Narrative, how stories were made, and what was omitted.

[Trifoilum]

http://aidanmoher.com/blog/featured...attle-and-slaves-narrative-by-kameron-hurley/

This is an excellent article, spanning through writing, historiography, gender, race, psychology and politics. With awesome pictures all around.

Some selections:

"So you forget the llamas that don’t fit the narrative you saw in films, books, television – the ones you heard about in the stories – and you remember the ones that exhibited the behavior the stories talk about.

Suddenly, all the llamas you remember fit the narrative you see and hear every day from those around you. You make jokes about it with your friends. You feel like you’ve won something. You’re not crazy. You think just like everyone else.

It’s easier to tell the same stories everyone else does. There’s no particular shame in it.

It’s just that it’s lazy, which is just about the worst possible thing a spec fic writer can be.

Oh, and it’s not true."

"truth is something that happens whether or not we see it, or believe it, or write about. Truth just is. We can call it something else, or pretend it didn’t happen, but its repercussions live with us, whether we choose to remember and acknowledge it or not."

"Language is a powerful thing, and it changes the way we view ourselves, and other people, in delightful and horrifying ways. Anyone with any knowledge of the military, or who pays attention to how the media talks about war, has likely caught on to this.

We don’t kill “people.” We kill “targets.” (Or japs or gooks or ragheads). We don’t kill “fifteen year old boys” but “enemy combatants” (yes, every boy 15 and over killed in drone strikes now is automatically listed as an enemy combatant. Not a boy. Not a child.)."

"And when we talk about “people” we don’t really mean “men and women.” We mean “people and female people.” We talk about “American Novelists” and “American Women Novelists.” We talk about “Teenage Coders” and “Lady Teenage Coders.”

And when we talk about war, we talk about soldiers and female soldiers.

Because this is the way we talk, when we talk about history and use the word “soldiers” it immediately erases any women doing the fighting. Which is it comes as no surprise that the folks excavating Viking graves didn’t bother to check whether the graves they dug up were male or female. They were graves swords in them. Swords are for soldiers. Soldiers are men.

It was years before they thought to even check the actual bones of the skeletons, instead of just saying, “Sword means dude!” and realized their mistake.

Women fought too."

"We like our narrative. It takes overwhelming evidence and – more importantly – the words of many, many, many people around us, for us to take action.

It’s why people can get into fistfights and assault others on busy sidewalks. It’s why people are killed in broad daylight, and homes are broken into even in areas with lots of foot traffic. Most people actually ignore things out of the ordinary. Or, worse, hope that someone else will take care of it."

ANy thoughts? It drove me thinking about how-- well, how our perspective were made by the stories others made.
It was said that we were an agglomeration of 5 people we're the closest with.

The way our perceptions were build and our assumptions were made....... It is very convenient, isn't it?

 

[lenina]

"truth is something that happens whether or not we see it, or believe it, or write about. Truth just is. We can call it something else, or pretend it didn’t happen, but its repercussions live with us, whether we choose to remember and acknowledge it or not."

I like that ^ quote. Sometimes I catch myself trying to yell the truth at someone only to realize that it is true whether i yell it or not. But that is a bit besides the point.

I think stories have a big impact on behaviour. To this day I'm a little afraid of groups of Germans, cuz of all the WWII stories I have heard growing up. And it is not right. And people are a little apprehensive around me, because of everything they see on the news about Muslims.

Here is a great article from Salon about how the stories of Hollywood are altered to fit certain narratives of the Pentagon.

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/06/man_of_steel_pentagon_propaganda_flic_partner/



On a more personal level, I have noticed that many families have "a story". Sort of a summary of why things don't work in the family, and why things went wrong. I think those stories are a way to simplify complexity, and so they serve a purpose. But sometimes they cloud judgement and limit alternative explanations for why things may be going wrong. For me it's a battle between is my marriage story and my parents' marriage story. Are our stories the same? Am I making the same mistake as my parents or not? And I know from my spouse, I have heard his family story, and I can see him make the same mistakes as his parents from time to time. Sometimes I feel we both get so caught up in our family stories, that our marriage is becoming destined to be just like that of our parents. History repeating itself, cuz we weren't wise enough to see an alternative narrative for ourselves. Dunno if that makes sense to anyone.

 

[Trifoilum]

I like that ^ quote. Sometimes I catch myself trying to yell the truth at someone only to realize that it is true whether i yell it or not. But that is a bit besides the point.

Oh, I've had that happening as well, but other times I find myself thinking "wait, is that the truth, or -my- truth?". Sometimes it's the former, other times it's the latter, and...well, things are just rather complicated.

I think stories have a big impact on behaviour. To this day I'm a little afraid of groups of Germans, cuz of all the WWII stories I have heard growing up. And it is not right. And people are a little apprehensive around me, because of everything they see on the news about Muslims.

Yes. This.
What stories, tales, prejudiced stereotypes do is they create a sort of baseline. An anchor of judgment. So when you see a member of a group, you inadvertently, subconsciously, instinctively judged them based on that baseline; how far or how close, how similar or how different. It's humane, it is a form of heuristic; or a brain's shortcut to think so that it doesn't get overwhelmed; but it's also damaging and unhealthy.

Here is a great article from Salon about how the stories of Hollywood are altered to fit certain narratives of the Pentagon.

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/06/man_of_steel_pentagon_propaganda_flic_partner/

That is great, thank you very much. I have heard that the people that made Transformers basically succeeded in getting the US Military equipment etc on the basis that "they would want to invade and hijack the best equipment.

Indeed; Pentagon, the US Military, the US as a superpower. There are narratives and themes and plots delicately creating that image, and we as people believed in that narrative-- even when we're disagreeing with it. A lot of the criticism and the complaint adhered to the same baseline. For instance, the U.S Military are heroes vs the U.S Military are invaders. It's only the opposite narrative, not a different narrative. It is not a criticism of narrative; only a criticism of value and elements.

On a more personal level, I have noticed that many families have "a story". Sort of a summary of why things don't work in the family, and why things went wrong. I think those stories are a way to simplify complexity, and so they serve a purpose. But sometimes they cloud judgement and limit alternative explanations for why things may be going wrong. For me it's a battle between is my marriage story and my parents' marriage story. Are our stories the same? Am I making the same mistake as my parents or not? And I know from my spouse, I have heard his family story, and I can see him make the same mistakes as his parents from time to time. Sometimes I feel we both get so caught up in our family stories, that our marriage is becoming destined to be just like that of our parents. History repeating itself, cuz we weren't wise enough to see an alternative narrative for ourselves. Dunno if that makes sense to anyone.

Also agreed so much. I, too, have a story. Hell, even in my own family I'm quite sure each of us have different stories about what happened. They serve a purpose indeed, but I also agreed that they cloud judgment so much.

And we cherry pick as well.

And I see what you mean. Sometimes I feel a lot of people, myself included, are caught on "not making the same story" rather than "making a different story".

 

[lenina]

Thanks for your response, you got me better than i did.I gotta work on making a different story!

The other shortcoming of simple naratives is that if they are incorrect,the problem cannot be solved,cuz it's not understood.