all of these things this narrative starts with an elder. i wrote this character thinking about my grandmother. and following it -- which is what i grew up in in the idea when people are sort of taken away from their land, the reconnection to that land has to be done by the elders first. they are the first who rekindle their broken friendship with the land. so she steps to walk back. if and when it wasn't going on, killed and gunned down, nobody is going anywhere trying to bury their people. run for their lives. when you return home, you get stuck with the task of cleaning those. making the place livable again. the grass has started to grown in the houses. human beings have not live it there. we find as a permission and people come and the spirits fill the towns and villages and trees and the grasses retreat back. you begin to see all of that. of course, people will come to the place different characters. you have amp debt -- amputated men returning, and the young men who amputated them follow them to try to make pace with them. you have a y

are actually woven into and considered to be part of the american historical narrative then they'llthey'll always be this this disconnect the other problem is that in many instances the story is told from the perspective of america's relationship to the individual instead of the individuals relationship to america and a an example that i would use of that would be the movie twelve years a slave sol solomon northup story one of the things that makes that story so so powerful so relevant was it was told from solomon northrop's. relationship to america and so you've got a much richer more more more cutting and powerful narrative than if it had been the typical slave narrative or the way that that story is conveyed so that the interests of america are protected instead of the realities that that that africans and in africans in america have been and african-americans have been enduring since since sixty one thousand in those twenty some odd slaves arrived at jamestown virginia really really great point there and let's move on to the op ed that you just wrote titled jordan davis another

of everyone in western society you know the narrative the terror is you know. the name oh my god but they they don't they never stop to see why some of these catastrophes are happened you know and i think there's just. someone in the states you don't have a voice you're not a person anymore. you know we can do to an insurgent we can kill an insurgent and there will be no nothing said about it no one will care about you because you're not a person you're a militant so these were very violent like these the terrorists the militant used to be communists right it is the definition of these words as well reckless these are the the terminology that we hear. a combat ease of combat agee's of militant age. really all that means is that you're what twelve years or older and running around a field in your you know subject to be a target of a drone strike no it did you're absolutely right and i wanted to ask you about you know you've you got a lot of flak as well for this article that you wrote and you recently went on post live and you were asked about you know maybe not

so in this narrative you see that language and gave a few examples to that. when i'm writing about any place on the continent is always a struggle for me and a challenge but i always come out satisfied to try to find the english equivalent of some of the things i want to say. they do not necessarily -- i also believe that language as the landscape. i will never say adults in sierra leone would fall into children as you guys. they would say children or boys or girls. i'm very aware of those cases but also, when i'm trying to find that sierra leone has a lot of languages i grew up speaking about seven of them and one of them in particular is very figurative with images in the way that things are said, so for example if you are upset the translation would mean that your heart is on fire. it really describes this moment if you say that you're not upset but you are at peace so when you want to talk about a person in the narrative to describe their age so you say it was the color of ground. so when i'm writing it gives a different feelin feeling to theh language bu

relationship to america and so you've got a much richer more more more cutting and powerful narrative than if it had been the typical slave narrative or the way that that story is conveyed so that the interests of america are protected instead of the realities that that africans and in africans in america have been and african-americans have been enduring since since sixty one thousand in those twenty some odd slaves arrived at jamestown virginia really really great point there and let's move on to the op ed that you just wrote titled jordan davis another victim of a murderous historical continuum dr i think a lot of us were expecting a more cut and dry verdict here with what seemed to be a cut and dry case were you surprised at the outcome. disappointed but not surprised because we've seen this we just saw this with trayvon martin and we've seen this story all too often in the piece that i wrote getting back to the context . i felt it necessary to take this back to and understand let me say one of the things the big problems with with with these types of analysis is that we tend to t

