I've been avoiding "meta" posting lately, trying to keep myself to factuals. If you consider comic book reviews to be factual content, which I do. (And more on that below). But obviously there is enough going on in the world that I want to give an overall view of what I think is important! One reason why it has been hard to do that, is that events have moved so fast that my examples have changed as I have thought about what to write. Remember that less than two weeks ago, a presidential candidate was struck by a bullet? Haha, wow, you have a good memory if so. Looking out my window at the smoke filled skies, it is hard to remember what happened in another surreal summer.
But lets start on June 27, 2024, when Joe Biden and Donald Trump had the first presidential debate. Joe Biden stumbled, and immediately, pundits asked whether voters would lose confidence in him. It became a topic on social media. Democratic Party leaders started being asked if they still supported Biden. The quandary and confusion fed on itself, and the pressure built, until a little over three weeks later, Joe Biden announced that he was no longer running for reelection. Was this a good decision? My own opinion is that Biden's slips were probably superficial, but that citizens should know without doubt that the president is competent, and that by that criteria, it was time for him to step aside. But what was strange and alarming to me is that the decision that this was a topic that had to be addressed seemed to arise so quickly, and that it arose over the horizon. People were talking about what people were talking about, but where the original question arose, we can't say. In contrast to that, it has been decided, again over the horizon, that Donald Trump's support is ironclad and fanatical. When Donald Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to pay for the silence of a pornographic actress, the question "Who will be the first Republican leader to ask Trump to stand aside?" or "Does this spell the end of Trump's candidacy". In fact, the narrative seemed to suggest that this would actually strengthen his support.
Sometime back in 2015 or 2016, "we" created something called a "Trump voter". There was actually a few shaky moments when the "Trump voter" dissipated. When Trump insulted John McCain's service record, there was a few days when the narrative was unsettled---were Republican voters still "conservative" in the sense of respecting tradition? But the tipping point was reached then, and a few other times--- the Access Hollywood tape was one of them, and a narrative was formed that Trump voters would support him no matter what. At the same time, the narrative was formed that the Democratic Party leadership, and Democratic voters, were worrywarts who would pick at their scabs endlessly looking for a perfect candidate. I could give other examples and more details of how this happened, but for this short summary, I think the general point is clear.
And here is another point: I don't think this narrative was started by anyone, and not for ulterior purposes. One idea is that the "corporate media" created this idea for specific partisan purposes. But "corporate media" is itself something that exists in the narrative, and as much as the media (corporate or not), it is along for the ride. Balancing up there on Shai Hulud, trying not to get thrown off. And that is how I view the narrative, as a self-enforcing creature, a wyrm eating its own tail, creating storylines that it pushes into reality, which then provide more fodder for it to feed on. Since I am still sane, even in this surreal summer, I view this as a helpful metaphor. Mostly. But to put it simply, we are all in the position of reacting to a narrative that seems to have been created "somewhere else", instead of creating narratives that reflect our own experience.
So what is the solution? Well, back to my comic book reviews! And Young Adult novel reviews! Sometimes I review things that seem minor or fanciful, but the point is, I am engaging with a text, engaging with a story, and the minute I do that, it becomes something that I am actively thinking about. Narratives are made of words, words start narratives, but words can also end narratives---and redirect them. Once you start asking "how" and "why" of a narrative, you control it, instead of it controlling you. And so I read a book for young adults written forty years ago, and it reminds me that the "fact" that the United States is divided into "Red States" and "Blue States" that have radically different value systems is actually a recent paradigm. I read a back-up story in a Spider-Man comic and I realize that creator perspectives can make the message of even a brief story complicated, especially when it is made by multiple creators in a corporate setting. Basically, anything I read allows me to ask those "how" and "why" questions, and allows me to realize that there is a reality beyond narratives. (So thank you for allowing me my sometimes fanciful reviews of long-ago media--- while it might not be of general interest, it does allow me to inoculate myself against narratives). Of course, this approach only works for me. How much can one person do? But it becomes a categorical imperative type of thing---if everyone were to spend some time thinking about narratives, we would be in a much better place. Of course, the specific formula I use, writing about seemingly trivial media on this site, isn't the universal cure, but I do believe that writing with some structure is helpful.