Metrosexuals to the Rescue!
Having researched, written, and even defended my position on public diplomacy well enough to merit a decent scholarship for it, I would like to think I have a small understanding of how to go about winning the hearts and minds of young Middle Easterners.
Telling them that real American men are metrosexuals is not the way to do that.
Turns out, though, that the State Department thinks that the strategy has some sort of merit. The Middle Eastern glossy mag, “Hi” has featured an article on the topic recently.
Mona Charen found the whole notion ridiculous, and hits the nail on the head when she writes:
First things first. Is this what the U.S. State Department thinks America is really like? How many men, outside a tiny subset in major cities, are the primping, feminized “metrosexuals” the article lauds? Not many. You cannot enhance understanding between one people and another by presenting a false version of one side.
This is one of the best examples of my beef with the current “shared values” fuzzy feeling approach to public diplomacy. IT SUCKS. Young Arab males are strapping on bombs for suicide missions and we’re instead encouraging them to go get a facial.
What are we thinking!?
What the State Department needs to do is revive a policy-based public diplomacy founded on dialogue rather than the ditzy trappings of state-sponsored tabloids.
At this crucial moment, there must be a four-fold approach to American public diplomacz in the Middle East. We need to:
1. Flood the region with foreign service officers. Make a database of former exchange program participants to serve as a pool of potential recruits.
2. Force them to learn the language. Make all kinds of promotions and incentives conditional upon the mastery of a regional language. Incentivize public speaking, television, and radio appearances.
3. Talk about the issues! Dramatically increase speaking tours which will focus on the big issues of the day: Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Iran, Israel-Palestine. Stop talking about metrosexuals and what color lipstick works best for olive-skinned young Middle Eastern girls.
4. Fund more American schools. These things should be popping up faster than McDonalds. At the point at which young Middle Easterners are being indoctrinated to hate the United States, one would suspect we would do more than just sit around and watch as the next generation of Middle Eastern leaders learn to hate us. In the words of one Middle Easterner, “If the United States does not define itself, the terrorists will gladly do it for them” (paraphrased, Brookings Institution report).
Moisturize!?
Claudio