Hollywood's New War

There was a hint of things to come during the Gulf War, when media access to information was severely restricted by the U.S. government. Journalists were herded into briefing centers where they saw a very sanitized version of the war and received well rehearsed, cookie-cutter answers to their most probing questions. But given the short duration of the Gulf War, these restrictions and the subsequent news coverage was all America got to see of the governments new wartime propaganda strategy.

Some years after George Bush, Sr. vanquished what he called "Saddam and his evil henchmen", I caught the tail end of a program on PBS in which the issue of wartime media was being debated. I don't remember the exact participants, but I do remember that they were all ex-government and ex-military types. The one point they agreed upon was that the U.S. government learned its lesson from the Vietnam War, and that there was a conscious effort now being made by government to never let control of information and messaging fall so precipitously out of government control.

Based on the news of this past week, I would say that the participants in that discussion hit the nail on the head.

Over the past few days, there have been two important developments in America' new war. First, the Bush administration went out and hired Charlotte Beers, a seasoned Wall Street advertising executive, to manage the government's propaganda campaign. Secondly, Karl Rove, President Bush's senior advisor and behind the scenes power-broker, was tasked with the mission of heading to Hollywood to talk shop with industry heavyweights on how the film and television industries can be "responsible" in this time of war.

What Muslims need to understand, is that in the context of this conflict, "responsible" will eventually be construed to mean "supportive"; and supportive is nothing more than code language for "propagandistic".

News analysis of these new media efforts have, to date, focused largely on the role Hollywood might play in shaping hearts and minds throughout the Muslims world, where America's image isn't quite as squeaky clean as it is here in the states. However, this objective is really nothing more than smoke and mirrors to cover up the more likely objective - the pacification of the American public on the issue of war.

During the Vietnam War, America dropped leaflets from the air and broadcast pro-Western messages over the airwaves. It didn't work. And the reason it didn't work is because as long as there are bombs dropping, and villages being obliterated, people aren't going to want to hear about the freedom and magnanimity of the USA. The same can be said of this new war.

So that brings us back to Hollywood, where pressure is mounting to tow the party line. While this media campaign will not resemble the media campaign during the Vietnam War, it very well could mimic the propaganda efforts of War World II. In the coming months, Americans could begin to see more and more patriotic themed content on their televisions and movie screens. It might not be so bold as the "Kill the Hun" campaigns of World War I, but the campaign could very well sell the same type of sentiment. And it is this that Muslims will need to ramp up for.

So don't be surprised when movies start popping up about "those bad Muslims over there" or about the need for more flag-waving and national sacrifice. In fact, these sorts of messages have already been put out there by shows such as The West Wing and The Agency. On the horizon are stronger messages, some of which Muslims will be able to agree with, and some which will be damaging to Islam as a religion and Muslims as a people. So let this be a warning. The spin-doctors are working overtime on their media campaigns; so Muslims better get to the business of doing the same.