Glyphs and Public Diplomacy

Among the possible intentions for creating glyphs may have been group identity issues at stake. Sending a message about "us" and "our way of life" in a certain geographic region must have been a challenging task 5000 years ago.

Today that process of sending messages about "us" is known as Public Diplomacy. The term came into use during the Cold War when the US government unveiled the Edward R. Murrow Center for Public Diplomacy in 1965. International information programs were being developed and it was deemed necessary to move beyond "propaganda".

Public Diplomacy intends to shape the minds of people who observe "us" so that they will be cooperative as we seek out goals in the world. The words Public Diplomacy have an official ring to them. Nicholas Cull of the Annenberg School of International Relations at the U of Southern California spells out the history of Public Diplomacy in the March 2008 issue of The Annals. The task of Public Diplomacy is to create and disseminate ideas that can be spread from person to person in a social network using available technology.

I am suggesting that the Jeffer's Petroglyphs were Public Diplomacy of the time. Available technology was being used by skilled craftspeople to send messages that carried meaning important to the people of the time and beyond. We today are in the position of stretching our mental capacity to grasp what is being made available on the quartzite rocks. Do the messages have anything at all to do with the present human situation? Are ecological issues being addressed? Is management of violence a subject matter? What can artists discover that will enhance the arts of today? What can religions learn that will enhance the spiritual global community? My guess is that glyphs are more than interesting artifacts. Rather, they can open us to needed information from previous human experience.