This article is fascinating to me
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/schall_warofideas_sept07.asp
I had fully expected my older brother to comment on the last one, and he must be just slacking off to not have had any comments whatsoever. I am hoping he will read and comment on this one as I would love to know his insights.
The premise behind this article is that this "war of ideas" is not separate from war. It is the catalyst and basis behind any war. Physical war comes out of different ideological opinions. War is the physical manifestation that occurs when intolerance of another's (another meaning an individual or a culture) beliefs. The author states that "peace" can only come if we all learn to tolerate the ideas of others.
What I take from this is the emphasis on respect for others. Respect for their religious beliefs, their social beliefs, their way of life, their ideology. Until we can fully respect the differences between individuals and cultures, we will always have war.
But we are human. Will we ever really respect the differences of others? Can any one culture NOT try and project and expand their own into others'? Can any religion not try and convert others when most religious dogmas preach that as a fundamental mission? Is it possible to achieve a world of repect and tolerance? I would like to think that humanity can achieve that, but maybe thats the glass-half-full personality talking.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
The War of Ideas - and why we are losing it
Check out this article
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2007/July/TheBattleofIdeas.htm
This article basically states that insurgents are taking events and quickly turning them around and putting out information globally to discredit the U.S. and make our troops look like the bad guys. And apparently, we in the U.S., the land of bureaucratic BS, are not responding quickly enough. We are unable to counter all of the anti-U.S. messages timely enough to make any difference in the world. We are unable to reach the moderate masses quickly enough to convince them that we are doing the right thing. Instead the "enemy" is one-upping us.
Our guys always seem to be talking about and giving testimony ABOUT the so called "War of Ideas", but I see very little action occurring from our side. We keep saying that they are getting to the issues first, but what do we do? We let the news media spread the word that the insurgents were lying about a location, or fudging other facts. But really it comes down to the first guy saying "this is how it is" and then whoever is left to yell "he's lying!".
All I can think of is two kids playing - Kid 1 hits Kid 2, so Kid 2 hits back. Kid 1 goes crying to the teacher, and when Kid 2 says, "but he hit me first", who does the teacher sympathise with? The kid who is crying!
I doubt that whomever took that video and posted it - lies or not - did not have to go through some high ranking congressional types or General-equivalents at their equivalent of the DoD or State Department. And I doubt there was a long discussion on the matter either. So while our guys are busy giving congressional testimony about how we need to take part in this ideological war, their guys are busy actually fighting the war.
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2007/July/TheBattleofIdeas.htm
This article basically states that insurgents are taking events and quickly turning them around and putting out information globally to discredit the U.S. and make our troops look like the bad guys. And apparently, we in the U.S., the land of bureaucratic BS, are not responding quickly enough. We are unable to counter all of the anti-U.S. messages timely enough to make any difference in the world. We are unable to reach the moderate masses quickly enough to convince them that we are doing the right thing. Instead the "enemy" is one-upping us.
Our guys always seem to be talking about and giving testimony ABOUT the so called "War of Ideas", but I see very little action occurring from our side. We keep saying that they are getting to the issues first, but what do we do? We let the news media spread the word that the insurgents were lying about a location, or fudging other facts. But really it comes down to the first guy saying "this is how it is" and then whoever is left to yell "he's lying!".
All I can think of is two kids playing - Kid 1 hits Kid 2, so Kid 2 hits back. Kid 1 goes crying to the teacher, and when Kid 2 says, "but he hit me first", who does the teacher sympathise with? The kid who is crying!
I doubt that whomever took that video and posted it - lies or not - did not have to go through some high ranking congressional types or General-equivalents at their equivalent of the DoD or State Department. And I doubt there was a long discussion on the matter either. So while our guys are busy giving congressional testimony about how we need to take part in this ideological war, their guys are busy actually fighting the war.
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