Late last night, as I was driving home from DemocracyFest, I tuned in the local public radio station to hear a program from the World Affairs Forum about the results of the Iraq Study Group. I was very tired and concentrated on driving, so I didn’t follow the show as closely as I would have liked, especially since it was getting into some very interesting ideas.

A starting point of the session was whether or not the idea of a ‘Global War on Terror’ was a useful framework for thinking about our response to 9/11. If not, what would be a better framework and if so, what strategies would be best for waging such a war.

The first speaker did a very good job of explaining why thinking about our response to terrorism as a ‘global war on terror’ is detrimental. First, it places the issue into the context of militarization. It causes us to think of the solutions as military solutions while missing other solutions that might be more productive. In addition, it confuses the issue by leading many to think of ‘the enemy’ in terms of Arabs or Muslims as opposed to the extremists that make up a very small percentage of these populations.

It feeds into the narratives of the extremists by promoting a framework of a holy war. The speaker asked how our approach to extremists and terrorists could be framed in a more productive manner.

The second speaker brought up even more interesting ideas. He contrasted the idea of nations and states. He suggested that a nation is a group of people with a common identity, traditions or language. He spoke of states as locations having internationally recognized boundaries and governments. He then went on to speak about the problem of when nations and states do not coincide. As an example, he spoke about the situation with the Kurds, which he referred to as the largest stateless nation in the Middle East.

Yet the idea that really grabbed my attention was that of identity markers. The term was not defined, so I’m not sure if I fully grasp the concept. The speaker spoke about how identity markers are regularly destroyed in times of conflict.

From my brief reading on identity markers, it seems as if some of them are physical; monuments, places of historical importance, or even symbols of the marketplace. Others are linguistic, indications of a shared identity through languages, accents, and other linguistic identifiers. Some may be rituals.

How much of the conflict that we see in the world is a result of people fighting to hold on to their identity markers? In a world of globalization, American cultural markers are showing up everywhere. U.S. pop songs, golden arches show up everywhere. Is it any wonder people seeking to maintain their own cultural identity would feel threatened? Even in our own country, we find different groups finding their cultures threatened and fighting ‘culture wars’. In so many other conflicts around the world, one side actively seeks to destroy the cultural artifacts of their opposition.

So, how can we reframe the ‘Global War on Terror’ to something more productive? Well, perhaps a starting point is instead of trying to export American style democracy, business, and media, we would be better off trying to export an idea that has truly made our country great, America as a melting pot.

Perhaps, instead of vilifying Arabs and Muslims, we should honor their cultures. We could lead by example in seeking and promoting the beauty of Shia, Sunni and Kurdish cultures. By recognizing and promoting the great contributions that moderate Muslims have contributed to our world, we will help neutralize extremists, making it harder for them to organize, recruit and carry out terrorist actions.

As individuals, it may be harder for us to do this, but we can still lead by example. We should all seek out chances to experience, appreciate and honor cultures different from our own in our daily lives. Is there a culture center near you that you haven’t visited yet? Go, visit, and learn about other cultures. Even driving past the local golden arches and having lunch at a local ethnic restaurant is a start.

So, let’s change the global war on terror to a quest to appreciate global cultures.