Tuesday, September 05, 2017
Elder of Ziyon
Over and
over I keep hearing the word “narrative”. Most often it is spoken by people who
insist on the importance of understanding and respecting the “Palestinian
narrative.”
How many
people have actually paused to consider what “narrative” means? More
importantly, how should we respond to a narrative that is not our own?
As a
storyteller, a marketer, narrative is something I am very familiar with,
something I deal with every day. The narrative is critical, it is a driving
motivator, it is what convinces people to “swallow the bait”, to buy whatever
it is that you are selling.
The
thing is that “narrative” is just that – the story you tell. There is a
perspective, a narrative and then there are facts. These words are not
synonyms. Each is important and none should be confused with the other.
Perspective is an individual point of view, the way a person sees
the world.
Is your glass half full or is it half empty? Is an event positive or negative? These are decided by personal perspective.
The way an individual is raised and the culture he or she is immersed in, effects their perspective but does not control it. Often the individual will automatically conform to the reigning attitudes of society, but not always. If I am raised in a strictly mannered culture it is most likely that I will adopt the social norms and mores as my own however, my individual perspective might see the strictness as oppressive and stupid, leading me to rebel and be different. This is what led the invention of the bra, to women wearing pants and many other sudden deviations in the way things were always done – one person saw things differently, behaved accordingly and in response others changed their perspective as well.
Narrative is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves and our
place in the world.
Every individual has a story he or she tells themselves about themselves and the life they are living. Nations also have a narrative, a story that is collectively used to define that people or state. Narrative on both the individual and national levels shapes the way you feel about yourself and, subsequently, the way you are treated by others.
Facts are well... facts.
We may be living in a “post-factual” world but that doesn’t mean that facts have ceased to exist. It is true that history books are written by the winners and good vs bad are often a matter of perspective (or in the case of nations, narrative), however, even if these things are true, there are still undeniable, provable, facts. People can dispute facts all they want but cannot make them go away without lying or turning the argument in to something that has no relation to facts (emotion based arguments).
Your perspective does not influence where or when the sun rises and sets. Perspective cannot make water cease to be wet or fire cease to be hot. Perspective may determine a war to be a triumph or a tragedy but there is no arguing when it happened or who emerged victorious.
What do they teach in school these days?
I recently had a conversation with a history teacher who teaches Zionism in a prominent Israeli school. Disturbingly she seemed unable to differentiate between perspective (the individual point of view), narrative (on the national level) and facts.
It is
popular to focus on understanding the “other”. In Israel, this always seems to
mean teaching Jews to understand the Arab narrative (“We are victims, you
victimized us”). Somehow teaching Arabs to understand the Jewish narrative
never seems to come up.
The
rationale is: “If we (the Jews) don’t understand the perspective of the other
(the Arabs), how can we have a discussion with them?”
And I
agree with that.
Being
familiar with the story of the “other” facilitates effective discussion.
Understanding that this story motivates behavior is critical. At the same time,
understanding that someone thinks a certain way and behaves according to the
way they were raised is very different from accepting their behavior or accepting
their narrative.
Narrative
is a story, it is not facts.
I might
feel like a princess. My guy can call me a princess all day but that doesn’t
mean I have a kingdom to rule over (unless we are calling my kitchen a kingdom).
A person or a nation can say that I or my people victimized them all day but
that doesn’t make it true.
One can
dispute whether or not certain policies are appropriate or not. Certainly, many
of Israel’s policies towards our Arab citizens and Arab neighbors are hotly
disputed. At the same time, there are facts that are undisputable (unless the
arguments are based on lies and utter disregard for facts):
·
The land of Israel is historically the land of
the Jewish people. This is known from the bible, through countless
archeological finds and references in the cultural documents of other nations
(including the Koran).
·
There never was a Palestinian Nation State.
·
There has been a continuous Jewish presence in
the land for 3000 years.
·
Religious Jews pray facing Jerusalem three
times a day, every day. The Jewish people have been yearning to return to Zion
for 2000 years and in the last century – we did.
·
In 1948, the nations of the world officially
acknowledged Israel to be an independent homeland for the Jewish people.
·
In 1948, 1967, 1973 Arabs tried to wipe the
Israel off the map and failed.
The
“Palestinian Narrative” is important to understand because that is the driving
force behind activists of the younger generations. Those that are too young to
have witness these events themselves are not raised with facts, they are raised
on a story and that story has become the only “truth” they know. The
Palestinian story is told so often and with such passion that even many of the
older generations, people who should know better because they were there,
are getting confused.
When we forget the facts we end up comparing stories
Why does this matter? If the facts don’t matter what we end up comparing stories. Everything being equal, it is the better story, the story told with more passion and conviction, that wins – with no connection to right or wrong, justice, rhyme or reason.
At the
moment, the “Palestinian narrative” is winning, hands down. This should not be
happening, not only because the facts do not support that story but because the
Jewish story is so much more glorious and empowering.
Why
would you root for the story of the perpetual victim when you could choose the
story of those who miraculously overcame all odds? Why would you choose the
story of violence and hate over the story of self-sacrifice and love?
To put
it in a completely different light, the “Palestinian” narrative is most
damaging to Arabs. Their story does not inspire the creation of a better life
for the downtrodden. In fact, it is a story that keeps the downtrodden, down.
It teaches Arab youth that they are victims of the Jew, that the path to
improving their lives is to throw their own lives away in attempt to be rid of
the Jews. Instead of teaching life, this story teaches death – for the Jew and
often for the Arab as well.
And
while the majority of the Arab population is busy hating the Jew, fighting the
Jew, Arab rulers are busy enjoying the opulence of their corruption. The Arab
people suffer while their rulers have access to all the comforts and pleasures
of life. More than it is used against the Jewish people, the “Palestinian”
narrative is used by Arab and Muslim leaders to distract, control and retain
power over their own people.
If we
truly want peace, we must unravel the narrative.
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