I got the impression that these are matters the writers have been hearing and talking but, for an outsider and non-native speaker like me, it was a bit difficult to understand all background (‘between the lines’) messages. Probably I did not understand everything correctly. I guess that was not important for the writers (who cares about foreigners), they targeted the declaration to people around them.
2 Likes
Absolutely. In the parts I read there were loads of references to and assumptions of “common knowledge.” Common knowledge is not common to everyone; it is local or cultural. Common Knowledge is not knowledge, but rather is assumed to be true by a specific group of people. “Everybody knows” is not a good assumption to make, when one is setting up some sort of “official” or official-feeling document that others should sign onto. If someone from outside that circle feels like they are missing inside information, that is a good indication that the document is missing something.
I listed above some of the things that jumped out at me as “common knowledge.” They are commonly held mythologies and biased histories Americans tell ourselves. The authors of this “declaration” don’t see to be aware of their own assumptions, as they use them for the basis of their argument. I didn’t have time to work through the whole thing because a reading requires a critical reading.
Yes. And to people who accept a particlar, uncritical, self-affirming version of U.S and European history, theology and culture.
Don’t hang out with historians, naturalists or philosophers. One finds out quickly that the comfortable simplicity of the world is precisely not that.
3 Likes