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when I ran for county board of supervisors in 2011 (i won!) I joked at campaign events that I understood working with Republicans because I was a medievalist. was a nice laugh line.
but now, welp, let me briefly explain what that actually matters here 1/ https://twitter.com/politico/status/1300426526786281473
but now, welp, let me briefly explain what that actually matters here 1/ https://twitter.com/politico/status/1300426526786281473
medievals distinguished between the truth CLAIM of a statement & its truth VALUE. in other words, statements were more prized because they represented something true within the author’s pre-existing worldview. #medievaltwitter 2/
I lay this out in my first book. 3/ https://global.oup.com/academic/product/an-empire-of-memory-9780199686124?lang=en&cc=us
Scalise is doing the same thing in defending the altered video. his video is LITERALLY a lie but it represents something “more true” to him - ie, that the Dems want anarchy, that the GOP are the only legitimate source of power, etc. 4/
therefore, for him, any actions taken/ statements made that reinforce that narrative are “true.” 5/
it’s how, in the Middle Ages, we got all these beliefs about Charlemagne actually going to Jerusalem - a widely accepted “truth” by the 12th century that’s absolutely not true at all. 6/
it seemed in that period, in a world of holy war, that Charlemagne was their predecessor so of course he participated in them as well as their effective progenitor. 7/
why this matter is that pointing out the lie - the actual lie - to the GOP won’t cow them because that lie, to them, reveals a deeper truth. and the is NOT NEW. goes back to W Bush ca. 2004 (and likely beyond). remember the “reality-based” community?” 8/ https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/faith-certainty-and-the-presidency-of-george-w-bush.html
my only advice, in closing, is not to argue this. fact-checking is important but it isn’t the end. you have to explicitly reject the premise of their argument that underlies the lie. 9/9
