As one of the many Americans who watched, transfixed with horror, as the planes flew into the World Trade Center Sept. 11, I have little doubt in the power of images.
Sometimes pictures can simply convey what words cannot. The dust and carnage of that day invaded my subconscious for many nights after the initial attacks, as I relived the destruction through my dreams.
And now more recently, the anthrax scares have been made real through photographs and television footage of government workers fully decked out in biohazard gear, dealing with potentially contaminated scenes. The surreal and futuristic pictures seem like something out of a Hollywood movie, but we know they are not.
In the United States, the media and advertisers are keenly aware of the power of images to communicate and to sell. Today, American flags and other patriotic symbols are plastered on store windows and television ads in hopes of capturing the attention of the American public and encouraging them to identify certain products or companies with pride in country.
Our governmental leaders also seem to have a firm grasp upon the importance of appearances and visual stimuli to effectively capture the support of Americans. Whether they wear American flags upon their lapels or they paint verbal pictures of the heroism of American citizens and the cowardice of the terrorists, they recognize the need to appeal to not only abstract ideals such as democracy and justice but to the emotions of the average citizen.
However, it seems that so far the American government has failed to utilize similar tools of propaganda outside of the United States with the Arab public.
Over the past week, various administration officials have appeared on Arabic television stations, explaining the goals of U.S. policy in the Middle East and the attacks on Afghanistan.
American propaganda efforts have included interviews with such high-ranking officials as Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice on Al Jazeera, the popular Arab television station out of Qatar. The American view that the United States is not attacking the religion of Islam through this war on terror has been emphasized in such appearances.
Yet, these appeals seem to lack the force of the images that the Arab people have recently been bombarded with, including pictures of wounded Afghan children and Israeli tanks invading Palestinian villages. While the words of Americans may seem supportive of the average citizen, Arabs are “seeing” a reality that belies the American propaganda.
America’s failure to fully capture the support of the Arab people is compounded by its perceived history of disinterest in the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli rule.
If America is ever to fully garner the support of Arab citizens and not only the support of their governments, it is critical that the American government approach the propaganda effort abroad with as much energy as it has at home.
After all, it seems only logical that images of tangible American relief efforts, such as the airdrops of food packets to Afghani people, will appeal to Arab sensibilities more than mere words from U.S. officials completely removed from the troubles of political, economic and religious strife.
