Winning Hearts and Minds in the Information Age
In a world where communications are instantly global and cheap, reaching more and more people, we have reached a point in our short history on this planet where we can communicate with more individual people than ever before. We have radio, television, the internet, e-mail, Skype, Twitter and yes, cheaper than ever before telephone.
It is with this backdrop that I wonder about the most amazing paradox of our times, and perhaps one of the greatest failings of the recent four administrations in Washington: while information is more readily available than ever, we have, as a nation, singularly failed to reach and win the hearts and minds of most of the world’s people. And when you preach Democracy and freedom, this is cardinal sin.
Let’s start with the Middle East. For a while, we championed Democracy as a solution to the ills of the region. We held up Israel, rightfully, as a shining beacon of what a democratic state can achieve in that part of the world. When Hamas won the elections in the Palestinian Territories we suddenly changed our tune. Suddenly, democracy is no good if people we don’t like win elections. No real effort went into trying to turn a democratic defeat into a cornerstone of democratic freedom. We decided instead to simply walk away. Of course, if we had been actively engaging the Palestinian people, Hamas may not have won in the first place. Between this and the invasion of Iraq – another informational disaster - our reputation there is in tatters. To be realistic, it will be for the foreseeable future.
Closer to home, we have consistently ignored Latin America. We are angry at Mexico; we blockade Cuba and snub our allies, including one of the world’s largest economies, Brazil, by sending junior officials to the inaugurations of democratically elected presidents of our closest friends. President Chavez of Venezuela, one of the most dangerous leaders in Latin America is ignored and ridiculed, instead of engaged and challenged. More importantly, we haven’t engaged the people of Latin America, much less their leaders.
We urgently need a charm offensive. I am not talking about an apology tour or a mea culpa. Quite the opposite: we need to show people around the world that we are people like them and are as unapologetically flawed as they are. We have hopes and aspirations, dreams and visions. We want to live in peace, although not at any price.
Isn’t it strange, that in an era where communications are so easy, and our belief in Democracy so strong, that we have failed to engage and communicate with people who elect their own governments? We are able to invade far off lands and send rockets to outer space, yet we cannot, it seems, sell our ideas of peace and prosperity through democracy, freedom or even improve our relations with our neighbors. We are a 21st century nation, trying to relate with others as we did when Taft was in the White House. It no longer works.
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