An effective weapon against terrorists: Ridicule

krsna · March 24, 2006

By Peter Schweizer

2006/03/24<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P> </O:P>

Is <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 /><ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION w:st="on">America</ST1:COUNTRY-REGION> </ST1:PLACE>taking terrorists too seriously? In the wake of continued threats, that might seem like a ridiculous question. But in terms of the psychology of the war on terrorism, it's a question that needs to be asked.<O:P> </O:P>

In a brilliant new white paper on public diplomacy, Michael Waller, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg chair in International Communication at The Institute of World Politics, makes a strong case for America's employing a new powerful weapon against the terrorists: ridicule.

"Ridicule raises morale at home. Ridicule strips the enemy/adversary of his mystique and prestige. Ridicule erodes the enemy's claim to justice. Ridicule eliminates the enemy's image of invincibility. Directed properly at an enemy, ridicule can be a fate worse than death," writes Waller.

History teaches that ridicule weakens the moral and political capital of our enemies.Arabic

Ronald Reagan employed it with great effect during the Cold War. We all remember the "evil empire" speech, but what about the jokes? Two guys were standing in line at the vodka store. They were there for half an hour, then an hour, then an hour and a half. "I'm sick of this," one finally said. "I'm going over to the Kremlin to shoot (Mikhail) Gorbachev." The man left and returned about an hour later. "Well, did you shoot him?Heck no," he responded. "The line up there is a lot longer than this one."

Reagan a good model

Many of Reagan's comments reached the underground press in the <ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Soviet Union</ST1:PLACE> , no doubt encouraging dissenters against communism. Reagan understood that sowing fear in the West was a potent weapon for <ST1:CITY w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Moscow</ST1:PLACE> </ST1:CITY>. By laughing at communism, the spell of fear was broken. It was the same during World War II. A cartoon of Donald Duck mocking Hitler and Mein Kampf no doubt was demeaning to the Führer.

Thus far, the Bush administration's approach to fighting terrorists has been to demonize them. "Their vision of the world is dark and dim,"

President Bush said in January at <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACENAME w:st="on">Kansas</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">State</ST1:PLACETYPE> <ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">University</ST1:PLACETYPE> </ST1:PLACE>. "They have got desires to spread a totalitarian empire." During his March 11 radio address, he said: "The enemy we face has proved to be brutal and relentless."

Certainly, their actions and goals warrant such treatment. But that alone is a tough strategy to maintain psychologically because it can be exhausting. As Waller writes: "Incessant, morbid portrayals of an individual, movement or mortal enemy might rally support for the American side, but they have a shelf-life that gets tired over time. Constant specters of unrelenting dangers risk sowing defeatism and chipping away at our own morale. Abroad, they risk making the <ST1:COUNTRY-REGION w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">U.S.</ST1:PLACE> </ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>look like a bully in some places and surrender the propaganda advantage to the other side."

Demonizing doesn't work.

By continuing to demonize our enemies, we elevate their political status in the eyes of those disaffected souls in the developing world who dislike the <ST1:COUNTRY-REGION w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">United States</ST1:PLACE> </ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>.

I'm not suggesting that Bush start cracking Osama bin Laden jokes. And we should not mock Islam. Reagan joked about communist leaders but never about the Russian people. What the Bush administration can do is mock the terrorists.

For example, we should note that these self-professed warriors hide while they pay impoverished young men and women to become human bombs. We should play up Osama's privileged background. We should highlight the terrorists' ridiculous failures. The reality is that much like Soviet officials, terrorists are full of grand illusions about themselves and their mission.

The war on terror has military, political and economic dimensions. But it also has a critical psychological component. The terrorists are not 10 feet tall. We should engage in a psychological war that brings these thugs down to size.

Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy and Reagan's War.