A WRITER’S POWER

Well, the title’s wrong for a start. I don’t think a writer can ever have ‘power’, but I use the word because I like snappy titles. No, the word I’m really looking for is ‘influence.’
Now this is a different matter. So okay, this is a piece about ‘a writer’s influence.’ And let’s face it, there hasn’t really been a great human movement without a book behind it.

Two arguments

There are two arguments over the influence of a writer. Does his craft ‘reflect’ or ‘define’ our culture? Just take a typical Soap Opera. Issues that are relevant to the day are played out in – well – sensational fashion.
It is correct to say that, here, the writer reflects society – this is where he got the idea from. But is it possible that, in reflecting something in sensational form, he ‘defines’ it? Basically, does the social ‘story’ being played out make it more likely that it will happen in society more often, and more dramatically?
Of course, I’m not saying, here, that the writer can directly affect a person and make him do something. It’s more subtle than that. More a probability of society moving in that direction.

The chicken or the egg

I think storytelling acts as a conduit for social currents. The writer intuits something happening in society, and in creating it in cultural form, the culture moves forward – or backward – as the writer suggests.
It is all to do with the ‘symbol’. For as semiotics is showing us, we follow them, don’t we?

© Anthony North, August 2007

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THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Teachers ain’t what they used to be … PLUS … Can Brits ever tell the truth? It’s that EU Constitution again … or not? Totalitarianism rules, OK.
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TEACHING IN A MESS?

A study by Buckingham University Centre for Education and Employment Research has found that less than half of teachers of maths, science or languages in the UK have good degrees, whilst around three quarters of teachers of social sciences or history do.
The result, they claim, is that teachers of the latter are full of enthusiasm, driving students on to A-level, whilst the former do not inspire. However, can the subject be as simple as this?

I doubt it.

The question must be asked: why did our present generation of teachers fail to get adequate degrees? After all, I would suspect that teachers of maths or science would be more driven as it is much more of a ‘vocation.’
I suspect the answer can be found in the new attitudes of universities to pack students in, and guarantee their financial survival. As such, the culture of most universities is for the least testing subjects.
The hint is given in the research that it is the teachers who are letting the system down. I suggest it is the system that is letting THEM down.

© Anthony North, August 2007

DISHONEST BRITAIN

We’re all a load of liars. So says a recent survey of 2,000 people by Royal and Sun Alliance. Indeed, two thirds of people admit to lying, with the other third … well, they’re most likely lying anyway …
… read more …

DRAFT EU CONSTITUTION THAT ISN’T

So the new draft EU Treaty is out. Much revision yet to be done, but apart from changes in titles, no anthem, etc, is it really any different to the Constitution. Yes, it is. Not in what it says, but in the fact that it won’t need a referendum to get it passed …
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TOTAL THOUGHTS

I’ve been thinking lately about totalitarianism – you know, when a few take over the many and there’s nothing you can do about it. There’s a feeling nowadays that the west is heading in this direction. Is it true …
… read more …

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Inde-Pol