engaging hearts and minds

Austin Bay links to a great piece about the opportunities posed by the letter from Farceur-in-Chief of Iran Ahmadinejad. It’s called “Mr President: RSVP to Ahmadinejad”—invaluable advice for the stupefyingly incompetent, done-teaf, infuriating disaster that is George Bush & Co:

Words and ideas are powerful things. They propel revolutions and legitimize–and sometimes de-legitimize–political systems. In the struggle against nihilistic Islamic extremism, words and ideas ultimately will be more important than smart bombs or boots on the ground….

one might dismiss it as a wacky diatribe from a less-than-rational leader. But, using powerful words of his own, the Iranian leader taps into long-simmering grievances against the United States that are held in the Middle East and other parts of the developing world.

Americans may not agree with his interpretation of history and religion, or his incessant demonization of Israel. But many people across the Muslim world do share his perspective and will find his words compelling. We should not simply dismiss such sentiments as ridiculous. Instead, we should challenge and refute them in active, open discourse.

It was written by Pierre Atlas, who teaches at Marian College. Read the whole thing. And pass it on to BushCo.

Clive Davis may be pleased to note that, yes, I’m pushing for PR. I’m all for it. My blog is called Infotainment Rules. I have turned my back on the authentic and the serious and the important and the transcendent and the valuable and the glorious. (For now.) I speak out in favor of the grotesque. (For now.) Because it gets the message across. And, boy, do we need to send messages.

We are involved in a long-term information war. PR is the foundation upon which our campaigns should be mounted. So bring it on. Just made it good, goddamnit. And effective.