Winning the Propaganda War Irwin Lyons 23 Nov 2002 Mr. Netanyahu has inherited his father's capacity for clarity of written _expression but clarity of ideational conception is also necessary. He has decried the facts that for too long and among too many Israelis the idea has persisted that it is not necessary to be concerned with international public opinion. He says that from now on Israeli diplomats should be chosen for their capacity in communication of information that is critical in the formation of mass opinion. In these things, he is unfortunately correct. The Arabs are consistently winning the propaganda war. But, an as-yet ill-apprehended problem exists. It has to do with the general reaction that many persons, particularly (but not limited to) in the West have vis-a-vis aggression and/or violence. Both for reasons of religion (in that the Christian religion advocates non-violence and turning the other cheek), and partly for deep psychological reasons, there is a general tendency to deny the existence of aggressive evil even when it confrons one in the face, directly. Aggression is emotionally frightening, and many people recoil from it due to their fear of it. They have a psychological defense mechanism against conscious awareness of aggressive danger. So, this leads them to refuse to see the aggressive nature of the Arabs, and to blame Israel for being "too aggressive" when it acts aggressively in reaction to Arab violence. Putting out facts does not deal with emotion. Some means must be found to overcome the emotional recoiling that prevents the facts from sinking in. I do not know how to accomplish this, but perhaps some psychoanalysts and/or experts in psychological warfare will know and could be of assistance if their help were sought. |
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