fattypatties

Carl has a list of books he'll never write which includes one called the "Mononarrative," which would be about the trend in American public discourse that has been going on for 20 or 30 years. The idea seems to be that we should all be repeating the same narrative and that composing a text or subtext that doesn't confirm to this one, true narrative is unacceptable. It's not that everyone agrees upon the content of the mononarrative, but everyone seems to agree that there should be a mononarrative.

"Since coming up with the term, I've seen the expression 'monomind' in my readings," explains Carl, "and it parallels what I've been thinking very well."

Of late, Carl has been suggesting that there is a new discourse afoot -- he has called it the "No-No Narrative." Those in power no longer want anyone talking, including themselves. They just want to shut down discourse.

"The motto of the 80s and 90s was 'You're not supposed to say that,'" Carl further elaborates, "while the motto in this decade has been 'NO talking.'"

I couldn't help notice over the weekend how eerily similar the "spontaneous protests" popping up at town hall meetings on health care were to the "Brooks Brothers Riot" from the 2000 election. I went looking on YouTube for videos of both events and found that Rachel Haddow beat me to the proverbial punch:




I agree with Rachel's take at the end. The best way to fight this stupid form of shouting down politics is to point it out for the orchestrated power mongering that it is and make it so obvious that no one will want to do it again. Shouting down is not debate and shouting back isn't the way to create a debate. We must fight the no-no narrative by telling our own stories and by unmarking and taking away the incentive for this kind of government by riot.