People are idea-driven creatures; our actions are as influenced by the ideas we hold as our opinions. Uniquely among living creatures, we can share ideas and that storehouse of ideas provides the structure within we individuals operate as cohesive social groups, or cultures.
\nN.Z. Bear has talked about memes as they apply to the Middle East; I\u0092ll take a stronger case, and argue that while history is largely about material conflicts over resources and power; it is always framed in ideas and concepts.
\nWould Hitler\u0092s ascent been possible without the legitimacy offered by the (slapdash, haphazard) philosophical arguments he made?? Without the roots in Schiller and even Hegel?? He had to appeal to his audience, and he did it in the form of ideas, metaphors, and memes. He had to persuade, and convince.
\nIt\u0092s much easier to persuade and convince if no one can challenge your arguments; it is much easier to persuade and convince in a world where soundbites and film clips are the equivalents of investigation and evidence.
\nTerminus argues that Jenin \u0093is a bad example, because it is a political, not a historical, issue.\u0094 Excuse me? Isn\u0092t that exactly what I\u0092m talking about? I think Jenin is a perfect<\/u> example. Leaders make political arguments, and as above these must be tested somehow; I\u0092ll suggest that political arguments testable by fact are better than those which have not or can not be tested. And, in Jenin, the PA\u0092s position, sadly echoed by the NGO\u0092s, was to stand up and shout to the world that Israel had done certain things\u0085which, had they been done, would have meant one thing. They appear not to have been done, which means another.
\nBut in a world where competing narratives are ultimately equally valid\u0085in Stanley Fish\u0092s world\u0085Israeli soldiers might as well have dragged women and children from their homes and shot them. Because that is the Palestinian truth. And no \u0091fact-checking\u0092 or \u0091investigation\u0092 could materially change that. Does this matter? Of course. It matters to the men and women who, living in that narrative, decide to put on explosive belts and walk onto Israeli busses.
\nAnd, ultimately, it is promoted and fed by a corrupt elite who manipulate the narrative\u0085and for whom the malleability of \u0091fact\u0092 becomes the fuel for their political power.
\nWhy did the Germans willingly follow Hitler? Because they believed in him. Because no one tested his narrative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People are idea-driven creatures; our actions are as influenced by the ideas we hold as our opinions. Uniquely among living creatures, we can share ideas and that storehouse of ideas provides the structure within we individuals operate as cohesive social groups, or cultures. N.Z. Bear has talked about memes as they apply to the Middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}