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An example of the third step in the fantasy theme criticism technique can be seen over the last few years during our "war" in Iraq. The ultimate fantasy or myth or ideology is that America is a noble country. The reasons given to us by our government as to why we must be in Iraq, support this fantasy. The fantasy was first shown to be true because we were defending ourselves from mass destruction. When this was shown to be not true, because there were no weapons of mass destruction, the fantasy was adjusted and the new reason as to why we had a "noble" cause was to take Sadam out of power. When this was shown not to be a noble enough cause or reason, the fantasy was changed a third time as to why we were still "noble" to be in Iraq. The third reason was because we went there to give "freedom" (and responsibility) to the Iraqi's. This is still being questioned as to if it is noble to "force" freedom or to kill thousands of innocents to give them freedom. So, the last, so far, reason that shows that we are still "noble" for invading this almost defenseless country is because we are already there, and to pull out and not "stay the course" would not be noble, it would be cowardly, and since Americans are "noble" we stay the course. This fantasy has become circular in its logic and many individuals are seeing this now and are finally calling for a withdrawal of our troops.
This shows that the reasons and truths that show that we are "noble" for being in Iraq have been adjusted as the real "truth" was revealed. This was easier than taking responsibility and admitting that we were not "noble" and that we made a mistake. Because this fantasy is so deep rooted in Americans, this could never happen. To admit that we are not "noble" would change the reality, for every American, as to what our country is and what it stands for. This revealing of the truth of a fantasy, is called the truth standard in this form of criticism, and is the most important criterion in fantasy criticism (Frie 2007). |
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