At the risk of boring the fledgling scribbler with too much distraction, there is something to note from our conclusions on narrative dictates. How did we end up privileging the content over the intent?
There is a reasonable argument to be made that, after stating that the narrative is ‘ ‘Leading conservatives forecast a short war in Iraq, now, without irony are considering returning to a battlefield they’ve withdrawn from’’, we are in no position to use words or lines – however good – that aren’t in accordance with this clause. You can produce a song that looks at the calamitously poor assessment skills of [one set of narrative characters in this definition], their inability to appreciate or recognise irony, the battlefield in their terms, the fact that they are prepared to revisit their folly. Does this mean we can’t highlight the other characters caught up in this drama? Certainly, stating the case for the Iraqi people is useful, as is lighting on the cultural misunderstandings and resultant tragedy, so perhaps the answer is to work on it until the varying narrative viewpoints can be reconciled.