‘Public want quick fix in war': academic
The West’s growing dependency on ‘‘fast food culture’’ will lead to increasing calls for a swift resolution to the Afghanistan conflict, an academic said today.
People in the US and Britain may not have the stomach for a long, protracted military campaign, according to Durham University politics lecturer Dr Mark Aspinwall (correct).
He said that the relentless pace of modern life and increasing reliance on credit to buy luxury products had made society a slave to both convenience and immediacy which will inevitably be reflected in people’s perception of the current war.
Despite repeated messages from George W Bush and Tony Blair that it will take many months, if not years for the campaign to be successful, public opinion may waver as time goes by.
‘‘Calls for results arise out of people’s desire for immediate satisfaction,’’ Dr Aspinwall said:
‘‘The longer it takes the more there will be a fracturing of opinion - you will have more negative voices and some will say, ‘Let’s get more active in our attacks’.
‘‘The ‘fast food culture’ is partly a desire for fast results but also partly a result in itself of a busy society. People try to cram more and more into their lives.
‘‘The majority of the population is now demanding and seeking results and convenience.
"The growth in credit is an obvious indicator. You can even extend that to the realm of politics, if a government doesn’t deliver then consumers choose another government.
‘‘It depends also on what happens in the conflict - whether there are big humanitarian problems with refugees and hunger over the winter and whether the bombing takes more civilian lives.’’
‘‘It is a hostage to fortune to say we can deal with bin Laden and get terrorism conquered in a couple of months - that would be crazy.
‘‘Politicians have to be wary of making any claim that will come back and bite them on the rear end.
‘‘Some people said the military move was not as fast as it could have been but at least the political reaction was immediate.
‘‘Now that the campaign is going on it looks as if it probably started too early.
‘‘Maybe it was the wrong choice - it may be counter-productive.
‘‘As part of the consumer demands, people are looking for evidence that politicians have done what they say they will do.
"That’s why we have cameras on bombs and cameras on fighter planes to provide documentary evidence to justify the force and show what happens. This is part of a general trend towards satisfying consumers.’’
