BREAKING: Man opens fire at Holocaust Museum. Terrorist attack? UPDATE: Perpetrator was white, a lone nut.
BREAKING: Man opens fire at Fort Hood, Texas. Terrorist attack? UPDATE: Muslim shooter may have Al Qaeda ties.
BREAKING: Light plane crashes into government building in Austin, Texas. Terrorist attack? UPDATE: Perpetrator was white, a lone nut.
All Terrorists Are Muslims is a Big Narrative that has stuck in the public consciousness over the past two decades. That wasn't always the stickiest Big Narrative on terrorism, and how it became one can tell us something about how Big Narratives become Sticky Narratives.
Speaking of sticky, the Janitor Professor of Astrology took a break from buffing to look up at the stars. He should have stuck to buffing.
More below the fold....
Sticky Narratives, Part II - Familiarity & Big Narrators (Plus Kossascopes)
This week Morning Feature looks at Big Narratives - stories that try to explain wide swaths of history and experience - with a focus on which narratives stick in the public mind. The Marketplace Of Ideas Big Narrative suggests we 'shop' for ideas, 'buying' the best and discarding the rest. But the Stickiest Narratives are not always the most reliable.
Yesterday we looked at one reason for that: we often test narratives against our own experience, and that is rarely a large enough sample set. Today we'll look at two other reasons we adopt unreliable narratives: familiarity and the role of Big Narrators. Tomorrow we'll discuss the implications for progressives and the Big Narratives we advocate.
All Terrorists Are Muslims is a Big Narrative that has stuck over the past two decades. Indeed it has stuck deeply that many now think that's been the Big Narrative of terrorism going back at least to the 1972 Olympics, as dramatized in the film Munich. But in the 1970s and especially the 1980s, the Sticky Narrative of terrorism was All Terrorists Are Communists. Author Claire Sterling claimed to prove that in her 1981 book The Terror Network, offering circumstantial evidence that tied everything from Black September to the Baader-Meinhof Gang and Red Brigades of Europe to (in a later edition) the shooting of Pope John Paul II to a communist plot to destabilize the West. When the fall of communism didn't end terrorism, of course that narrative had to change. The new Sticky Narrative was still familiar, however, because we like that. And for good reason.
Familiarity, utility, and stickiness.
A year ago in Morning Feature, I asked a rhetorical question: "Only the Stupid Resist Change?" At a time when our nation obviously needed and still needs change, why are so many so change-averse? I suggested that the answers may lie in our being a pattern-dependent species, and that "repetition enables reliability." There's a different and more familiar alliterative phrase, "practice makes perfect."
We like familiar Big Narratives, in part, because we're accustomed to using them. We practice their strategies, and with practice we get better at implementing them. Often the difference in utility - the usual or expected outcome - depends more on how well we implement a strategy than on which strategy we choose. There may be technique for dicing an onion that would save a few seconds over the technique I use. But until I was familiar with it, I'd likely be slower with the 'faster' technique than I am with the technique I use. If the difference is only a few seconds, and I dice only one onion a day at most, it's better to stick with what I know. And I do. As do most of us.
The All Terrorists Are Communists Big Narrative stuck, in part, because it offered a familiar Other. Americans were used to communism as The Enemy, and that narrative portrayed terrorism as simply a new tactic in the familiar Cold War. Sterling fit the PLO and other Islamic groups into that narrative, yet the Munich Massacre and several other horrific attacks drew enough attention that Americans became aware of tensions in the Middle East, even if we were told those tensions were being fomented out of Moscow.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the All Terrorists are Muslims Big Narrative supplied a different but still familiar Other. The 1993 World Trade Center attack fit the emerging Big Narrative, while the 1995 Oklahoma City attack, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics attack, and the 20 years of attacks by the Ted Kaczynski were "exceptions" carried out by "lone nuts." As for bombings of women's health clinics and gay/lesbian clubs, and the murders of doctors and LGBTs - many committed by people who were in regular contact - those simply weren't "terrorism."
To consider those as terrorism would have required an unfamiliar Other or, rather, a too-familiar Other: people like Us. That asks a new and disturbing set of questions: is my neighbor the decent if a bit overzealous church-going guy I've always thought, or might he be an extremist? That's an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place to go. Do we really want to suspect everyone? What about freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly? Better to stick with the Big Narratives we know, or think we know, thanks to....
The Big Narrators
From films like Executive Decision and The Siege, to miniseries like Sleeper Cell and The Grid, to the weekly series 24 and countless TV documentaries, books, and talking heads, Americans have been deluged with stories of Islamic terrorism. Some have been well-told stories, others not, but all combine to give stickiness to the Big Narrative of All Terrorists Are Muslim.
Why did Islamic terrorism become the default thriller narrative in the 1990s? Some of it may have been timeliness, capitalizing on current news stories. That was certainly the case after 9/11. Some may have been producers' sense that audiences were tiring of the previous default thriller narrative: Latin American Drug Lords. Some was the classic Hollywood Big Narrative: That Made Money; Let's Copy It!
I won't say there was any conspiracy to saturate Americans with stories of Islamic terrorism in the 1990s. But there was certainly no shortage of "technical advisors" willing to help those stories along. Producers know audiences like the illusion of "inside information" in fiction, stories that purport to use official terminology or highlight new technology and tactics. Many "technical advisors" - especially those in government - are selective in what stories they'll assist. Top Gun got the full support of the U.S. Navy. Its spoof, Hot Shots!, did not.
Is All Terrorists Are Muslims a reliable Big Narrative? Only if you define "terrorism" to include only attacks committed by Muslims. But it's still a Sticky Narrative ... because familiarity and Big Narrators provide more stickiness than do facts.
And again, that's a problem for progressives. But tomorrow we'll explore some solutions.
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And yes, the Janitor Professor of Astrology really should stick to buffing. He's familiar with that, and the stars are in a bad mood....
Pisces - It's Still Cold isn't really a Big Narrative, but it is a Sticky one.
Aries - A Sticky Narrative isn't one you type after doing that. And "Oooooh" has five o's.
Taurus - Whether B.S. is a Sticky Narrative depends on one's footwear. For your shoes ... it is.
Gemini - Yes, Everything is a Big Narrative. It's a bit vague, though.
Cancer - Gum On My Chair is a Sticky Narrative, but not a Big one. Unless it's Bubblicious.
Leo - Yes, Waaaaah is a Big Narrative for babies. No idea who their Big Narrator is.
Virgo - Your Big Narrator left a message. Something about sorting.
Libra - Your Big Narrative this weekend will be Why? And no, I don't know.
Scorpio - Using Cliff's Notes for Big Narratives seems like a contradiction to me.
Sagittarius - Are those Big Narratives, or is it chilly in here?
Capricorn - Your Big Narrative this weekend will be Because! Better avoid Libras.
Aquarius - Ice Cream shouldn't be that Big a Narrative. Three scoops is plenty....
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Happy Friday!