own just claim to it. Maybe the impulse has always been there, but we've exacerbated and empowered it by letting the world forget.
posted on October 17, 2001 06:16:00 PM new
It's not only a matter of our propoganda not being as good as theirs, Spazmodeus.
The thing about effective propoganda is that it builds on a position we're already leaning towards because of our past experiences and our existing knowledge doesn't discount it. It reinforces what's already there so that it becomes unassailable. Additionally, the best propoganda contains some form of truth.
Could the greatest propoganda campaign in the world convince you that no Jews were killed in the WTC that day and that 4,000 Jews stayed home? First, you'd view that claim skeptically. Second, you know there were Jews killed in the WTC.
But this has been spread around the Arab world; it's taken as true and repeated over and over. It's reinforcing a pre-existing bent, they haven't seen the news reports about individual victims like we have, and the 4,000 number has a basis in fact.
The best Madison avenue-type ad campaign that America hasn't really had any part in what fosters your discontent isn't going to be effective if you've already seen enough to make you conclude otherwise. The best propoganda campaign isn't going to be effective in convincing you that we're not doing now the same sorts of things that you've seen us do before.
posted on October 18, 2001 06:49:59 AM new
Well, stepping up the propaganda war may help things, at least in the short term, but I was thinking more about long term solutions to be honest....
Barry
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The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
posted on October 18, 2001 07:19:35 AM new"We've made it easy for them to see themselves as victims because we've abandoned our own just claim to it. Maybe the impulse has always been there, but we've exacerbated and empowered it by letting the world forget".
I don't think that the world cares much. About half of them think we deserve whatever bad comes, and a fair percentage of the rest are only satisfied that it didn't happen to them.
Think about what level of outrage there might be in this country if the exact equivelant attack took place in any other country of the world. We'd all say "How awful, something should be done" and then go on with our lives as before.
