A trouble making squirrel and weaponising the narrative
Published: Wed, 04/18/18
The Norse Mythology tells us that the Yggrasil, or ‘World Tree’ has a fearsome dragon living in its roots, and a wise and knowledgeable eagle, perched on its highest branch. Other creatures live in the mighty Ash including four stags, which graze on the leaves, and a squirrel called Ratatosk (meaning ‘rat toothed one’). Apparently the squirrel runs incessantly between the dragon and the eagle, carrying malicious messages from one to the other. I have no idea if the squirrel makes up the messages, or changes them to cause offence, or just facilitates an ongoing feud between the two creatures. Either way, the rodent must enjoy his work of creating mischief and discord, or he would not bother.
I know some people who claim the best way to deal with our world, is to avoid the media in all its forms. At least as much as you can, in the modern world. I can see their point, and we all have better things to do than spend hours each day paying attention to, so called, news.
I will admit that I find the news interesting. Not so much for what it tells me, but for the agenda that is revealed. We would like to imagine that a trusted newspaper, or broadcaster, will only tell us the truth as far as they are able to. We would hope that opinion pieces would then discuss the matters of the day in fair and balanced way. That would be nice. Ratatosk could provide a very useful service, conducting true and useful messages from dragon to eagle. But no, we are told the messages are malicious, because the squirrel either has his own agenda, or serves someone else’s.
We talk of news ‘stories’ or ‘narratives’. Those who manage media claim that some stories must be told ‘in the public interest’. This becomes the justification for sharing one story rather than another. Fair enough, there are only so many column inches in a news paper, so many minutes in a radio, or tv, bulletin. It used to be that if you did not hear a story through the ‘Mainstream Media’ (or MSM as it is often labeled), then you would not know anything about it at all, unless you happened to be close to the event itself. Now that we have the Internet, we have access to more information than ever before. This means the possibility of finding out about stories unreported in the MSM, or other perspectives on reported stories. You may claim that you have more important things to worry about than stories in the media. I have sympathy with that attitude, it is all too easy to waste time worrying about things we cannot change, rather
than dealing with our actual responsibilities. On the other hand, stories are not just told selectively in the media. Narratives are weaponised to create hatred and fear. That hatred and fear then serves to justify acts of war and destruction. Missile strikes on Syria at the weekend, are being justified by a story of chemical weapon use by the Assad regime. Is the story true or not? In a way it does not really matter, the point is that the narrative has been weaponised, to further an agenda of western hostility towards Syria. A month ago, the story of an ex Russian Spy and his daughter falling ill in Salisbury was used to generate hostility towards Russia, and Putin in particular. What actually happened in Salisbury? I have know idea, but I can say with certainty, that the story has been enthusiastically weaponised, to justify an agenda of animosity towards Russia.
Before you react that Russia and Syria are just getting the criticism they deserve, check out our Prime Minister’s attitude towards Saudi Arabia and its actions in Yemen. There has been massive destruction in Yemen from military action, starvation and disease. When asked about it, Mrs May just claimed that the Saudis were supporting the government of the Yemen, in its struggle to keep peace and order. No enthusiasm for weaponising that narrative then. There is also something very nasty going on between Israel and Gaza. Israeli troops have killed 31 Palestinian protesters and wounded hundreds in the past couple of weeks. The situation does get mentioned in the Western MSM occasionally, but there is no agenda to weaponise that particular narrative. There is something very revealing, in the way that one narrative is weaponised, and another is reported in a low key way, if mentioned at all.
There is a word for ‘weaponising the narative’ (my made up phrase). The correct word is, propaganda. However, I was brought up to believe that only ‘bad’ countries (like the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany) used propaganda, western countries, like the UK, had ‘news’ which only served the ‘public interest’. Does propaganda matter? Not if you can see through to the agenda it serves. If you can see the propaganda for what it is, then you can also learn a lot about the agenda of those who are pushing the weaponised narrative. What does matter, is that if we live in a democracy, voters are ultimately responsible for those who represent them. Voters can only make responsible decisions, if they can see the agenda of the people they are voting for. To see the agenda, you have to be able to see through the propaganda. It isn’t hard, but you do have to be willing to think for yourself.
regards
Graham
PS I am about to launch my next Stav study programme. This will be a martial based one. There is obviously a great deal that I can’t teach at a distance, such as weapon training. However, I can share teaching on how to understand violence, how to be aware of risk and threat, before you are in actual physical danger and simple principles for keeping yourself, and your loved ones safe. Please check it out here http://iceandfire.org.uk/martial01.html