Fiction-absolute
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The concept of fiction-absolute is exists firstly within the context of anthropology, secondarily within the study of group psychology also known as tribalism.
It is a term invented and defined by Tom Wolfe as being the propaganda that each tribe (i.e. social group) defines and uses to explain why that group is the best of all groups and its people the best people. The term itself indicates that it is absolutist in that it defines in stark terms why members should prefer that tribe, and necessarily fictional because it is propaganda. The fiction-absolute is essentially a tribe's core propaganda, and most intolerant.
The fiction-absolute not only necessitates a harsh view of other groups, but also unaffiliated people and, of course, individualists.
The fiction-absolute is the system of lies and truths from which can spring other intolerance, but also collective action.
Examples of collective action that supposedly derive from the fiction-absolute:
- Manifest Destiny
- the Spanish Reconquista
- the Nazi concept of Lebensraum
The founding principle of a fiction-absolute need not, however, be a falsehood.
