From where I’m sitting, Joe the Plumber looks a look like an idiot. I’m not particularly interested in what his opinion is. Granted, he doesn’t know I exist so we’re pretty even at the moment. Here’s the thing – sending Joe the Plumber to war was a stupid idea. There are so many much better informed candidates who could do a much better job that I’m irritated enough to change the channel when I accidentally flip over to FOX. What about JD Johannes? That guy knows what he is talking about.
In modern warfare, winning or losing has as much to do with polling results, election returns and roll-call votes as what happens on the battlefield. Modern 4th Generation warfare is about turning the voting public against military effort or foreign policy. The public is influenced by what they see in the media. Clamping down on media access always fails because someone else then provides the content and seizes the battle space. Which is why back in 2005 I bought a camera and a plane ticket and went to Iraq. There was a part of the story that was not being told and I quit my job and rolled the dice to tell it. In a perfect world, the media would already be telling that story, but we do not live in a perfect world, so I did what I felt needed to be done.
The war in Iraq isn’t a conventional war. It is a social war – a generational conflict that must change the culture and the prevalent memes before anymore “mission accomplished” signs will be hung. George W. Bush will be in the grave before history really decides whether Iraq was a success or failure from the Western viewpoint. The same is true of Afghanistan and to some extent of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israelis and Palestinians who survive the actual fighting will win or lose the bigger battle in the media. In the short term these all these conflicts appear to be about land or oil or terrorism, and they are. But the big picture and the long term outcome is about dominant culture. Will liberal societies prevail or will fundamentalism triumph? Will secular values take hold in Arab countries? Will Israel finally cede to the Palestinians an acceptable homeland of their own?
Sending Joe the Plumber to intrepret either the short or long term aspects of events in the Middle East has zero appeal. FOX has lost me. To get me back they would need to replace Joe the Plumber with a genuine war correspondent, not a manufactured shill. Michael Yon, JD Johannes or Pat Dollard would get my listenership. Joe the Plumber? Hell no.
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