Soft power is just power or influence that you can have on someone or something without using physical force. If you’ve ever listened to Twice or watched Naruto then a country has influenced you in some way through soft power. If you are an American I can pretty safely assume that you haven’t listened to, watched, or consumed any form of (for example) Polish media so generally your opinion on them should be pretty neutral. But if you listen to Blackpink on repeat or have a Kakashi statue in your room then it’s pretty clear that if asked about South Korea or Japan you’d have something positive to say about them. Now why does this matter? Who cares if a country has influenced you?
If I were to say, or you would read in the news somewhere that (for example) Germany has invaded Poland, you likely wouldn’t care other than feeling a little bad that something like that is happening. But if you heard something bad like that were to happen to a country that has some soft power on you, (like my examples) you would probably feel terrible and donate, or try to convince your elected officials to do something. Because you know about this country and have started to like it. This helps the country out because they would appreciate all the help they can get. Therefore it’s in the countries’ best interest to try to spread media about them around the world so they can be more known and maybe more liked.
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