The word is 'narrative.' It came into popular use in the media a few years ago. Can't recall what term was used before that for the crap that comes out of the snoot. The term is used for the public statements politicians make. Other professionals, academics among them, are using the term for a person's bag of words spilled in print and television media. I have a few ideas on why the new use of an old word.
Politicians have always been known to lie. So do a lot of other people. Business people lie. Information gets bolixed. I think the term 'narrative' is used because people have become so pervasively dishonest that what is said can no longer regarded as statements of fact. It's about the difference between what dishonest people say, and what they or their people do. Their narrative may have little, or nothing, to do with what is really on the slate. Our government is known to perpetrate deception. Businesses perpetrate deception. It is no longer sensible to believe what is said. People listen or read, and wait to see if what was said jibes with what happens as a result. When a public figures speak, we are not hearing the truth, we are hearing their story.
An example: In Hillary Clinton's narratives, the Clinton Foundation raises money on behalf of social agendas. In most working models, the money is distributed to nonprofit agencies, which pay themselves to act as a surrogate God. They will provide for the poor and rescue the oppressed. If that doesn't work out, and it rarely does, a sector of the middle class gets a nice salary while pretending to help the poor and oppressed. In all narratives, the organizations claim to be great humanitarians and philanthropists, intellectuals, scientists and freedom fighters. In my crabbed, miserable experience with nonprofit agencies people were jerk offs, professional or otherwise. Most were there for the money, few had much regard for the poor and oppressed. Embitterment can be degrading. I'm down there.
Another example is very recent, just came up, fresh as a turkey egg, on Facebook. People have been talking about Ben Carson's narrative. I don't recall him saying he grew up in public housing, but it seems from the banter that at some point he did, and now the word is that he didn't grow up in public housing. If he lied in the course of a statement of fact, this would illustrate my point that what he says is more fiction than fact. Hence the term 'narrative.'
For alternative theories, the word might sound more sophisticated, more literary, than what the previous term for bullshit was. Lots of people like to sound more sophisticated than they are, and words like 'narrative' sound more intellectual than 'speech' or 'the hash that prick was slinging.' It all means the same thing. Another thought is that the word makes politics sound more humane and advanced, though people are still a load of vicious barbarians, with credentials. The US has become a silk purse made from a sow's ears. Only possible now with advanced technology. We are too far removed from the body politic to observe what is being done. We rely upon narratives to understand what is being done, and the information is unreliable.
We are told stories, on the news, before we go to sleep. Sleep well. Dream in a beautiful, warmly illustrated narrative. Your dream is probably nearer to fact than the bullshit we hear in the news. The nearest substitute for the word 'narrative' is 'bullshit.'
Politicians have always been known to lie. So do a lot of other people. Business people lie. Information gets bolixed. I think the term 'narrative' is used because people have become so pervasively dishonest that what is said can no longer regarded as statements of fact. It's about the difference between what dishonest people say, and what they or their people do. Their narrative may have little, or nothing, to do with what is really on the slate. Our government is known to perpetrate deception. Businesses perpetrate deception. It is no longer sensible to believe what is said. People listen or read, and wait to see if what was said jibes with what happens as a result. When a public figures speak, we are not hearing the truth, we are hearing their story.
An example: In Hillary Clinton's narratives, the Clinton Foundation raises money on behalf of social agendas. In most working models, the money is distributed to nonprofit agencies, which pay themselves to act as a surrogate God. They will provide for the poor and rescue the oppressed. If that doesn't work out, and it rarely does, a sector of the middle class gets a nice salary while pretending to help the poor and oppressed. In all narratives, the organizations claim to be great humanitarians and philanthropists, intellectuals, scientists and freedom fighters. In my crabbed, miserable experience with nonprofit agencies people were jerk offs, professional or otherwise. Most were there for the money, few had much regard for the poor and oppressed. Embitterment can be degrading. I'm down there.
Another example is very recent, just came up, fresh as a turkey egg, on Facebook. People have been talking about Ben Carson's narrative. I don't recall him saying he grew up in public housing, but it seems from the banter that at some point he did, and now the word is that he didn't grow up in public housing. If he lied in the course of a statement of fact, this would illustrate my point that what he says is more fiction than fact. Hence the term 'narrative.'
For alternative theories, the word might sound more sophisticated, more literary, than what the previous term for bullshit was. Lots of people like to sound more sophisticated than they are, and words like 'narrative' sound more intellectual than 'speech' or 'the hash that prick was slinging.' It all means the same thing. Another thought is that the word makes politics sound more humane and advanced, though people are still a load of vicious barbarians, with credentials. The US has become a silk purse made from a sow's ears. Only possible now with advanced technology. We are too far removed from the body politic to observe what is being done. We rely upon narratives to understand what is being done, and the information is unreliable.
We are told stories, on the news, before we go to sleep. Sleep well. Dream in a beautiful, warmly illustrated narrative. Your dream is probably nearer to fact than the bullshit we hear in the news. The nearest substitute for the word 'narrative' is 'bullshit.'
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