i would hear bits and snippets but i have never been able to frame a meaningful narrative out of it. my mother spoke of it again in snippets to me again but without me understanding and my father just didn't want to talk about it. it was just like oh, people don't want to hear such stories. not now. when i was an adult and went back to him after a long estrangement, it was okay, he just didn't want to tell me about it as a kid. after a three page underground story of "maus," before it became the book. i showed him what i was working on and that started a conversation. >> what was important about the narrative, what was important about the message from "maus"? >> it's not about a message. sorry i don't -- messages are efficient, you can put them in an e-mail. what i was trying to think about as an incredibly self centered human is how did i get on this earth when both my parents were supposed to be dead? plunge back into the mis mists f time. not as ubiquity a -- ubiquitouss it was sense. in the genera of the '70s, '72, '70, the word that had been used was genocide, it was invented fo

from the outset, davis let consultants drive her narrative.has not elected a democrat since ann richardson in 1990. all statewide officials are texas republicans and president obama lost in texas by 16 points, so searching for a campaign message, the davis campaign turned to her personal story, and draper writes this. the campaign chose at its lead narrative heroic story of a teenage mother, while raising two daughter, bootstrapped her way into harvard law school and soon possibly the governorship. >> texas made it possible for me to go from that tiny trailer to a successful business and to the texas senate. >> it was a potent story line for a party searching for inspiration. to be inspired by a charismatic new voice in texas. and overnight, a once obscure state senator had become the democrats' appealing new face, perhaps nationally. i felt like she was joan of arc standing up for women all across the country, former michigan governor jennifer granholm said to draper. democrats in washington were enrapt. from the outset, her campaign has made

it and then somebody has to out stupid that statement and that's what's happening here that the narrative has been set the narrative if you really think about it tom is be afraid now there's no mention of course the we the atlanta olympics we had a bombing and you know it and work were critical about how they're running things in russia just like we were critical about how they ran things in china but it's almost as if you create this stupid talk narrative by by producers that don't want to work that hard isn't it easier to talk about toothpaste exploding where there's a toothpaste bomb where there's no real proof of and be afraid is always the favorite narrative of streams and yes thanks so much for being with us i think and hit the nail on the head thank you. thank you. got it out it's been more than five years since lehman brothers collapsed in the global economy is still on the way it's the time to start thinking beyond capitalism will solve our problems more on that right after the break. i got a quote for you. it's pretty tough. if they were it's about story. let's give this guy lik

it's one thing to maintain your own narrative but another to attack the narrative of the other. >> yes? right there? >> you mentioned peace will ultimately come not through diplomacy, but in peace from themselves. you mentioned peace will ultimately come through the people themselves. in your travels, did you encounter any influence or hear anything about the peace initiatives or even the geneva accords being resurgent? >> yes, i think the geneva accords is one of the templates as are the clinton parameters for a peace agreement. geneva people are still working and they have institutionalized it and they are using it. the arab league initiative, i think, is quite popular among the pragmatic center in israel although it is feared by the far right because it shows an israeli withdrawal in exchange for peace. there are many, many international and american private organizations that are trying to promote dialogue. this is a very old institution whereby israelis and palestinians listen to each other and ultimately begin to accept each other to mobilize themselves for the approach to peacem

you talk about -- to talk drop the person and the narrative. the person's hair was the color of stagnant clouds, which means white. when membranous things it brings a different feeling to the english language. the sky rover and changes science. the talk about how your mind so literally it describes when you describe the components of those objects, for example, when you say the ball, a soccer ball, the kicking around the ball. so the children kicked around. so i learned to the old tradition as a boy. when you tell a story earlier to capture the imagination of the listener and bring them to the landscape of the story. it to restore the herd. and number of times. and then there would change the facts of that story deliberately . i began to learn even before a was interest in writing began to prepare my imagination to describe things things i was observing and experiencing. ha he would ask me, pretends that were playing game. this meant that it would describe everything in their way he didn't make it easy for me. it was quite difficult. he would s

