A propaganda opportunity?

[Stu-6]

Refugee who fled Iran's mullahs becomes first woman space tourist . . .

As the first Iranian-born astronaut was circling Earth last night, her remarkable journey from Tehran to the International Space Station was being hailed also as evidence of the continued power of another dream: the American one.
Mrs Ansari was 16 when her family emigrated in 1984 as the Islamic Revolution in Iran was at its peak and girls faced a strictly limited future. . .
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...364282,00.html

It seems to me that we (the US/west) should be making a big deal about this. If we are serious about defeating the philosophy of radical Islam then shouldn’t we be pointing this out as an example of our system being better than theirs? That was at least part of how we won the Cold War.

[Steve Blair]

You're quite correct, but these days we seem to lack the fortitude to call a spade a spade, if you will.

One great American trait is our willingness to publicly and repeatedly bash ourselves over the head with past sins, real or imagined. At the risk of generalizing, you don't often see other countries doing this. While an admirable trait, it makes us much more vulnerable to hostile IO operations than other countries might be. When, for example, was the last time you saw France (a random example) apologize for *anything*? Instead of contrasting our conduct with opponents who routinely behead those they capture or kidnap, we insist on cudgeling ourselves with Abu Ghraib, GITMO, and so on. We should, and on average do, hold ourselves to a high standard of conduct. But we seem very unwilling to point out the conduct of those we are fighting.

I'll step down from the soapbox now...

[marct]

Stay up on the soapbox, Steve!

This is exactly the sort of story that would be perfect - not only internationally, but at the grass roots level. I can almost see the agit-prop:

Where do you want your children to end up?
or

Steve, you are definately right about the self-flagellating tendencies of the Western Press. In some cases, we have a tendency to disregard "good news" as internal propaganda. I know, it's silly as a general rule, but it's a fairly normal reaction to decades of symbolic manipulation by politicians and advertising.

One of the really hopeful signs has been the develpment of the online media which can bypass the regular channels and reach a wide audience. Maybe SWJ should look at "publishing" an RSS feed that deals with good news .

Marc

[Jedburgh]

You're quite correct, but these days we seem to lack the fortitude to call a spade a spade, if you will.

One great American trait is our willingness to publicly and repeatedly bash ourselves over the head with past sins, real or imagined. At the risk of generalizing, you don't often see other countries doing this. While an admirable trait, it makes us much more vulnerable to hostile IO operations than other countries might be. When, for example, was the last time you saw France (a random example) apologize for *anything*? Instead of contrasting our conduct with opponents who routinely behead those they capture or kidnap, we insist on cudgeling ourselves with Abu Ghraib, GITMO, and so on. We should, and on average do, hold ourselves to a high standard of conduct. But we seem very unwilling to point out the conduct of those we are fighting.

I'll step down from the soapbox now...

I don't feel that it is "lacking the fortitude". The media is a business, and "if it bleeds it leads" is still a driving force. The simple fact is that negative news sells better than positive news. And, being that we truly are a free country, the government does not control or significantly influence media reporting.

I do agree with you in the context that we should be doing more. Not that I am for active government interference with the media, but more can be done within acceptable parameters to raise awareness in select target audiences of positive stories like this.

However, this particular story is being widely reported across the Muslim world - meaning all of Asia, as well as the Middle East. Her Iranian origins, the fact she is Muslim and that she made her fortune in America are highlighted in the reporting in every country. At this point, a strong overt US focus on the story would throw perceptions of her legitimacy into question.

[Stu-6]

Good point such affairs need to be handled with a bit of subtlety.

Still I think the represents one major unexploited front on the war on terror or at least under exploited. Muslim/Arab/Persian/Central Asian-American are potentially our strongest weapon against radicalized Islamic thought. Unfortunately I feel we are more likely to single them out for additional screening than enlist them in our shared fight.

[Bill Moore]

Extremist Propaganda: The Americans can do anything, look they even sent an Iranian woman into space. If they can do this, why don't they fix Iraq? They want to keep us down to exploit us for our oil.

I think the contrasting photos are great, as a westerner they represent a stark contrast of our two systems. However, I think anything that originates from us will be horribly twisted and turned against us. I don't think we have credibility with most of the world, because our foes and our own media to a large extent have effectively destroyed it.

However, it is worth a try, it defnitely can't hurt us anymore than our previous attempts at IO, and it just may work. Ideally someone besides the U.S. that is credible to the intended audience could point out the promise of one system and the despair of the other.

[Bill Moore]

It simply amazes me that elements of the Muslim world can demand an apology from the Pope, while killing innocent nuns, destroying property, etc. and somehow largely get away with it. They should be condemned in the western media for spoiled rotten brat behavior and scolded. We're dealing with a spoiled teenager mentality, not a great religion, and it needs to get framed that way. Western leaders collectively should aggressively demand apologies from clowns like the Iranian President when he stupidly threatens to exterminate Israel. We claim to have freedom of the press, but our media quakes in fear at the possibility of upseting the Muslim world, and handles them with kid gloves. Take the gloves off, they have.

We may not win their hearts and minds, but we darn sure should be able to bring the Western coalition together. We need more unity, and "if" worse comes to worse, then we collectively need to be prepared to take stronger, perhaps drastic, actions against our foes. That will require political will, and that is what we need to regain. Show the contrast in life styles, aggressively challenge and condemn their child like behavior, and demand apologies, and for a change put them on the defensive.