The need to challenge narratives

NO DOUBT John Gardener, formerly of Underberg, derived cathartic relief from his creative writing exercise published in The Mercury on May 13. But like Kamala Harris, who giggles when confronted with challenging questions and information, Gardener’s attempts to dismiss narratives which diverge from what he regards as holy writ, really amount to subterfuge.

Nonetheless, Gardener’s saponaceous fulminations pay tribute to the power of the mainstream media in dictating narratives. Apparently, credibility becomes incontrovertible the more a specific narrative is repeated by “renowned” sources. But history shows that such hidebound thinking is not permanent. The Reformation would never have occurred without the courageous challenges of Luther, Calvin and others to the prevailing narrative. Many inventions would never have come about without the tenacity to persevere against naysayers.

Historically, the most damning aspect of Watergate was the attempted cover-up. But the media beavered away relentlessly in exposing that attempt and succeeded in ending Nixon’s presidency. If that same media tenacity was applied to Joe Biden’s sabotage of US energy independence, his sanctioned invasion by two million illegal aliens, abandonment of $80 billion worth of military hardware in Afghanistan along with 9 000 US citizens and his involvement in his son’s corrupt dealings with Ukraine and China, impeachment would have resulted.

Similarly, the Covid/vax narratives would be very different if dissenting views and facts were freely disseminated concerning masks, social restrictions, inexpensive, effective Covid treatments, the deaths and adverse effects from so-called vaccines.

But jarring views are dismissed as “fringe theories”. Yet the sacrosanct narratives are being quietly discarded: Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation,” previously hailed as the “safest election in US history,” the official narrative now concedes “instances” of voter fraud in 2020.

As Ezra Pound observed, “real knowledge is for those who insist on pursuing it. For the rest, education is mere shepherding”.

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff