Twice Betrayed by the Truth:
A Narrative About the Cultural Similarities
Between the Cold War and the Global War on Terror

H.L. Goodall Jr.
Arizona State University

Available Online:
Sage Journals Online

Abstract

This narrative explores the relationship of some forgotten legacies of Cold War (particularly Vietnam-era) politics, language, and culture to the current Global War on Terror (GWOT). One theme that ties these historical eras together is the rise of secrecy among power elites and the resulting lack of available truth capable of informing policies and practices used to justify war abroad and spread fear and anxiety at home. The implications of this cultural and political déjà vu in light of the current GWOT are examined with particular emphases on how a "war" waged by a rhetoric of deceit and deception has produced unintended global consequences and new risks to our security while devaluing the power of the story that we give to the world.

Creating the Right Reality:
Communication Message Strategies and the Republican Party

H.L. Goodall, Jr
Arizona State University

Seth Wiener
Columbia University

Available Online:
Sage Journals Online

Abstract

This critical essay explores the parallels between the communicative strategies and methods of totalitarian movements and those of the modern American conservative movement. The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt (1968) serves as the standard by which the authors investigate the properties of such strategies. The authors find that the conservative movement in general and the Republican Party specifically, though not totalitarian, exhibit numerous common characteristics in the sphere of communication such as the suspension of reality, propaganda techniques, and the use of movement opinion to subvert, transform, and replace fact. Through a commitment to an independent press and civic responsibility, the authors believe it is possible to counter these effects and preserve a society where the free exchange of ideas and the freedom of thought are not threatened by rigid doctrines parading as objective facts.

Leadership Reconsidered as Historical Subject:
Sketches from the Cold War to Post-9/11

Angela Trethewey
Arizona State University, USA

H.L. Goodall JR
Arizona State University, USA

Available Online:
Sage Journals Online

Abstract

In this essay, we seek to further an understanding of leadership as the evolution of perspectives embedded within a wider historical frame. It is our contention that recovering the historical, economic, and cultural basis for leadership theories since the Second World War reveals three hidden storylines; each one of them tied to the three dominant historical eras. By hidden storylines we refer to the subtexts and the forgotten and lesser known, but no less foundational aspects of the more popularized and codified leadership theories that came to define each of those historical eras. Those three eras are the Cold War, the Post-Cold War and the Post-9/11 era. Understanding the emergence of the `dark side' of leadership in a post-9/11 environment is intricately tied to uncovering and narrating the relationship of ideas about leadership to the dominant material and ideational struggles that defined each of these eras. Recovering the `bright side' of leadership as an oppositional narrative and reversing the trend toward fundamentalism requires a new model of leadership. We offer `pragmatic complexity' as a provisional step toward that new model.

Why We Must Win the War on Terror

Communication, Narrative, and the Future of National Security

H. L. Goodall Jr.
Arizona State University, Tempe

Available Online:
Sage Journals Online

Abstract

This article analyzes the political rhetoric of the War on Terror from a communication theories perspective within a cultural framework. Beginning with a reading of President Bush's rhetoric using ideas drawn from Charles R. Berger's reduction of uncertainty theory, the author proposes the international and pragmatic utility of a more inclusive and less fear-inspired narrative alternative. This narrative alternative can and should serve as a communicative ideal capable of reinforcing traditional American values of openness, honesty, dialogue, and the ability to change minds based on new and better information while at the same time well serving the strategic interests of national security.

Narrative Inheritance:
A Nuclear Family With Toxic Secrets

H. L. Goodall Jr.
Arizona State University

Available Online:
Sage Journals Online

Abstract

A narrative inheritance refers to stories given to children by and about family members. Using the case of his own “nuclear family,” the author explores the power of these stories in our lives, particularly when they are later shown to have been constructed out of serious omissions, distortions, secrets, and lies. The implications of this personal ethnographic account speak to issues of family communication, narrative inquiry, and the relationship of work and home life in families whose everyday lives are defined by codes of secrecy.