around the attacks against russia as the nooni or amfar anomie in the global jihadi narrative. by that i mean not only is chess champ and dagestan and abkhazia is seen in ayman l. zawahiri reference to the noble and heroic persistence of the fight in chechnya but the russians and their support of assad and in the backing of what is viewed by the global jihadi groups as a backing of the slaughter of sunni muslims has really put itself back into the heart of the global jihadi narrative as a key potential target and force to hit. that may not manifest itself in sochi but it certainly will manifest itself in the future, and i think that is an important point to note. i think in the minds likely of the groups operating out of the caucasus, this is the moment of opportunity to embarrass the russians but it also may be an opportunity for the global jihadi narrative to take advantage of sochi and take advantage of what may be a moment of rejuvenation. and lastly the environment itself presents opportunity so it's not just the potential to attack in sochi, to launch attacks or to provid

most teachers are quite comfortable with the narrative. this is review for some of you and it builds to informative planning and argumentation writing and employing the skills around research in both elementary and middle school and high school. we recognize it's not a writing again era but we revisit that building spiral that is necessary for research. again, we stress the importance of building the community because this implementation is also factors in capacity building at the site and that we have the opportunity to give a certain amount of input and teachers at the site give a lot of learners and in the shift of what we are being asked to do. the common store state standards list several demanding high level shifts. so when we talk about what's different from what we have been doing is around the balancing informational and literary text so it's literacy in each of the content areas as well as looking deeply at complex texts and learning how to read closely across the grade levels and what that mean for how we read at each of the gra

that is something in the narrative that needs to change. we need to be honest, that it's scary to have kids and you'll never feel ready. >> agreed. >> hang on, we'll hit the break for a sec. mums will bit of it out. this time it's against the stereotypes. >> i have a small business, i'm the president, the ceo, accounting, personnel, inventory, catering, and custodial. i ham damage control, creative development, strategic planning, and human resources. but i'm committed and passionate about what i do, and i invest everything i've got. and the payoffs are huge. >> welcome back. we're talking about modern day motherhood. for many women, judgment is one of the major decisions they have to have or not have children. and as an anecdote, a group of connecticut women started ct working moms.com, and they published photos like these to push back. back against stereotypes. and michelle, your hashtag, spread love, not shame, and why is this so important? >> i think its everything. i think that the judgment we put on one another, i have felt it directe

that is something in the narrative that needs to change. we need to be honest, that it's scary to have kids and you'll never feel ready. >> agreed. >> hang on, we'll hit the break for a sec. mums will bit of it out. this time it's against the stereotypes. we show how social media claims individual stories. >> every sunday night al jazeera america brings you controversial... >> both parties are owned by the corporations. >> ..entertaining >> it's fun to play with ideas. >> ...thought provoking >> get your damn education. >> ...surprising >> oh, absolutely! >> ...exclusive one-on-one interviews with the most interesting people of our time. >> you're listening because you want to see what's going to happen. >> i want to know what works what do you know works? >> conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> talk to al jazeera. >> only on al jazeera america. >> oh my! al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. >> new

that to me seems unsustainable and how do you change that narrative? >> well, i think we all know it, and it's disgusting that we don't have the kind of support from our government or just our community to be able to stay home and take care of your kids. that's not the issue. i want to go back to what tanya said about stripping away guilt. and i think this roots back to judgment. because it does come back to guilt with moms, and i don't think you can ever strip it away. i think that women who are moms have guilt forever, and it's just built in. and i'm a person, i love my job, and i love working, and i never wanted to stop. but i'm still in two years driving to work every morning, and leaving my child with somebody else, whether it's at a day care or with my sister. it's just gut-wrenching, and you can't -- just because you want one thing doesn't mean your heart is not split into a million different places, and i think we have t to be honest abt that. working moms, it stay at home moms, we're all having these judgments, and it comes from ourselves, our

