It's the Master Narrative, Mr. Jones

What is going on, Mr. Jones, is a battle royal for control of the culture and the master narrative that shapes and defines it: Real Politik and its Story Politics in magazines such as People or US or Time or NewsWeek vs new, alternative, narratives emerging from we, the people.

Today, we are once again seeing the age old struggle for the power that comes from being able to define the master narrative for a place and time as well as the when, where and how it will be told. We have seen it with the introduction of mass production of books, with Lincoln's use of the telegraph, with the Nazi's use of radio, and with the use of television in 20th century politics. All of these apple carts are about to be upset by the power of a $2,000 laptop to create, distribute and present master narratives from we the people at the edges. The early 21st century politicians who have discovered the power of the edges to raise large sums of campaign funds quickly and efficiently have yet to understand the true nature of the narrative revolution at hand.

Consider the controversy over Sinclair broadcasting an extended political ad vs the showing of the award winning film Fahrenheit 911.

It is worth listening to Terry Gross’ October 18 interview with Michael Moore. You can find a RealAudio version of it at:

Clearly, there is an active and effective group who want their “narrative” broadcast by Sinclair but strenously object to a counter narrative by Michael Moore being broadcast.

Of course there has always been a "master narrative" for every place and time, constructed to "tell the one true story" according to the requirements of the current elite. And just as obvously, the means of creating, telling and distributing the “story” in fact also shapes the story. It also confers great benefit to the masters of the narrative.

In recent memory in the United States, it was a lot easier to be the master of the narrative when there were only 3 three letter TV networks and a radio regime nicely limited/controlled by the FCC. It was a lot easier when the means of creating, telling and distributing the narrative were extremely expensive, often regulated, and thus owned and controlled by a relatively small subset of the total population -- an elite if there ever was one.

The problem is that the "smart guys" in this elite very often get the story wrong. Too few minds looking at the problem from too few points of view, too often bedeviled with too much dogma, and substantial conflicts of interest. This is the case whether it is academics or the "Carlyle Group" or think tanks of various flavors and colors.

Now, with the introduction of new, low cost, digital production tools and internet-based blogs, podcasting, bittorrent and other new distribution techniques, not to mention the about to emerge cognitive mesh networks, we should expect a few changes. The "master narrative" can now easily be challenged. Competing alterantives can be created, distributed and viewed by anyone, any place, with a modern laptop computer and an internet connection. Is this tooth paste out of the tube or can the incumbents manage to force it back into the tube? See my post on Greater Democracy titled There is something going on here, Mr. Jones.

I have always thought that the secret ops and budgets declared necessary to win WWII seriously corrupted our government and our democratic traditions. They have resulted in a secret government within the government. A secret government that believes it knows best the “Real Politiks” good for America. This is why restoring transparency to our government operations is so crucial. It is why Bush has pushed the opacity factor to new heights.

More importantly, this schizopheric duopoly has required a very carefully constructed, and strictly enforced, narrative to paper over the internal contradictions of an officialy secret elite within a democratic model.

This is why it is so important that we develop alternative narratives that we the people create and distribute independently of the too eaily swayed traditonal media of centralized news paper, televison, radio, and entertainment.

For a view of what might be and what might greatly strenthen the ability of we the people to establish and nurture new master narratives for sustainable success, visit the web site for the MIT Media Lab’s work on Viral Communications. As Dewayne Hendricks points out, this is an extension of Reed's Law.

Is this our future? Or is this degree of freedom and independence from the current elites' master narrative, and its highly centralized means of production and distribution, so threatening that they will do everything they can to shut if down and off? Will the new podcasting experiment prosper, or will it be killed off by the incumbents as they killed off Internet Radio? Remember Internet Radio and the fight over music licensing fees?

Will Michael Moore's film be aired before the election? Will it be liberated by new distribution techniques such as becoming a legal bittorrent for all to download and share with their neighbors? Or will it and other alternative narratives remain trapped in the distribution channels of the old elites?

Posted by Jock Gill at October 19, 2004 5:32 PM | TrackBack