A little while ago, I realized that
people have completely different life narratives for a variety of reasons that
make it almost impossible to relate, or even have a normal conversation because
they differ so much in how they see the world. I realized this when in a
mandated class assignment on how to improve Americas trust with police, I was
put in a group with someone in training to be a police officer. The man in
training to become a police officer carried on that the media wants to crucify
police officers, and that's why cops have such a strong group mentality; and
always side with other officers, even if an officer is accused of doing
something bad. I shot back that if anything the media sugar coats what police
officers do and never harass them like the media harasses civilians showing up
at their homes and pester people, never showing up at their homes harassing
them like the media does with civilians, never asking them tough questions and
even when criticizing them the media always has to start off by saying
something like, “I’m only talking about the bad ones, obviously most cops are
good”. We got nowhere in the discussion. This is the power of narratives.
When I look at who I’m going to
vote for, I don’t look at their policy positions because those change constantly
due to changing events and political expediency. I look at their overall
worldview to tell me how they will act when they are actually in power. That’s how
I vote; based on narratives, and one good way to understand narratives is in the vocabulary that someone uses.
As mentioned in Perloff, (321),Ronald Reagan started his
narrative with “Its morning in America”. It’s an optimistic narrative that
essential says that America will overcome whatever obstacles we face because
this is America. That phrase has been replaced by American Exceptionalism which
largely means the same thing. American Exceptionalism seems to be a slogan for the GOP. Especially
for Ted Cruz. He explained American Exceptionalism as:
When I read because I have
different narrative or world view, it’s like gibberish. I think to myself that America didn’t stop the Nazis alone, we were one of many allies,
the Soviets lost more people than anyone
fighting the Nazis and were more responsible for Nazi defeat as well. When I see this mindset applied to modern policy I worry. To me
this mindset of American Exceptionalism means that America can’t fail, that whatever we do is right; if we attack
Iran we will be in the moral right, everyone who is moral will side with us and
we will off course win with no chance of defeat and all the responsibility for
the death and destruction will lay at the hands of the enemy. I shudder when I
think of a man like this holding power, it’s the kind of man who send thousands
of young people to their death, who bomb civilian populations. A
man incapable of seeing any kind of inequality, injustice, or brutality happening
within his own “exceptional” nation. I see a monster who would see himself as righteous
no matter what crime he commits.
Then we have Bernie Sanders. We
have a man who has cloaked himself in a vocabulary that most are afraid to
embrace. He is a self-described Socialist calling for revolution (although a
non-violent one). He is the opposite not only of Cruz but of most Republicans
and democrats. He sees a deeply flawed society. He sees a society marked by
inequality. He sees a society that doesn't work for the majority of the
population, and sees no problem applying foreign ideas such as Socialism to
change things. He, unlike most other candidates, sees the flaws in our foreign policy
and wants to rectify them.
I see a man with potential to shape
my countries future for the better. Sanders narrative of Socialism is a direct
opposite Cruz’s narrative of American Exceptionalism.
Oh and just a fun fact it was actually Stalin that coined
the phrase America Exceptionalism and meant it as an insult. So the Republicans talking about American Exceptionalism are really quoting Stalin.
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