Can we escape this narrative?

Question

"I'm being oppressed" or "my beliefs are endangered by (fill in group of your choice)" etc seems to be a refrain i keep hearing out of various people these days.

Which is kind of funny because when I query the people who come from a diametrically opposed viewpoints - they kind of have the same thing on their mind.

Strangely, there's a kind of......."faith"(not the best word to use here) that the otherside (whatever the otherside may be) will be swept away, and that the Earth will be a better place (or at least a quieter place) without the other people around.

So its a model of "Crisis" --- "Struggle" ---- "Assured Future Success(They will See the Light/Reason/Great Proletarian Revolution/Whatever)"

Its a kind of narrative - Is it rather more like a mental trick/structuring that gives meaning to peoples lives? (IE: The struggle gives me meaning.)

C people who walkdown it escape the narrative? Do they even want to?

Hey Jon - In a certain way this also goes beyond simply "spiritual" matters. Take a look at certain teleological philosophies like Communism or Nazi brand of Fascism.

A Crisis, A Struggle, a Goup of Folk who need to be Eliminated, and a Bright Future ahead.

Mommanuke - I specifically excluded people such as yourself from the above.

And i have hope that people like you are the majority - and these others who follow the "Conflict Narrative" are the minority subset.

Just a thought to all of you still watching

A 2nd Question - (putting it in caps so no one misses it)

But WHY - do people fall into this narrative in the first place?

Is it because it makes life simple?

Answer 1

I believe that postmodernism allows us to see that there is validity in many ways of life and points of view and thus to rise above all of them and reach some understandings about what is valid from every point of view. One of those things is tolerance (though we ironically do not tolerate intolerance because the person being intolerant requires us to re-establish peaceful coexistence). To the extent people feel like they are being oppressed when there is no oppression I think they are confined to their own point of view and becoming very tribal and narrow-minded.

But I find that it is a self-fulfilling fear - atheists feel oppressed by the presence of theism in public life so they push back. This threatens theists so they push back. Which is then used as evidence that theists really want to oppress atheists, so they go still further. Which is used as evidence that atheists are hostile to others and so the theists go further. Ad infinitem. Then there really is oppression, but it is largely oppression we are all causing. The only solution to that escalation situation is to be the side to back down first. Which neither side is going to do because there is no trust the other side will not advance into their retreat.

Such a pity. So much unnecessary suffering.

Answer 2

No, I don't think anyone who is in this narrative is trying to escape. Remember, they have the "assured future" to look forward to. Why change what they are doing, if they believe whole-heartedly in the infallibility of their ideal?

The problem is that they don't even see that the other side has exactly the same attitude and is also absolutely sure of their own infallibility.

Throughout history, as the winner writes the history, it's clear that "the good guy always wins." Despite the fact that there was no real difference between the "good" guy and the "bad" guy other than perspective bias.

Edit: I think people fall into it by association or socialization like most other things. By getting selective information fed to them until they internalize the message.

Answer 3

Almost no one who believes in this way can ever be changed because they feel too threatened by even considering an alternative. Their minds will occasionally glance off of a question and quickly bounce back with shudders at how horrible the experience was.

However, there are variations within these subsets. For instance, as an agnostic/atheist, I would hope that mankind eventually would achieve reason and learn to love each other without fearing a penalty for not doing so. But I am not really disturbed by the opposite belief, as long as that belief doesn't infringe on my ability to believe as I do.

Answer 4

I certainly hope so. I've been doing some writing about my (admitted) predjudice against fundamentalists (Christians in particular) as it plays out in my own family. I find that it is extremely difficult to ask sincere questions about faith, or to expect thoughtful answers, once the narrative is "running". I think that this might be why fundamentalists place so much hope in Apocalypse--its essentially a shattering of the narrative in which thier perspective is ultimately validated. On the other hand, I'm willing to consider that Apocalypse is a metaphor, and that if there is to be a literal "Second Coming" as described in fundamentalist Christianity, that the joke might ultimately be on them. I for one would like to escape the narrative, but admit that it is firghtening to not know what lies beyond it.

Answer 5

The promise of what will occur according to Christianity is not the removal of all other people, but the understanding that Christianity is the correct 'religion' , and will replace all other religions. Why?

Because Jesus is going to come to Earth at what is referred to as the Second Coming, not only found in Revelation, but also in Zechariah 14, and also prophesied in a song that everyone knows! Have you paid attention to the song, Joy to the World? It's not a Christmas song, it's a prophetic song that many do not pay attention to. It tells of the Second Coming and the 1000 years of His rule on Earth.

Answer 6

I will attempt a graphic depiction of the difficulty of limited perspective. Below, you will find a line. Imagine that there are people on each side of the line, above and below it. The people above the line might say this:

"Wow! I'm so fortunate to be in the presence of this marvelous wall! I know that on the other side of the wall, there are horrible people, depravity, vices, sickening things, sin, horror, baby-eating and stuff that just ain't right!"
______________________________________________

(The people on the other side of the line, however, see it something like this): "Let us be truly thankful to be here protected by our glorious wall, insulated from the wickedness on the other side--where we dare not go!"

But...from where YOU are--looking at my somewhat frivolous answer to your fairly serious question--you can see that it isn't a wall at all; it's only a line.

It's a matter of perspective.

Answer 7

Perception is reality. And the perception that I see is a set of dogmatic doctrine not in concert with a dynamic and infinite God.

I don't think that all Christians want to be Paul. But some do. And they construct their own jails from which to preach.

With regards and respects

Answer 8

I don't think they do want to escape it. The childish "I am right and all of YOU idiots are wrong" paradigm is the only thing they know. I suspect it scares them to think that they might not have all the answers of the ages in their particular brand of spirituality.

Answer 9

One anecdotal example to address a strawman argument - you're not even trying to be taken seriously are you?

Answer 10

this question kind of gives me a little headache.