Unfortunately, the presidential race has devolved into bigotry based on dangerous stereotypes about race, religion and gender. For the next meeting, we will view three TED Talks about how we can overcome these false narratives.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells how the single narrative has distorted our views of Africans.
- Anand Giridharadas tells a story of forgiveness after a religious hate crime.
- Dame Stephanie Shirley tells how gender based bias of women in business was overcome.
There exist at least a couple of overlapping social theories that may shed some light on the power and intractable nature of narrative, or at least provide some material for discussion. Without getting too deeply into the weeds of these theories, they generally argue that humankind’s most fundamental anxieties stem from a fear of meaninglessness. That is, because we are conscious of our own mortality, we are faced with the prospect that life could be completely without meaning and significance, and utter insignificance is a quality few people can embrace. Consequently, we socially produce stories (religions, ideologies, philosophies, team traditions, etc.) that anchor us in an otherwise meaningless cosmos, so that any attack on an anchoring narrative is not just a difference of opinion but a threat to our very psychic survival. Furthermore, because of the conditions in which these human narratives were born and nurtured during our long evolutionary past, we harbor a predisposition to denigrate if not destroy other narratives. Nothing supports a narrative and creates group cohesion like a common enemy.
ReplyDeleteBut if these social theories seem depressingly pessimistic, what they cannot do is explain why only some people seem to have a strong need for such simplistic “us vs. them” narratives in order to maintain some sense of meaning and significance. Others are more comfortable with less rigid narratives that allow for greater tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Nevertheless, those not so inclined to openness are clinging to what Peter Berger refers to as a “fabric of meaning” that justifies their very existence. To give it up is for them to give up any hope of significance in an otherwise vast and meaningless universe. Reason has little effect against this kind of fear, and frontal assaults only heighten it. So if these theories are accurate, getting beyond this fear of meaninglessness and insignificance will be essential to overcoming hateful and destructive narratives.