Stories

There is something about stories. They are meaningful in creating our sense of self and national pride and other weird things. I'm going to pull together some ideas from different places and try (try being the optimal word) to make some sense of somethings.
Luke Garrott who taught political theory mentioned how stories make up the fabric of life Americana. Stories about Washington at Valley Forge and the battle of independence. Washington never told a lie. Abraham Lincoln failed, failed, failed, and then......President. The
American dream. Give me LIBERTY or give me DEATH! don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes. All of these types of stories gave the American soul, spirit, drive, manifest destiny. These stories are not just stories they mean something.
In Fahrenheit 451 there is a moment where a history book is opened only to reveal that George Washington was a firefighter and burned books. It is interesting how history can be painted so that a certain attribute or characteristic can be brought forth. It is often said that history is written by the victors.
On the Daily Show. There was a British author who wrote a book called the "Utility of War" and he spoke in his British accent about how in the Iraq war they don't have a story. Their story is that the most powerful nation on earth didn't like what they were doing came in kicked ass, blew up a bunch a shit and chaos ensued. The Iraqis don't have a story of were they fought for independence and created this monumental Constitution that was the world's most amazing written document. They have stories of poverty, kidnapping, and violence. The US is telling them blah, blah, draft a Constitution like we have with women's rights etc. etc. and if we don't approve you have to do it again. (side note Women didn't have the right to vote in the US for over a hundred years from its inception or Blacks for that matter, have us tell the Shi'ite and the Sunnis to get along ha ). Iraq needs a story and for them to create one I think the US has to pull out. Then the Iraqis can make up the story that they defeated the Goliath and ya shit is gonna hit the fan it Iraq for a while but they will have to forge their own way and create the unifying story that is uniquely Iraqi.
*side note on the bomb shaker. She uses stories too. Well we all do. Here story is I'm smart enough to to graduate high school, start college at 17, finish law school at 23. Ok I get it, I've heard it 3 times now. It's impresive. However, I also learned that she had a crazy mom, who tried to get bomb shaker kicked off of the basketball team in high school for a B+. So, the story means that it is proof that she is smart enough, or good enough, or enough in general because mom didn't make her feel so.
As for me, moving to a new place is cool. It's interesting because being a kid from West Valley doesn't mean as much any more. Nobody knows where, or gives a shit, about West Valley. Only I do. It's a story that doesn't mean anything anymore. I learned that when someone tells a story it may mean something to them that you can't see right away. Like I graduated at 16 trying to gain my mothers love.