shaping the narrative for international audience, hard to say that so far at least the olympics have been a success and if there's a problem with one of the venues that failed, a terrorist attack that narrative will get more negative but at the end is important to remember who the main audience is. it is important for vladimir putin to emphasize that russia is back, can hold an event on the scale of these games but the most important audience is domestic. how this plays in russia is in a lot of ways more important and so far we haven't seen an upsurge in enthusiasm. of the russian team does well and win gold medals and if the olympics got off without a hitch once the games are over after the closing ceremonies happen, we will evaluate them and right now it is a questionable proposition to think these olympics will function in the way vladimir putin and the russian police intended them to function when he went to guatemala city in 2007 and was given a right to host the olympics here. >> thank you very much, very comprehensive, might also note in the bond is not going though i don't th

quote, political narratives are reducktive and thus often misleading.clinton could be seething with lifelong ambition. barack obama could be a self-described outsider, marijuana smoker, and rabble-rouser. meanwhile, no one ever stopped clinton, bush, or obama to say, wait, if you were out there conquering the world, you could not have been here with your family. davis has developed a thick skin when it comes to those who might tear her down. she's had a lot of practice with that. the state's republican party has broken all the rules in its quest to undo davis. they tried to challenge her rights to run for state senator. in 2011, they tried to gouge out her minority voting support by redrawing her district. the next year they pressured republican colleagues in the senate to support her opponent. in 2013, they removed her from the senate education committee as punishment for protesting budget cuts. the old slogan maybe don't mess with texas, but don't mess with wendy davis also. joining me now is robert draper. it's a beautifully written piece. i feel lik

comes with it, or is this just deception because the reality isn't working and they need a different narrative? >> elisabeth, it's total deception.

and i want to ask why does the media refuse to let go of a narrative once they have established it. it was an interesting front-row seat, i guess, if you will, to see how the process works. i will read from the book jacket about steve here. and when this book came out, i sought initial press reports on the internet and ran over to barnes and noble to pick it up and they had not unpacked it from the boxes. the lady didn't recognize the book and i asked her to poke look it up. he said i think we have it in the becoackroom. so went and found it for me. he is an award winning journalist writer and producer. he was a non-fiction norman maylar fellow. he was written news for abc news, 20/20, novembera, fox court tv and others. his accolades include the western guild of american award -- let me put my eyes on here -- the award for investigative reporting, an emmy and fellowships at the cross association in wyoming. taught screen writing at new york university and other colleges. he lives in new york and sante fe. thanks for coming out and visiting us. [ applause ] >>> thank you. good eveni

that narrative was quite strong and who would want to die for the wrong cause? you want to believe that, if you are an ordinary citizen without much access to real information about china or japanese imperialism i don't think is hard to imagine how appealing that narrative might have been. >> it had a kernel of truth too. is true that unlike nazi germany japan was fighting a war against other imperial powers. george kennan, one person who criticized the u.s. diplomacy in retrospect said they should have recognized japanese interests more than they did. the whole problem stemmed from the fact that since the middle of the nineteenth century when japan was forcefully opened up by american gunships the japanese saw their only chance to survive as an independent nation, not be colonized like western powers. at this late in the game, but one can sort of understand why it was felt that they have their right and european empires. >> i can understand it is understandable but that is not excused either in the fact that they had a relative -- a period of relative peace and

i know that narrative is wrong but it is powerful. why is it so powerful. here we come to the idea of common sense racism. how does it work? for a lot of us it is three factors: it is confluence of culture belief: stereotypes andthis you see in the media. -- things -- ... i want to be careful with this. i want to be clear a friend of mine said to me, yes, that's right our brains think in term of race. absolutely wrong. absolutely wrong. our cognition, our minds think in term of category. we group people quickly and automatically and unconsciously. but which categories we use, that's a product of culture. right. we don't think necessarily in term of race. we think in term of difference. what is one of the most salient differences in our society? race. when you put together culture and especially a culture that says minorities are threatening. that cultural constantly being reinforced by conservative politicians and the conservative media. think of the drum beat of messages being communicated by fox news. when you put together those cultural meanings with an

