Mythology Mindset

Every group tells itself stories — the founding triumph, the old injustice, the ancestor's virtue — and over time the stories harden into something stronger than facts: identity. Then the strange thing happens: contradict the story and you have not corrected an error; you have attacked the tribe.

This is why evidence so often bounces off. A mythology is not a claim to be checked; it is a coat of arms to be defended. The person holding it is not asking "is it true?" but "whose side are you on?"

You have your own mythologies — the family story about who you are, the nation's, the profession's. They organize loyalty and meaning, which is their value; they also organize blindness, which is their price.

The skill is to hold stories as stories: precious for what they bind, suspect for what they claim. When a narrative can never be questioned, it has stopped being history and started being governance. Honour your myths. Then fact-check them like enemies — that is how they stay honest enough to deserve honour.