Hi Wilf,
LOL - sometime we must sit down and quaft a few pints. I think that pretty much everyone chooses (or accepts) these types of stories at some time in their lives; it seems to be something that we, as a species, need to do.
Oh, yeah, especially when the "discussion" isn't agreed upon in form or purpose.
Maybe it's because I grew up in an extremely multi-cultural setting, or maybe it was the acting training as a kid, but I realized early on how people operate on different stories even when they weren't aware of it. I spent years trying to come up with ways of talking about that (it's probably one of the main reasons why I went into symbolic Anthropology).
It's easy to see how stories, "narratives" if you want to use the hip academic phrase, can and do control actions, but it is really tricky to see how and when groups develop cross-cutting meta-narratives and the mental discipline to use them.
Oh, hey, take a whole minute if you want!
Yes, I do agree that the story is the issue. It makes me sick to read / hear some of the stories that are currently running around (on all sides); they remind me too much of the War Scroll and similar apocalyptic insanities. Unlike you, I don't have to deal with it on a day-to-day basis; all I have to deal with is uncritical academics who "mean well" and just serve to inflame people.
Cheers,
Marc
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