This article is part of the Center for Security Policy's series "The War of Ideas" which seeks to "harness the power of words, images, and ideas for the conflicts of today and tomorrow."
Demonization of the enemy is the general default position of American message-making against international threats, but it can go only so far. The history of warfare shows that while demonization can build and maintain alliances and coalitions, and is important to maintain national unity in a protracted conflict, it can inadvertently aid the enemy's own war aims.
Incessant, morbid portrayals of an individual, movement or nation as a mortal enemy might rally support for the American side, but they have a shelf-life that gets tired as the conflict stretches out. Constant specters of unrelenting dangers risk sowing defeatism and chip away at our own morale. Abroad they risk making the US look like a bully in some places and surrender the propaganda advantage to the other side. They can also help brand the enemy in ways contrary to US interests.
The questions at this stage of the war are:
- Do we inadvertently aid our enemies and potential enemies by taking them too seriously?
- Does our relentless portrayal of individuals, ideologies, movements and philosophies as mortal dangers to America diminish the stature of the US or enhance the enemies' status and prestige?
- Is it an unsound political strategy to hype the image and power of the enemy and the few leaders who personify it?
- Is there something else the United States and its allies should be doing in their attempts to discredit, undermine and defeat the enemy?
The answer is "yes" to all of the above. US strategy should include efforts to undermine the political and psychological strengths of adversaries and enemies by employing ridicule and satire as standard operating tools of strategic communication. Ridicule is an under-appreciated weapon not only against terrorists, but against weapons proliferators, despots, and international undesirables in general. Ridicule serves several purposes:
- 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.
To the enemy, ridicule can be worse than death — many of them believe death to be a supernatural martyrdom, an act of self-sacrifice in the name of a divinely sanctioned cause. Ridicule is much worse: Destruction without martyrdom. The worst of both worlds. And they have to live with it.
