Biologic Cultural Warfare

For good or bad, there is a war on terrorism. Bullets and bombs are one facet of this, but no-one really thinks violence can change the culture of radical Islam which gives rise to terrorism. To change attitudes, new ideas must replace the old: to this end, cultural warfare is one aspect of the war on terrorism.

To better move in and supplant undesirable ideas and practices, I propose that effective cultural warfare could take a page from the playbook of biology and borrow the tactics of invasive species. For my example: invasive honeysuckle, which is rapidly taking over woods and fields in my area. No native animals or insects can eat these plants, and no natives can interbreed with them. They thus remain distinct and untouched, and are not assimilated into the existing ecosystem. They move through and replace native plants; native herbivores must move on to find food elsewhere.

However, the honeysuckle produces prolific berries, which are very edible and desired by local birds. These birds eat the fruit, multiply and spread the seed, thus facilitating the replacement of native plants by honeysuckle.

The application to cultural warfare: introduced concepts must have a very attractive component, to facilitate spread. However the underlying principles must both be irrevocably wedded to the attractive component, and so distinct from the concepts and practices of the invaded area that they cannot be diluted or merged to form less attractive hybrids.

[kevindimie] pointed out to me that, by convergent evolution, McDonalds already embodies this concept. The fruit in this case is the tasty burgers and fast service. The immutable underlying principle is the economic model and supply system that McDonalds imports with it and maintains undiluted by local business practices. This economic model then serves as a model to emulate by native businesses.

Fishboners may say this is self evident and that obviously, all cultural warfare must follow this paradigm. Not so: the spread of Christianity was one of merger, not of replacement – local rites and gods were assimilated and merged, often intact, into the Catholic pantheon. It worked – and some may say that this approach has less taint of cultural imperialism. I think that adoption of the Christianity model risks leaving undesirable cultural aspects intact, rather than supplanting them. If this is to be a war of ideas, the undesirable ones must be eliminated.