Kristofer Munsterhjelm said: > One should be careful with election by story, though. The worst kind > of modern-day dictatorial regimes have often been backed by stories > or myths to lend the regime legitimacy. ...
Yes, I agree. The events of the 20th century effectively innoculated a generation against this particular disease, but younger generations aren't necessarily immune. Under the right circumstances, propaganda can masquerade as a legitimate world view. It can fool people into making terrible mistakes. > ... For instance, left-wing authoritarian rulers have claimed power > to have been given to them by the workers or the people, and that > the centralization of power through authoritarian measures is needed > in order to protect the system from vast external enemies that would > otherwise destroy it, and so that the rulers can direct the nation > towards a glorious future. Similar mythology exists on the right: > see, for instance, Gentile's description of the structure of Italian > Fascism: http://www.oslo2000.uio.no/program/papers/s12/s12-gentile.pdf > Among other things, he notes that totalitarianism provides a > single narrative, then seeks to "politicize" all of life so as to > pull it into that narrative. This trick depends on an un-elected narrative, of course. There are moments in history when people make the wrong choices and are trapped by them, and come to regret them. Examples are post-Periclean Athens and Weimar Germany. But the basis of legitimacy for these mistakes is narrow (often a single vote) compared to the lengthy and elaborate election of a narrative world view. Examples again are compilations such as The Iliad, The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Old and New Testaments. These are traditionally the work of centuries, and they stand for a long time, if not forever. Could such a "cultural election" happen in modern times, do you think? Or what might prevent it? Mike Kristofer Munsterhjelm said: > On 12/03/2012 05:35 AM, Michael Allan wrote: > > Jonathan Denn said: > >> Someone is editing Kurt Vonnegut letters for publication. This was > >> online today... I'm struck with "editor" meaning "voter" and > >> "stories" as "candidates" > >> "...I invite you to read the fifteen tales ..." > > > > I believe whole civilizations have been voted into existence by this > > method, more or less. The candidate stories for the collection are > > myths of a cherished past (as in The Iliad), or utopias of a hopeful > > future (New Testament) or both (Mahabharata). The narrow method is > > one of cultural selection; but the larger process, which Vonnegut > > seems also to ask of his students, might more pointedly be called > > "cultural *e*lection". > > > > Could such an election happen in modern times, do you think? > > One should be careful with election by story, though. The worst kind of > modern-day dictatorial regimes have often been backed by stories or > myths to lend the regime legitimacy. For instance, left-wing > authoritarian rulers have claimed power to have been given to them by > the workers or the people, and that the centralization of power through > authoritarian measures is needed in order to protect the system from > vast external enemies that would otherwise destroy it, and so that the > rulers can direct the nation towards a glorious future. Similar > mythology exists on the right: see, for instance, Gentile's description > of the structure of Italian Fascism: > http://www.oslo2000.uio.no/program/papers/s12/s12-gentile.pdf . Among > other things, he notes that totalitarianism provides a single narrative, > then seeks to "politicize" all of life so as to pull it into that narrative. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info