Headline this week in the Edmonton Journal:
B.C. glaciers 38 per cent thicker than expected, surprising study finds
And then there’s the sub-headline that follows it:
Some glaciers might last a few years or even a decade longer, but that
still won’t save them from climate change
The first is a documented fact, the second is nothing more
than an opinion. But since “climate change” is the prevailing media narrative, even
thousands of measurements taken by a sled-mounted ice-penetrating radar system
which have been analyzed and written up by a team from the University of Northern British Columbia must be forced
into service of the narrative rather than being allowed to appear to contradict
it for even a moment.
That’s the power of the
narrative. When science is alleged to support it, you are a “denier” not to
accept it. When science appears to contradict it, then science requires judicious
reinterpretation.
Narratives and Their Baggage
Narratives need not be an endless series of lies. Their
defining feature is not their falsehood but an odd combination of durability
and lack of substance. And it’s not just climate change: we are bombarded with
narratives today on all fronts, and it’s because they are so effective. Once an
audience has given general acceptance to a narrative, it is trivially easy to
get them to accept far more dubious conclusions offered by the
narrative-builder as part of their “truth” package. And yet the vast majority
of assertions made by today’s successful narrative-builders do not necessarily
follow from the original premise, even when that narrative is substantially
true.
For example, let us allow for sake of argument that U.S. law
enforcement really is riddled with systemic racism. It still does not remotely
follow that vilifying and defunding the police is a workable solution, as Minnesotans
are currently discovering. The cure is worse than the disease. Or again, let
us allow that incontrovertible evidence for systemic fraud in November’s election
has yet to be produced to the public. It does not follow that President
Trump is “lying” when he alleges it to be the case. He may believe it
because of the evidence or in spite of the evidence. Or let us even allow that
man-made climate change is a genuine phenomenon. It does not follow that the
Paris Accord effectively addresses it, or that the dangers posed by a changing climate are
not being colossally exaggerated in order to further another agenda.
In each case, the narrative-builders have smuggled in false,
unhelpful or even intentionally destructive propositions piggy-backed on a
generally-acceptable storyline.
The key to putting across their agenda is to get that
storyline accepted first.
How Narrative-Building Works
Narrative-building is not a new
thing. Scripture gives us plenty of examples to show us how the technique works,
and what a narrative looks like alongside an honest argument.
Honest arguments are built with facts. Narratives are
built by repetition. When Pharaoh wanted
to establish that the God of Israel was nothing special, he trotted out his wise
men and sorcerers to reproduce the miracles which had been performed for
him. Then he did it again,
and again,
and again,
even when it stopped working. Likewise, the Pharisees’ “He has a demon” narrative
is repeated
in the gospels
ad nauseum
until even the
crowd takes it up. Narratives don’t have brakes.
Honest arguments require evidence. Narratives happily
ignore it. The more God
debunked Pharaoh’s narrative with evidence of his incomparable power, the more Pharaoh
doubled down on it. But narratives persist quite happily in the face of blatant falsification:
when Pharaoh’s wise men began to tell him “This
is the finger of God”, he summarily dismissed the expert opinions he had
been relying on up to that point.
Honest arguments are consistent. Narratives are elastic. A narrative doesn’t need to be internally consistent or
to jibe with previous narratives. The Lord Jesus pointed
out that John the Baptist “came neither eating nor drinking”,
which is to say he did not fellowship with those to whom he preached repentance.
The all-too familiar narrative? “He has a demon.” When the Lord Jesus came eating
and drinking with those in need of his message, the narrative became “Look at
him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners!” The religious leaders pushing the narrative were unconcerned about
their own inconsistency; they simply wanted to find some way to discredit those
whose teaching was more
popular than their own.
Honest arguments are logical. Narratives defy logic. The Pharisees’ demon narrative was so lame that it didn’t
require a rejoinder from scripture; logic was sufficient to the task. The
Lord Jesus replied, “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his
goods, unless
he first binds the strong man?” and “If Satan also is divided against
himself, how
will his kingdom stand?” Ruthlessly logical, and they had no comeback for
him. But the fact that the Pharisees could not answer Jesus to his face didn’t
stop their false narrative spreading.
Christians and Narratives
The Lord Jesus himself talked about deceptions that are so
effective they would “lead astray, if possible, even
the elect”. So much disinformation is currently being churned about in the
public square that immature, well-meaning Christians may be forgiven for being
occasionally taken in by one or two of the more emotionally-charged storylines promoted
in the media. Some Christians, God help us, are even uncritically
re-circulating them.
Social media encourages us to
offer opinions before we have any real basis for intelligent assessment. The
reality is that in many cases, months or years go by before all the facts of a
situation are out there to be had. In some situations, the truth never
surfaces. Christians cannot be expected to fully research the facts behind
every media attempt to create a generally-accepted narrative, nor is it useful
to spend much time speculating about the specific motives behind such
fact-spinning.
What we can do, if we are
prudent, is recognize when we are being spun. The word of God has equipped us
to do that much.
Well said and timely.
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