TV as a Form of Social Programming
Noor is doing peacefully what Bush was never able to accomplish: colonizing people effectively by entertaining them instead of bombing them. Had Bush been smart about it and opened a cross-cultural exchange with Iraqis, he could have probably had all the oil he's currently getting at a fraction of the price and with more security. Then again, Bush did Iraqi Muslims a favour by bombing them; they wouldn't have returned to our religion otherwise. I'm now beginning to appreciate the subtle, forward-seeing intelligence of the Muslim Electorate of US Elections 2000.
Another show that was an obvious case of social programming was Three's Company. Mr. Roper was the anti-homosexual straw man that we could all laugh at for being a backwards prude. The idea is that if you portray your enemy as a dolt, people will stop relating to him and everything he stands for. Mr. Roper was essentially Hollywood's representation of what it meant to oppose homosexuality. In a classic straw man argument, Hollywood attacked a weakened opponent.
Another show that was an obvious case of social programming was Three's Company. Mr. Roper was the anti-homosexual straw man that we could all laugh at for being a backwards prude. The idea is that if you portray your enemy as a dolt, people will stop relating to him and everything he stands for. Mr. Roper was essentially Hollywood's representation of what it meant to oppose homosexuality. In a classic straw man argument, Hollywood attacked a weakened opponent.
posted by Flicken @ 8:22 PM
6 Comments:
At 6:59 PM ,
UmmFarouq said...
You really think a dubbed Turkish soap opera would have done the trick?
I wonder about the subliminal messages that might be slipped in there (to Noor). I've seen three year old kids with Mohannad mania.
At 7:55 PM ,
Flicken said...
My blog entries are often written in haste and I don't connect the dots; sorry about that.
I didn't mean that the selfsame soap opera would do it, but rather, a long series of cultural and intellectual infiltration would probably produce a greater net profit to the USA than a quick and bloody invasion followed by a dragged out war. You can enslave people by feeding, teaching, and entertaining them as much as you can by invading them. USAID already uses some of these principles. Once people become addicted to your help, they can't let go. Once people think that your ideology is the very definition of civilization, you can dangle a carrot before their eyes and have them slave away at ideals they will never realize. (This principle is used by the dieting and cosmetic industries to keep women striving to be artificially thin and beautiful.)
Without doubt, the approach I'm suggesting would take more time and planning, and results might not appear during two terms of presidency, which is very likely the reason this approach is not followed. At the same time, as I mentioned in the original article, it is to the benefit of Muslims that this didn't happen; the war against them caused them to return to their religion.
At 11:08 PM ,
UmmFarouq said...
Assalamu Alaikum,
I knew what you meant. Really, I did.
Intellectual infiltration, indeed. Something on the level of Everybody Loves Raymond meets Days of our Lives, over the course of a few indoctrinational (I coined that word just now) years, plus some pre-packaged heat n'serve meals dropped daily from the sky, and the US could have had this whole region eating out of its hands, cozying up like a purring kitty.
I'm off to eat some rice cakes and drink soy beverages.
At 11:11 PM ,
Flicken said...
Wa alaikum assalam.
I'm not sure why that last sentence really got me laughing. :) Anyhow, just keep the soy away from your husband and sons.
At 8:01 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Salaam:
Why is "Noor" different than "Cassandra?" Or from the last 20 years of "Bold and the Beautiful" and "Days of Our Lives" subtitled in Arabic? Or any of the piles and piles of Arabic soap operas? You can just as easily say that "Bab al Hara" has "done the trick." Go to the dukan; see the "Bab al Hara" candy. It's all fads because it is all bread and circuses. "Noor" is a sensation until something else is, and then it will be forgotten like all the other forgettables.
At 9:59 PM ,
Flicken said...
You Know, You Are Right. Noor is just an example. The other examples you gave are also valid. All of them can be used methodologically over a period of time to induce social change to varying degrees of success. What I'm saying is that the US did not take this approach in Iraq. It might yet take it in Iran, based on my reading of the latest developments.
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