Susan Strong <sstrong@igc.org>
25 October 2001
Dear Friends of the Metaphor Project,
Below is a sample letter you can easily cut and paste for forwarding yourself.
I believe that the time is finally ripe for this message. Yesterday
(10/24/01) the S.F.Chronicle reported that the Bush Administration
was
seeking advice from Madison Avenue about how to sell the War on
Terrorism
and the Afghan War to Arab and Muslim nations. This signals they
know they
are in trouble. The hordes of fresh recruits Osama is reported
to be getting
now is already proof of our bungling; this morning a high Pentagon
official
admitted the Taliban is tougher to beat than they thought.
Since the Administration has admitted it erred in regard to
handling the
anthrax wave in Washington, they could also admit that that they
made a
mistake re their first U.S. response to the 911 disaster. Being
angry enough
to fight is understandable, natural, human nature, given the circumstances.
But even the briefest review of terrorism's history in Northern
Ireland or
the Middle East shows that war, figurative or literal, has never
cooled
terrorism down, only inflamed it. All of Madison Avenue's wiles
will never
be enough to sell Arab and Muslim nations the idea that war is
the answer.
Defusing terrorism is the only safe strategy, for Americans, for
the Arab
and Muslim world, for the whole community of nations on our planet,
and for
Earth's ecosphere, on which we all depend for life, an ecosphere
so easily,
greatly, and irrevocably damaged by war.
Please use anything in this cover letter as well the sample
one in your own
letters, calls, or other lobbying and organizing. Last weekend
at the
Bioneers Conference, I floated the phrase Defusing Terrorism in
a media
session on Sunday October 21st, and with a number of other people
there and
since--an ongoing, serial focus group which has, without exception,
responded favorably. One wonderful response: everyone, not just
the
government, could get involved in a campaign to defuse terrorism--we
could
all start studying the history and culture of Islam and the Arab
world,
learning about how others see U.S. foreign policy, particularly
the Arab and
Muslim world, studying Arabic, and so on. Maybe some citizen diplomacy
is in
order too, directed at non-terrorist Muslims.
Unfortunately, most Muslims know little of the real U.S.--our
de facto p.r.
machine, a shortsighted U.S. foreign policy, and a souless entertainment
industry exporting unrealistic sex and violence, does not do justice
to the
real American values we live everyday in our own homes and towns.
Susan C. Strong
The Metaphor Project
www.metaphorproject.org
Sample Letter:
Dear Editor,
Right now, in reality, terrorism, a war on terrorism, and the
war
in Afghanistan are all being exposed as truly terrible p.r. strategies.
All manifest a tragic and stupid brutality, which can never really
accomplish their goals in today's climate of global media exposure.
The way the U.S. is suddenly falling all over itself to get onto
the all Arab
station Al Jazeera shows where the real power lies now. But when
U.S.
officials do get on the Arab air waves and claim, in effect, that
war is good
for you and will do the job, they just make things worse. Most
of the world's
people do not believe this for one minute, and they never will.
The first thing needed to get out of the mess we are all in
is to dump the
war on terrorism rhetoric. What we need to call for instead is
a campaign to
defuse terrorism. If we can change the metaphor this way, we can
all
start thinking creatively again, and stop making a losing rhetoric
of war
into a reality that is slowly but surely sinking us in the eyes
of the
world, as well as of the ordinary Afghans now enduring yet another
disaster,
at our hands this time. So let's challenge everyone, the Bush
Administration included,
to spell out instead exactly what a campaign to defuse terrorism
would look like,
in Afghanistan, in the Middle East, in the U.S., in the world----wherever
it is
needed, and then get to work on it. Right now, this looks like
our best hope.
Otherwise, it's clear our world will just keep on coming apart
at the seams.
. . faster and faster.