it was a personal narrative. you view women, the opportunities for women, i would think that there would have been a conversation about her writer her speech within that saying let's make sure we empower this person with actually policy. so that when she's speak on our policy, she's really selling it. and instead she signed off on that speech, the party signed off on that speech. and she didn't sell what they were trying to sell to women. and then to have two men offer up the heavy lifting part, it's a really bad optic that just piles onto the already bad optics. >> there's the optic piece. let me also talk about the audio piece. i want to play for you rand paul on "meet the press" last week talking about how there's at a war on women as he can see. >> this whole war on women thing, i'm scratching my head. if there was a war on women, i think they won. you know, the women in my family are incredibly successful. i have a niece at cornell vet school and 85% of the young people there are women. my younger sister is

>> a speechless narrative is like watching a painting.ntings can speak to you if you stand in front of them. >> so the paint canning speak to you? >> indeed. >> stephen: like in harry potter? >> let's show the first clip right here. >> stephen: i'm sorry, i should have said "spoiler alert -- gorilla." was that actually a gorilla? >> that's the gorilla in the bronx zoo. >> how did you get it so still? what was your banana budget for that? (laughter) how did you get it so still? >> well, because the gorilla is still and our job was to not see a gorilla if we had shot in africa because then they spend $30 million to make it look like africa. we took the background out of the gorilla and put her in the blackground and now the gorilla's looking at you. >> stephen: well, and the other part of the film, jim, just roll this part. don't put the sound, i want to talk over it for a second. this next clip you've got here, now you've got shots of these kids, that kid kind of looks like a gorilla. (laughter) looking at us. >> yes. >> stephen: and a lot

of america's story offered by the establishment is in many ways like scripture and that this narrative is not to be questioned but it's not just the past that is repeatedly distorted presently there are powerful interests that shield us from seeing this country's current problems which brings me to my next guest his name is jed morey's the publisher of the long island cross and the author of the book the great american disconnect seven fundamental threats to our democracy joins me now to break down what those threats are and maybe find out just how they can be overcome they do so much for coming on thanks for having me on the so your book breaks down seven distinct threats to american democracy one of them is christian fundamentalism seeping into the public consciousness what danger does this pose. you know that chapter really stemmed from jeff sharlet book the family which is i think one of the best books that has been written in modern times about both politics and religion and this sort of bizarre orthodoxy this very specific american christian fundamentalism that has crept into our

it's one thing to maintain your own narrative but another thing to attack the narrative of the other. they will have to address the narrative when it comes time to address some of the core issues and conflicts of course. >> yes, right there, the woman right there, yes. >> yes, hi. phil, you mentioned that peace will ultimately come not through secret diplomacy but through the people themselves. in your travels did you encounter any influence or hear anything about the arab peace initiative, the israeli peace initiative or even the geneva accords and if that is being resurgent? yes i think the -- >> yes, i think the geneva accords is one of the models and templates as are the clinton parameters for a peace agreement and, to their, to their credit the geneva initiative people are still working. they have institutionalized it. they are publicizing it. the arab league initiative i think is quite popular among the pragmatic center in israel although it's, it is feared by the far right because it is directed at an israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories in exchange for peace. there

then the narrative. you get a sense sometimes where they collaborated. but william -- you get a sense he's laughing at the slave system. escape and get out of the south and never go back. most slaves that escaped went to canada. canada never participated in the slave trade. the story spread like wiemed fire. it encouraged over slaves to know there was hope. you get a sense of adventure, of intrigue, and cunning, you know, et. cetera. this is why the story was so compelling. now a look at the life and political career of aaron burr with the help of cox communications. was probably the greatest of the known alleged con spore or its and lead what i think is in the running for the trial of the century of the 19th century where with a former vice president of the united on trial for treason against the united states. gail: who was aaron burr as a person? >> he has an interesting biography. his grandfather was johnathan edwards. the great leader of the great awakening his claim to fame was the bone chilling serving center -- studied for awhile before he decide

