War on Terror Requires a PR Battle Plan

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Oct 22, 2001 | by Anthony Mora

In the dark days of the Revolutionary War, George Washington made an about-face that changed the rules of combat. Washington abandoned the principles of the gentleman soldier to which he had aspired all his life. He could not defeat the British by fighting them on their terms. To win he had to, in essence, lose face, abandon the European ideal of warfare and become a guerrilla fighter. Washington's genius was that he was able to see what the times demanded, withstand the scorn of friends and enemies and wage the battle that needed to be fought.

History is demanding no less of us. After the most heinous terrorist act in history, we need to check our initial justifiable impulses and examine the seeds that grew this hatred. Misdirected military action could leave our enemy unshaken and thousands of innocent people homeless, maimed and killed. Those incendiary images would fan the flames of hatred, giving terrorists the greatest tool imaginable: the ability to martial millions of young men, many of whom already fear America, into holy warriors set on our destruction.

Yes, the terrorist cells will have to be found and their infrastructure destroyed, but that's simply the first battle. No amount of killing can win this war. We will not be sending cruise missiles toward a central target but into a swarm of bees. This war must be won through our ability to communicate with, and to listen to, the rest of the world.

Our image abroad is splintered into a thousand shards of national arrogance, terrorist propaganda and junk culture. We often state with pride that we don't care what the rest of the world thinks. Yet, when it comes to business, no one understands better than us that perception is vital to success. Corporations spend millions ensuring their positive images.

When a company's image is tarnished, classic damage control follows these principles: Tell the truth, admit possible error, offer reparations and collaborate. What could be more unthinkable as we stare in horror at the charred remains of the World Trade Center twin towers? Yet it is time to humanize ourselves to the rest of the world. We no longer can afford to rely solely on military solutions. We are the masters of mass communication. Now it is essential effectively to use this power.

At the Rahatabad religious school located in Peshawar, Pakistan, hundreds of boys and young men are told of an America that is the "great Satan." To them Osama bin Laden is both hope and savior. Such schools have been a part of Islam for more than 1,000 years. But this agenda that teaches hatred and the need for a religious holy war to purge their land of the Western evil is a new phenomenon. In what would be akin to a social-studies course they are told of America's betrayal of the Taliban in the war against the former Soviet Union and the deaths of Palestinian children at the hands of U.S.-backed Zionists. The United States is portrayed as a sinister, arrogant power intent on domination and destruction. This is all that many know, save for the pop culture we export.

And what are we exporting? The United States grosses more from its pop-culture exports -- including the likes of Rambo, Nike, McDonald's, Madonna, MTV, Baywatch, Michael Jackson and Coke -- than from all other exports combined. There is nothing inherently bad in our pop music, high-testosterone films, fad fashion and fast food, but if this truly were all that defined us, we would be a sorry lot indeed. Abroad, we are what we are perceived to be, and we have taken little care to ensure that the perception is a positive or accurate one.

America needs a new image, a true image, one with room to admit our mistakes, right our wrongs and export more than fashion, violent films, video games and pop music. We need to be known as a nation that consults as opposed to demands, one set on building consensus. Although in much of the world we are viewed at best as a decadent, arrogant bully and at worst as evil made flesh, we have it in our power to change this skewed perception. We no longer need to project an image but to tell our story. We have the means and the talent. Once the world can see us not as a symbol (be it that of superpower or "great Satan"), but as people struggling to make a better, more inclusive world, the monolith will begin to deconstruct and the terrorists will lose their greatest weapon.

We will need the determination, will, imagination and, above all, the patience for this new kind of battle. Facing a changing world, Washington had the foresight and the courage to do what had to be done, no matter the cost to his pride. He won.

Anthony Mora heads a media-relations firm in Los Angeles and is author of The Alchemy of Success: Marketing Your Company/Career Through the Power of the Media and Achieving Unlimited Success.