History is all the identities we’ve inhabited so far
Conversation
Kinda makes sense that the end of history would be marked by terminal identitarianism. Consequence, not cause. If nobody can find a way to continue everybody’s identity evolution, history ends.
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Identitarian consensus: when everybody agrees what boxes everybody is in. It’s a much deeper state of stable equilibrium than everybody simply having a fixed identity. The way common knowledge is a deeper equilibrium than mere belief or even mutual belief.
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There was a funny Volkswagen ad where an Indian guy responds to some question about yoga with “just because I drive a Volkswagen you think I’m into yoga?”
It’s funny because it simultaneously acknowledges and subverts an identitarian consensus
Also Seinfeld anti-dentite joke
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An identitarian consensus is also a set of roles and permissions within a narrative. Stereotyping is just the shallowest layer. History ends at an identitarian consensus not because the narrative ends but because it becomes 100% tropey
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The instinct behind simple role-swaps (eg female or black superheroes) as a way to break out of an identitarian consensus equilibrium is solid but... naive. Like transposing a tune to a new key rather than composing a new one. Doesn’t restart history, just phase-shifts it.
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An example of a history-restart type shift is from Campbellian Monomyth hero to LeGuinesque Carrier Bag unheroine. Doctor Who pulled that off, though it has other weaknesses.
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Real history edition: when women stop leading like men. Good or bad, you can’t ignore the fact that it’s equilibrium-breaking history restart/reboot. This ain’t Margaret Thatcher or Indira Gandhi style nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opi
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Replying to
the woman wore a burqa and you’re calling that a historical reboot? IMO seems like the kind of low risk feel good pander Justin Trudeau has made his career on (and may likely lose it for)
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there’s something interesting here about monomyth and feminine leadership that was the crux of the newest Star Wars movie (which was incredibly polarizing)
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Replying to
I think they had the right idea but then messed it up by being too color-by-numbers in execution. Only a few scenes had minor trope-breaks.
The NZ case will unfold in ways as yet unclea; I don’t think we’re past tipping point of feminine leadership styles yet.
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