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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