History is shaped by biased narratives, keeping power structures unchanged. To break the cycle we must recognise manipulation, resist oppression, build community and foster personal & societal growth
[The following text & images are taken from chapter 6 of the article ‘What We Do Not Forget,’ first published in the zine accompanying our 2024 We Do Not Forget mini-album / EP release]
Some think that we’re doomed to forever repeat history, that this is all just human nature and the way things are. Yet our historical perspectives and understanding are shaped by subjective interpretations of stories left behind by dominant societies. Historical accounts in written form—all of which contain a degree of bias—go back no further than 6,000 years. Everything we know about human activities and societies before then is subject to even greater interpretation of archeological and paleontological evidence. History really is a conversation, not a declaration.
Although the face of our world has transformed dramatically throughout the course of human history, the way we run things hasn’t fundamentally changed much since the dawn of civilisation; essentially since the advent of surplus and the cultivation of cattle. New technology comes along periodically that enables ruling classes to have greater—and occasionally lesser—control over people and to acquire more resources more easily. Accumulating and protecting wealth at all costs is still the name of the game.
What I’ve concluded from a lifetime of research, observation and experience seems to be quite a radical notion. I believe that the primary—yet by no means only—reason for this lack of change in the way we run things is due to not enough of us learning how to recognise the manipulation of our own minds and the shaping of our own reality by stories and narratives. I believe that the vast majority of us are stuck in a cycle of subordination and hereditary trauma stretching back to our earliest civilised ancestors. I’ve also concluded that the key to changing this is for as many of us as possible to consciously break the cycle, just like our revolutionary forebears. None of the progress that granted us the freedoms we enjoy today were achieved without a demand against power; a concerted effort to break that cycle of oppression and trauma. It just hasn’t happened on a large enough scale yet.
The good news is that there are are many ways to break the cycle that we can all engage with immediately. Here are a few that I believe we ought to prioritise:
- Teach people how stories and narratives shape our reality, how to recognise when they are wielded deliberately to influence our perception, how the politico-media complex works and to always ask: who benefits?
- Resist and rail against the normalisation of dehumanisation wherever possible. Never allow yourself to become desensitised to violence against human beings.
- Keep spaces open for people to speak freely in everyday life. Resist the silencing of dissenting voices and defend our right to protest.
- Build communities. Begin restructuring society around the fundamental unit of community rather than the patriarchal nuclear family. All evidence points towards this being better for both our collective and individual health and well being along with logistics and resource sharing (sustainability).
- Break the cycle in our own lives. We all inherit dysfunctional behaviour and toxicity from our parents or others and society at large. If we do the work to improve ourselves, we not only shift that toxicity and dysfunction but also model growth and self-improvement for younger generations.
- Better integrate mental health skills and tools along with awareness of all forms of diversity (including neurodiversity) throughout our education system.
- We are one family on one planet of interwoven life forms and ecosystems. As the early 20th century Scottish urban planner Patrick Geedes said: ‘think global, act local.’
