The Conference

So today was the diplomacy conference at GW. I just first want to say that I have never given much thought to diplomacy. But so much of the message ("Love us, please!") is wrapped up in the method of delivery. It really is, in my opinion, nation-branding. This shouldn't sound so negative. There are things that we do right and we'd be crazy not to promote ourselves abroad. I just wonder if we're doing it right.

A lot of the panelists spoke of using social media as a method to reach out to the local communities. I wonder about this. Some seemed to speak of it in a rather democratic light, using FB to answer questions about American policy. Some actually used it quite creatively and cut down on the red-tape stuff to allow answers to come in real time.
I was, however, thrown by the use of the word "fan base." Is the goal to turn our diplomats into internet personalities, signing autographs at a local cafe? I suppose this would help boost the US image overall, but it seems to distract the main point.
The diplomat from Turkey especially had a good presentation. She spoke of a few projects that tried to bond the youth of Turkey and the US. Some projects failed, but others had great success. I think the meat of this one was to allow young Turks to think for themselves, not just through whatever lens was given them. Especially in younger populations, I would tend to think that there are greater similarities. Kids will be kids. Recruiting younger folks to be diplomats was simply a fantastic idea in my book and I hope that trend continues.

The second panel of the day might as well have not even existed. It was so overtly clear that they were hungry. Once we got past the older gentleman speaking way too enthusiastically about giving poor foreigners iPads so they can be like us (I don't even have one, by the way), the moderator made no effort to encourage any real conversation. Like I said, the most I got out of that was a diplomat from a different era proving to us by his diction that he really didn't know what was going on in the digital age. The emphasis is not on the tech itself. He was really bringing it back to an arms race.

Overall I thought it was a great experience. I keep coming back to this thought of "communication" as an expression of "community." We use common words and symbols, we obtain and spread information in similar ways. We do what it culturally relevant so as to be heard and to learn. It's a really fascinating idea and I think the most important that I could glean from this course. Having said that, diplomacy presents itself as such a challenging issue. How do we honestly and accurately express ourselves to a culture that is fundamentally different?