Myths of Nationhood

Being a good American means that you only subscribe (придерживаетесь) to one version of the USA, Mythical America. That is the America, we have been told, that always puts the interests of the poor and downtrodden first. That is the America that would never strike first, and is a good world citizen, never polluting or using more than its share of the world's resources. As far as countries go, Mythical America is as good as it gets.

Myth forces a certain " truth." We cannot escape (избежать) myth. It is the crucial way for us to move from our present state to a very different future. Myth can be revolutionary or reactionary. Myth has been called a " cultural troubleshooter, " a solution to cultural contradiction.

Political veils include political symbols, rhetoric, rituals, mythologies, and traditions. They veil the rough edges offering idealized images of the system. But veils always imply (подразумевают, предполагают) some degree of concealment of truth.

The language of politics is ineffective without mythic elements that are unverifiable, irrational yet motivational. Therefore, myth should be embraced with reserve. Myth has a virtual power in producing events, before and after the fact.

Mythic events burst through the status quo. We build our historical " truths" as healing or divisive fictions from a mythologized perception (восприятие). It is neither false consciousness nor an unqualified positive force. Myth can serve subversion or the ruling elite. Oppression and subversion is the dialectical myth. The grand dialectic is between myth and history. History generates myth and myth generates history.

Political myth can be used as persuasive ideological discourse. It is a continuous process of unfolding narrative significance and collective social meaning. They help us orient and know how to act and feel about our world, whether we buy into them or react against them. From the banal to the extraordinary, they help us name the unknown and chart our direction.

Political myths differ from sacral myths in the forms they are presented in and the functions they serve. But these stories have the status of sacred in one or more social groups. They embody operative intentionalities, a narrative for ways of being in the world. The myths we embrace define our place in society.

But the modern political psyche is in the midst of a rite of passage where economics and imperialism take centerstage. Globalization is the foremost issue of the 21st century. Is the " clash of civilizations" myth just another propagandized view that has become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

The function of myth is essentially hegemonic but no individual or political group can occupy the seat of power that unites all society. Hegemony isn't a description of the status quo but a description of the means of political change and opposition to domination.

Источник: https://tavistockagenda.iwarp.com/whats_new_17.html

Подробнее на сайте: https://study-english.info/political015.php#ixzz3lQkiju3I
https://study-english.info/

What Is Democracy? (Что такое демократия?)