- THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES -
loose fragments of this have always been on my mind but they really started to come together after this election and it’s aftermath.
and then i remembered one of the best mystic battles i’ve read. it was between Loki and Dr. Doom, in an issue of Loki: Agent of Asgard #06 written by al ewing with art by jorge coelho and it helped to solidify a lot of those loose fragments.
a mystic duel in the form of a conversation.
a narrative.
a story.
and when you think about it, isn’t that what’s been happening all along, but especially now, in america.
police and politicians. rulers and tricksters.
and us.
fighting in ideaspace. telling stories to the world, trying to mold it to our narratives.
this is why it’s important to not be silent. don’t keep your opinions to yourself. let your voices be heard. all of our voices add to the narrative of the story of the world and the future we want for ourselves.
america is more than just a constitution and laws and rules.
constitutions can be amended for the worse. laws can be changed and broken by the rich and corrupt. rules can be ignored.
america is a story. the american revolution didn’t start with gunfire and violence in 1775. it started in 1765 when the colonists started to tell themselves a new story that would replace the narrative of the divine right of kings. ten years of telling themselves a new story to replace the old, until it was strong enough to take on a life of its own.
america is a story. the american civil war didn’t start with gunfire and violence in 1861. it was days and weeks and months and years and decades and centuries of slaves and free men and women and abolitionists telling themselves a story. a story that white supremacy was wrong and freedom was a birthright of all humans, not just a few. centuries of telling themselves a new story to replace the old, until it was strong enough to take on a life of its own.
america is a story. the american women’s suffrage movement didn’t just spontaneously gain the right to vote in 1920. it was 80 plus years of work and fighting and sacrifice that helped them tell themselves a story. a story that they, too, had just as much agency over their lives as men did. and they deserved to be able to express that agency in the form of the vote. 80 plus years of telling themselves a new story to replace the old, until it was strong enough to take on a life of its own.
america is a story. the american civil rights movement didn’t just start in 1954. it started while the civil war was still raging. from the emancipation proclamation to the thirteenth amendment through reconstruction and the black codes and jim crow. centuries of burden, violence, and struggle that didn’t stop them from telling themselves a story. have faith. the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice. and they would be the force that bends it to make it so. centuries of ongoing struggle to tell themselves a new story to replace the old, until it was strong enough to take on a life of its own.
america is a story. the struggle for marriage equality didn’t start with the victory of Obergefell v. Hodges. it was decades of living in fear and secrecy. it was the bravery of the mattachine society and the daughters of bilitis and the stonewall uprising. it was decades of casting off the veil of forced secrecy to say they would stand up and be counted. decades of saying “no, we deserve to live full lives too. just like you do.” decades of telling themselves a new story to replace the old, until it was strong enough to take on a life of its own.
america is a story. but not all stories are good stories. there are always those who try to hijack the narrative for their own hateful ends. the american revolution was hijacked by hypocrisy and the three-fifths compromise that continued slavery. the american civil war and the defeat of the south lead to the rise of the false narrative of the lost cause; a zombie narrative that still infects us today. the american women’s suffrage movement failed to live up to it’s true potential because it refused to purge itself of the false narrative of racism. the civil rights movement has seen the voting rights act gutted and in its place voter suppression laws have risen from the grave; the destructive narrative of white supremacy isn’t going down without a fight. marriage equality is barely more than a year old and, already, with the rise of trump, it stands on a razor’s edge. the persecution and violence against the native tribes continue, to this day, at standing rock. the legacy of japanese-american internment is once again being dragged back into mainstream discussion as a positive precedent and not as the shameful legacy it really is.
america is a story. fought and told using words and music and memes and pop culture and media and politics and tweets and religion and science and thinkpieces and art and whatever new form of expression we invent in the future.
america is an ongoing story.
the shape of the future narrative, the only prize.
never be silent. add your voice to the narrative.
and remember, always remember:
- end transmission -
[the following was originally published in my email newsletter PALE BLUE DOT but figured i would post it in a way that would make it a bit easier to share to a wider audience. click the link below if you wanna subscribe!]
