Bird's Eye - Myth and Materialism, Prospects for Global Myth

Spectacles In Conversation

Join Harry and Philip as they conclude their discussion of myth and politics, re-examining the relationship between belief and material reality, and evaluating the prospects for a global social narrative.

What is the relationship between material conditions and myth or belief in myth? Is a global myth or universal human social identity possible? What principal lesson can we learn about democracy from a discussion of political myths?

Next week we'll be covering a new topic, so stay tuned!

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Further Reading

• Imagined Communities, by Benedict Anderson.
• "Anarchy is what States Make of It," by Alexander Wendt.
• "Emmanuel Macron in his own words (English)," by The Economist.
• Readings from previous episodes in this series of Bird's Eye.

Table of Contents

00:00:00 - Intro & Housekeeping

00:00:37 - Celebrities sing Imagine by John Lennon

00:01:51 - Why the hell would we ever play that?

00:02:59 - Today's topic

00:03:21 - Main Questions

00:00:33 - What is the relationship between myth and reality?

00:04:16 - Is a global, rather than national, myth possible?

00:04:42 - What is liberal democracy's greatest challenge regarding myth?

00:06:22 - Series Recap and Refresher

00:06:32 - Ep. 2: Myth & American Politics

00:08:04 - Ep. 3: QAnon & The Future of American Myth

— 00:12:09 - Post-truth politics

00:19:15 - Ep. 1: The Basics of Myth & Politics

00:20:04 - Global Myth

00:20:22 - The history of non-national myths

00:22:34 - The history of super-national myths: Christianity

00:24:14 - The history of the growing scale of myth: Germany

00:29:25 - Contemporary proofs for global myth: UN

00:31:29 - Contemporary proofs for global myth: EU

00:34:10 - The challenges of European myth-making

00:37:27 - Contemporary failings of global myth: NATO

00:42:51 - Alien invasion? Independence Day style global team-up?

00:43:56 - The constant in-group/out-group dynamic: Christianity, Germany, EU

00:47:35 - The shortcomings of global human myths, human rights

00:50:05 - The role of assimilation

00:51:28 - The force/cohesion dynamic in Christian Europe & Islamic empires

00:55:18 - Myth as a key to free society

00:57:14 - The Central Democratic Challenge with Myth

00:58:08 - The promise of neither force nor cohesion

01:00:00 - Liberalism's sneaky coercion

01:01:28 - Why Liberal Democracy cannot escape myth

01:07:15 - Signing Off