Today I noticed a story about a report by the Defense Science Board, a Pentagon advisory committee, which was released to the public just before Thanksgiving. I saw the story at the time, but its import didn't sink in for me until today. The report is extremely critical of the Bush administration's theoretical and practical framework for the "war on terror", and goes so far as to state
Muslims do not "hate our freedoms", but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favour of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing support, for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states.
The report takes a classically American direction in its recommendations, however. Forget a change of policy or tactics: what we really need, it argues, is better public relations: "The U.S. must adopt the strategies and tactics of the insurgent, not the incumbent: waging a proactive, bold and effective U.S. strategic communications effort."
It's as if the DSB panelists had been up late at night reading old Baffler articles and decided there's really something to that hipster guerilla marketing technique after all. The report goes on at length about how U.S. propaganda can be improved by adopting private-sector marketing techniques. By casting the government's propaganda system in the mode of "insurgent" media, the report's recommendations point toward a total commodification of opposition, one in which voices familiar to the Muslim world are used to bolster the popularity of the "U.S. brand".
At last, our government gets the idea that the cooptation of hip is the way to spread consumer capitalism to the most resistant sectors. And with that, rebel consumerism wins the day -- even in enclaves where you'd be surprised to find it, like the Pentagon.
Posted by Chris at December 6, 2004 10:40 AM