Hollywood and the MSM are a Shame Based Culture

Hollywood and the Main Stream Media act like a shame based culture. Since much of the Long War, will be an Information War it is important we understand the rules of a shame based society.

Here is the key point for shame based societies:

The desire to preserve honor and avoid shame to the exclusion of all else is one of the primary foundations of the culture. This desire has the side-effect of giving the individual carte blanche to engage in wrong-doing as long as no-one knows about it, or knows he is involved. -- Dr Sanity

The main stream media acts the same way, caring more about appearances than truth or justice. Whether it is the tabloids claiming Angelina stole Brad from Jennifer or the Red Cross falsely accusing Israeli of shooting ambulance, what matters most to the main stream, sound bite driven society, is what others are saying about someone. The complication is that Arab and by extension Muslim society is a shame based also.

The Jihadi's seem to have a natural understanding of how to fight a popularity contest. Like the Iraqi Information Minister (M.S.S), they will say whatever is good for them regardless of the facts.

I think it is important that we fight and win the battle of public opinion. One of the important steps to fighting this battle is finding the appropriate metaphor. The one that comes to mind is a Jr High cafeteria. The battle in MSM will very much be a battle of the lowest common denominator. It will be important to be prepared to respond on that level. There are already plenty of Finders, Thinkers and Linkers in the blogsphere at war, and their importance is understood. We also need Satirists and Hecklers. Everywhere you turn Radical Islam must be seen as the weak horse. Impotent. A joke.

Short and visual may be best. The blogosphere can do that (Halp us Jon Carry), but the amount of lies and distortions to battle seem endless.

However in the end it may be just pure numbers that count. Page rank, buzz, and getting across the gap into the wider audiance. We must produce more You Tube fodder than our opponents. We must quickly expose their lies, and ridicule all their efforts.


Concrete plans and actionable tasks to follow.

Technorati Tags: Information Warfare, War