A good post... one of the things that tends to bother me is the underlying assumption by a lot of people (on both the left and right) that there IS some sort of arc or plan--that it is inevitable that progress will be made.
This is something that bleeds into our thinking about history from our religious culture... either directly or thro…
A good post... one of the things that tends to bother me is the underlying assumption by a lot of people (on both the left and right) that there IS some sort of arc or plan--that it is inevitable that progress will be made.
This is something that bleeds into our thinking about history from our religious culture... either directly or through (in the case of the Left) Hegelian perspectives on history.
This determination/belief that it will all work out right in the end (however you might define right) breeds a certain complacency. This regularly bites the progressives in the behind, especially in midterms and more local politics.
There is no arc to history, because "history" is really only a story we come up with to explain why we are where we are. There is only the daily, recurring struggle to make a better life for ourselves and others.
It's very human to think of ourselves in terms of the stories we tell. We like to think that we are progressing somewhere, that we're doing good and that we're moving toward something. It's human to see ourselves as being part of a greater whole. That's just human nature.
One of the issues we now have is that liberals question many of our stories, and not without fault. The founders questioned many of the stories about their own monarchal culture in their own time. The problem is that liberals haven't yet settled on a story they'd like to tell instead. Many of them resemble what can best be thought of as modern day baptists or the like. Very fire and brimstone, very 'the world is fallen and we are sinners, repent lest ye be damned' types. There's plenty of that in American history too.
Much of the problem I think, is that liberals don't seem to every consider that they need to talk with people or explain how they got to conclusions. They simply say the conclusion, assume people will understand the jumps in logic, and as a result, end up making things worse for themselves.
It is the stories we tell that MAKE us human. It is the quintessential difference between human and animal. Animals live in the moment, humans rarely live in the moment--we are most usually in the past or future.
The stories we tell to explain why we are here.
The stories we tell to explain who we are--and, more importantly, that MAKE us what/who we are.
The stories we tell so that we can see where we are going (even though we rarely actually get there).
The jumps in logic are often NOT visible to the person telling the story. The inconsistencies and contradictions--because we tell the stories and rarely think about them or critique them.
It is kind of like trying to teach someone something that you know EXTREMELY well or are EXTREMELY good at... and you can't understand why they aren't getting it (because you left out a LOT of things that you never even think about, though perhaps you once did).
A good post... one of the things that tends to bother me is the underlying assumption by a lot of people (on both the left and right) that there IS some sort of arc or plan--that it is inevitable that progress will be made.
This is something that bleeds into our thinking about history from our religious culture... either directly or through (in the case of the Left) Hegelian perspectives on history.
This determination/belief that it will all work out right in the end (however you might define right) breeds a certain complacency. This regularly bites the progressives in the behind, especially in midterms and more local politics.
There is no arc to history, because "history" is really only a story we come up with to explain why we are where we are. There is only the daily, recurring struggle to make a better life for ourselves and others.
It's very human to think of ourselves in terms of the stories we tell. We like to think that we are progressing somewhere, that we're doing good and that we're moving toward something. It's human to see ourselves as being part of a greater whole. That's just human nature.
One of the issues we now have is that liberals question many of our stories, and not without fault. The founders questioned many of the stories about their own monarchal culture in their own time. The problem is that liberals haven't yet settled on a story they'd like to tell instead. Many of them resemble what can best be thought of as modern day baptists or the like. Very fire and brimstone, very 'the world is fallen and we are sinners, repent lest ye be damned' types. There's plenty of that in American history too.
Much of the problem I think, is that liberals don't seem to every consider that they need to talk with people or explain how they got to conclusions. They simply say the conclusion, assume people will understand the jumps in logic, and as a result, end up making things worse for themselves.
It is the stories we tell that MAKE us human. It is the quintessential difference between human and animal. Animals live in the moment, humans rarely live in the moment--we are most usually in the past or future.
The stories we tell to explain why we are here.
The stories we tell to explain who we are--and, more importantly, that MAKE us what/who we are.
The stories we tell so that we can see where we are going (even though we rarely actually get there).
The jumps in logic are often NOT visible to the person telling the story. The inconsistencies and contradictions--because we tell the stories and rarely think about them or critique them.
It is kind of like trying to teach someone something that you know EXTREMELY well or are EXTREMELY good at... and you can't understand why they aren't getting it (because you left out a LOT of things that you never even think about, though perhaps you once did).