Dan Feidt's log on Minnesota, Information Operations, spinstorms and latent contradictions.
By The illustrious Nick Petersen
Hello, all (and by all I mean.... how many people read this site?) I have decided to post, at long last, if for no other reason than to add another voice to the Dan-Centric stream of consciousness that is HongPong's greatest strength. Perhaps I will continue to write in, perhaps not, but I do have one over-arching point to introduce in my first submission, and it is to reflect on the ill-timed approach of trying to discuss the current conflict in terms of world opinion at the moment.
First of all, we are two weeks into a conflict, and until this conflict ends, we must assume everything to be transitory in nature, and stemming from the glut of instant-on "news" available around the news. The advent of satellite and digital technology has had an unparalleled (and frankly, probably divisive and increasingly insipid) effect on world opinion. Through the slanted, discoloured lenses of biased news agencies such as Al-Jazeera and its American counterpart (Fox News; Next on Fox News, Mullah Ashcroft discusses his latest attacks on "the infidels" and their treacherous degradation of the Republican invention of "Family Values") we have been led to believe either that this conflict is black or white, on either side without any intelligent regard to the contrasts and historical parallels on either side of the issue. I believe that it is important for us, in this time of increasing tension and uncertainty, to allow ourselves to make peace with that uncertainty, and preach patience over propoganda or, especially, circumstantial first-person accounts, and to act as a calming influence in an increasingly inflamed world political view.
I will not criticize nor defend a particular view today, because I think that if there is one lesson to be learned from the military at this particular junction of history it is simply that this conflict is twelve days old, and we know next to nothing about what it is going to look like in hindsight. For every report of Iraqis angered by the hegemonic preconceptions of Americans as liberators, there are reports of Iraqis being gunned down trying to leave their homes. When the Marines overran positions south of Basra several days ago, they found Iraqi soldiers killed by their artillery fire laying yards away from Iraqi soldiers shot at close range in the back of the head by pistols. In a conflict for hearts and minds, it may be best to wait until guts and brains cease being spattered in a military conflict that the United States will win, probably within the next month. This is not Panama, nor is it Vietnam, and it behooves us to wait for what should probably be a relatively short amount of time.
Also, alternative media is great, and much needed, probably more than ever, but remember not to ignore more traditional sources. For tempered, well-thought out liberal criticism, I would urge everyone to turn to the New Yorker, which has been running at least one Bush-related article and at least one war-related article for several months now. There have been excellent exegeses of Richard Perle's conflicts of interest and Dick Cheney's whoring of himself and his values to the almighty dollar, including some of the same quotes that have found their way onto the pages of HongPong. The New Yorker has been continuously in print for longer than the majority of the traditional sources that are shaping up to be less than unbiased (although remember that their reliance on the government for access has much to do with this) and their writers are the best in the business, period.
The paucity of dialogue is going to be the land mine on the path to trying to do the right thing in this far away land after the end of hostilities, so gear up, and stockpile truths for the upcoming conflict on restructuring.
Posted by HongPong at March 31, 2003 11:21 AM