they take a narrative that appeals to them and apply it to their situation. i am not aware of any other inup of people who go so far opposition to who they are and what they look like, but we swallowed it wholesale. >> is a brainwashing or conditioning? a certain amount of brainwashing thinking we cannot be capable of divinity, redemption, or being a conduit thereof, but i think we have been conditioned to think of ourselves as lesser because we cannot identify that image. that image is really important, ,he man with the flowing robes blonde hair, blue eyes, looked absolutely -- if you go there today, nobody looks like that. and that was a time pre-era, so even more he would have looked african, ethiopian. constantine in particular, took that story and made the image into themselves, and then the holy roman empire went about conquering the rest of the world, and they took this image of the holy savior, and this image got given to us, and we didn't have any trouble swallowing it. >> what do you make of the fact that even though we have the african-american bib

narrative, a narrative is a story, so when made up on issues, it's a lot harder to legislate. segment, but doesn't mean either of us are done working. democratic congressman rush holt, thanks for your time. >> good to be with you. >> good to be with you. >>> now we're going to talk economics and stocks soaring to new heights. apparently bankrupt, our friend, cnbc's mandy drury is here. mandy, s&p 500 hit that record high yesterday. what's going on? >> yeah, and it's pushing further and further today. we have a nice little rally on our hands as i'm speaking. you know, yesterday, ari, i think it was the testimony that the new fed chairwoman janet yellen gave because it was perceived as market friendly. she said it would take a significant change to the economy's prospects for the fed to put its plans to taper or reduce the bond buying program on hold, suggesting no serious concern about that recent string of economic indicators that we've seen that have been coming in fairly week, or at least below forecast, so a lot of people have been saying it's the weather, severe winter, as

at least that's the narrative i grew up with. but this past week, president obama stumbled off script contradicting even his own narrative to the point where as an american you have to wonder not can this man be trusted, more than half the country already doesn't trust him, but can you as an american be protected? it's every part of a son or daughter in the military asks every day. this week the president said for the first time he did everything possible to help americans in benghazi. >> we were focused on making sure that we did everything we can to protect them. in the aftermath, what became clear was that the security was lax. >> what did you do, mr. president, to protect them? we know you were in the white house. we know the joints chief were with you. secretary panetta said it was terrorism. you don't send f-16s. you don't send troops or any of the military companies prepared to deal with emergencies. and here's the kicker. the fight went on for hours and hours and you still didn't send help. so don't lie to me and tell me

just a bad narrative going into the election. >> in terms of the narrative, congressman, there's somethingorget about other expenses. republicans say they're going to quit their jobs for the subsidies. and there was a example of the single mother who can quit her job to spend more time with her children. does this show it's the beltway clarks being out of tur. ? >> i don't think so. there's two narratives, those benefiting from the law and those caught in the transition, who thought they were getting one thing or having to give up their current program go to another plan. there are two different narratives on this. i think each party is talking to their base on that. >> governor, i want to ask you what congressman paul ryan said in a tuesday hearing that the law disproportionately affects low wage workers and makes the poverty gap worse. how do you respond to that? >> of course, he's ignoring the fact that there are 30 million people who are getting health care that didn't have it previously. it's ludicrous. it's the typical rhetoric. one point i want to make on the question you ask the co

i would like to suggest a slightly different narrative as to what is going on with the united states policy in the middle east and get your thoughts on it. how we possibly come to the point where we have to face up to a number of strategic errors that were made in shaping u.s. policy? did we fail to see the long-term dangers of the spread of this in a non-terrorist form? did we have an overly optimistic and false notion of the role that the muslim brotherhood would play as a reform faction within political islam? is there also some kind of possible reaping about the actual viability of being able to achieve through diplomatic means a true solution. they warned about the dangers. and warned about losing leverage. is united states possibly going through a kind of correction of some deep and fundamental misjudgment that forms u.s. policy over a period of time? >> the first part of that, perhaps you could take a crack at future political islam. we are seeing a difference in egypt, and i wonder if you have some sort of historian's view. >> i wish i had 1.5 hours to respond to this. of cou