Weston writes:
“The stories our leaders tell us matter, probably almost as much as the stories our parents tell us as children, because they orient us to what is, what could be, and what should be; to the worldviews they hold and to the values they hold sacred. Our brains evolved to “expect” stories with a particular structure, with protagonists and villains, a hill to be climbed or a battle to be fought.”
Speaking, mostly, I suspect, to myself, I wonder:
What values do you hold sacred? What values do you share with all your fellow citizens? What do you want? How would your world be? Would your world be one in which everyone voted? In which everyone shared the bounty equally, even if you got much less?
Westen continues:
“Our species existed for more than 100,000 years before the earliest signs of literacy, and another 5,000 years would pass before the majority of humans would know how to read and write.”
And how much has literacy, reading and writing, decreased in the past 20 years? Are we on the path that will complete the circle and return us to the illiteracy and ignorance from which we evolved?
Westen states:
“Stories were the primary way our ancestors transmitted knowledge and values.”
Yeah, stories and myths, but
Our ancestors mostly transmitted their values by struggling physically every day to gain the food and shelter they needed to keep themselves and their families alive. And, importantly, the made sure we, their descendants, were working alongside them, sharing their determination and their worry and their knowledge that to stop working was to die. That's how we learned the values of our ancestors, demonstration, shared burdens and apprenticeship.
Westen writes:
“Today we seek movies, novels and “news stories” that put the events of the day in a form that our brains evolved to find compelling and memorable.”
Evolved or regressed?
Agreed, so, today we are fed pap, we willingly swallow pap, we have learned to relish pap. We need a story with a sure resolution, a happy ending, or at least an hour or two of rollicking brain numbing wise cracks, celebrity wisdom or gossip and innuendo. We relish the latest "news" about the nobody who has made it to the finals in singing or dancing or eating worms and has survived to feed our brains' another week. (Do we imagine they are us? Do we wish we were one of them?)
Are we to infer that if Obama could have related his own captivating version of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, we would have danced and sung and fought and discovered the truth and lived happily ever after in our own backyards?
Tonight's bedtime tonight will have " protagonists and villains, a hill to be climbed or a battle to be fought." What fun. It mentions France and a King, so we can consider it history.
A Simplistic Synopsis of the French Revolution
This was way back in 1774, before Mommy or Daddy or even Grammy were born. Now close your eyes and listen.
The country of France had a new King. He was called Louis the Sixteenth.
“??????”
I don't know, honey. Maybe he was the sixteenth Louis in his family, you know, like George W was the second whatever in his family. Shh, don't wake up Billy. See, he's already asleep.
So, anyway, regressive taxes heavily burdened the lower classes, They were hungry and demoralized.
“???????....???”
Like taxes on food, or gasoline, or water. Stuff that we all have to have, even poor people. About the taxes though, there were exceptions for the nobility and the clergy, who paid almost no taxes at all.
“??”
Yes, that was Marie Antoinette, and she was very pretty and she did wear beautiful clothes. Remember, my love, that was a movie, it's not entirely accurate. Let's go on. The beautiful state of France was bankrupt because of the cost of participating in foreign wars. The one we were fighting against England, for one. There were others, but I can't remember them right now.
“?”
Oh, sorry. Bankrupt, like the US is worrying about now. You know, that blah blah in Congress and on the news about debt ceilings and defaulting on loans. Your daddy can explain that tomorrow. For now, in France, the poor people started rioting, because the government, or somebody, threatened cut their pay and the were hungry and scared. Meanwhile, the seated government continued to strut and play games.
“!!!?”
Hah aha, you're a clever little girl. Yes, exactly like those guys in Washington in their ties.
So, the people, fed up, hungry, angry, afraid, desperate, and feeling they had no more to lose, on July 14, 1789, attacked the Bastille, where gunpowder and prisoners were kept.
The time after this was called the Great Fear. The people didn't trust the government and were afraid that their homes would be invaded.
"??"
Well, no. There wasn't internet and cell phones and instant messaging back then, so they weren't afraid of being 'bugged'. They were afraid soldiers would come in and take their stuff and kill them.
Are you getting sleepy yet?
"sigh"
Okay, I'll finish quickly. More bad stuff happened, and more, and finally the people of France took the government from King Louis the Sixteenth and his cohorts and formed their own new government. Then more bad stuff happened, but the winners were also cruel and vengeful.
“?”
It means they wanted to punish other people who had done bad things to them before.
“???”
Well, they, cutoffalotofheadsforonething.
“?”Never mind, I was just thinking out loud. That's another story and you're already almost asleep. Anyway, right at that point in history, I guess you could say the story had a happy ending. So, let's stop here, for tonight.
"?"
Maybe tomorrow night we'll talk mmore about Marie Antoinette. Good night darling. Sweet Dreams
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