Tories need a new ‘narrative’
From David Harcourt
Sir: There is nothing new about the distortion of truth into a coherent ‘narrative’ which encourages popular adherence to a particular world-view (Peter Oborne, ‘What’s truth got to do with it?’, 30 April). The Romans did this. Goebbels did it. Churchill did it. You can see this view of the role of truth explicitly articulated more than 40 years ago at the end of John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), when the newspaper editor says, ‘When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.’ Trying a little deconstruction of my own, I’d suggest that Peter Oborne’s (and your) real problem with New Labour’s narrative is that it’s one which more people have found to be congenial/persuasive than the Conservatives’ version. So change the narrative. (A hint about where to start with the rethink: the world didn’t end when New Labour banned fox-hunting, and if the Tories had been in power they, too, would have supported the US in Iraq.) David Harcourt
Wellington, New Zealand From Dr Mark Vernon and Dr Paul Fletcher Sir: We are fairly convinced of Peter Oborne’s thesis that lying is on the rise in politics. However, in the same spirit, we want to point out his misrepresentation of so-called postmodern thinkers, like Foucault and Derrida.
For example, Foucault did not think that truth was no more than an effect of the rules of discourse. Rather, he thought that truth always ultimately eludes us and so discourses must be tested to see how they misuse what they call truth. The irony is, therefore, that Foucault would probably be with him on his critique of postmodern New Labour.
Dr Mark Vernon and Dr Paul Fletcher London SE5
Previous page
