zenpundit.com

STRATEGIC INFLUENCE AND CULTURAL COGNITION

JB at riting on the wall directs us to the following RAND paper. Here’s a quote that should warm the heart of Collounsbury:

“From these case studies we conclude that influence campaigns are highly sensitive to operational environments. Moreover, campaigns that do not take these sensitivities into account not only fail but are counterproductive”

This does not mean that cognitive and social psychology are useless for American statesmen in crafting a positive message for the Arab-Islamic World. Instead, it means not to confuse principles and devices with also having a coherent and culturally relevant script or dialogue. It also means respecting the limits of the possible in terms of aspects of American foreign policy that is perceived by Muslims as threatening their interests.

The United States is always going to have clashes of interests with other states and societies and as a rule we should try to see that our interests prevail. That being said, nothing is gained from our emphasizing to other people the stick that we are putting in their eye. Much less our extolling of why they should embrace the stick with joy. Pointless irritant and waste of our resources and time.

Our focus in strategic influence should be any existing common ground, our most attractive political memes like ” democracy” and ” freedom” and potential non-zero sum mutual gains from cooperation plus those instances of our relatively more altruistic gestures like tsunami aid.

Full RAND paper here.

THE PILE GROWS DEEPER

No, I’m not talking about Zenpundit but of the pile of ” to be read” books which has grown from a bedside table to a shelf. Just picked up Warriors of the Prophet, Colossus and Rise of the Vulcans yesterday. I’m a great admirer of Niall Ferguson, one of the few historians capable of rendering economic history as an enjoyable story, even if I disagree with him that American primacy constitutes an ” empire”.

By the way, bloggers could do worse than to have a recommended reading list like Marc Shulman’s.

110 DEFINITIONS OF TERRORISM [ Updated]

The Counterterrorism Blog on calling terrorists, ” militants“.

That media habit is an important part of the war of ideas because we have a segment of the West, on the Left, in the position to actively shape public debate, who are intentionally framing Islamist murderers in a misleadingly positive light – as if they are leading street protests instead of beheading hostages.

We need to call those outlets in the media that do this on their intellectual dishonesty and then turn the debate to ” why” they frame the Islamists as they do.

LINK: The Fourth Rail is militant about the NYT not using the word ” terrorist” outside of the quote marks.

FIRE AND IRE AMONG THEORETICAL PHYSICISTS

Lubos Motl launches a furious counterattack against the critics of Richard Feynman who contend tha Feynman’s accomplishments are somehow less impressive because he dated a lot of women. Having know a physicist or two and having wandered through Fermilab’s control room for their particle accelerator on occasion and observed the prevalence of ” Star Trek: The Next Generation” t-shirts there, I’d say that one of their number being accused of “womanizing” is more a cause for celebration than concern.

The pollution of PC idiocy continues apace.

WHEN OLD MCDONALD’S TRADES UP TO THE NEW LUXURY

An unusual topic for me but one that had some ironic cultural resonance.

On the outskirts of wealthy St. Charles, Illinois a new McDonald’s has opened. So what ?

This McDonald’s looks more like a retro-high-tech cafe in Manhattan or a Caribou coffee designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Employees are dressed in sleek black with gold ties and bring you your order to your table along with latte’s served in designer ceramic cups. Your waiter hands you a dessert menu as you tap away on your laptop using the free wi-fi service. A 6’x 6′ flat screen, suspended, semi- transparent, TV has the latest game on as the sound system softly pipes in clubbing music to the art deco interior the has comfortable chairs. Even the cooks are dressed like chefs. Everyone spoke English and engaged in a friendly, pro-active, manner with the customers ( at this point I began to believe that I had accidentally driven through a mysterious time-dilation portal into a bizarro-world, alternate, universe).

The location is the brainchild of Chicago entrepreneur David Bear, who has embraced the marketing strategy of ” New Luxury” in order to compete with service and quality offered at places like Panera and Asiago favored by upper-middle-class suburban professionals.

Business, I noted, was extremely brisk. Instead of looking and sounding like a zoo or bus station, like most McDonald’s, the atmosphere was very pleasant and the children present, and there were many, were all well behaved and quiet.

Ray Kroc’s dream has come full circle.