King Arthur's sword and self-fulfilling prophecy
The concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy is one of the most interesting and non-obvious things in world culture. Quite colorfully showed it in his film "The Sword of King Arthur" directed by Guy Ritchie.
King Arthur sword
The plot of the film is tied to a greedy ruler, hungry for power. That is why this ruler pays so much attention to the prophecy, according to which at some point the true king will come, who will pull the sword from the stone and take his place on the throne. The threat of such an outcome frightens the king so much that he unfolds full-fledged repression, with the suppression of all dissenters, and the forced check of all men for the ability to draw a sword. But his fear of prophecy only fuels protest moods in society, giving prophecy weight in the eyes of people. Namely, repressive measures give rise to the same Arthur who will fulfill the prophecies. A vicious circle in which not some independent circumstances lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy, but precisely faith in the prophecy and the struggle with it.
The same concept of self-fulfilling prophecy can be found in the works of Shakespeare. The plot of the play "Macbeth" is built around the witches' prophecy, which would never have been fulfilled if it had not been heard. If Macbeth had not met the witches, if he had not heard their prophecy that he would become king and if he had not believed in him, he would not have become a king, and probably would have lived much longer and possibly happier.
From the point of view of science
As we can understand, this phenomenon has no mysticism, and is based only on psychology. In sociology, this was described by the following theorem - "situations defined by people as real are real in their consequences." A similar conclusion can also be drawn from the notion of double contingency put forward by Talcott Parsons. To put it briefly, when interacting, it doesn't matter if your actions are based on real or false messages, because you take an action and get an action in return.
Also in psychology, this moment is called the “Pygmaleon effect”. This name is chosen in honor of the sculptor from the legends of ancient Greece, who carved a sculpture from ivory, with which he fell in love. As a result, the goddess Athena took pity on him and revived the sculpture. This effect was first described by school psychologists. They found that school teachers, dividing students into “strong” and “weak”, subsequently praise some more often and less often than others, ask questions more often and less often than others. As a result, students who were identified as “strong” are better motivated than those who were identified as “weak”, which gives corresponding results.
Manifestations.
In addition to the manifestations mentioned above in pedagogy and sociology, self-fulfilling prophecy also manifests itself in economics. For example, the news about the problems of the bank, even if false, can lead to the collapse of the bank. So clients who believe in this information will try to withdraw their deposits from the bank, thereby reducing its assets. Everyone who withdraws his deposit worsens the state of the bank, thus, when a critical amount is reached, the problem will turn from a fictional one into a real one. This problem is especially strong for trading on the stock exchange, since stock prices directly depend on information about the state of companies.
To the point.
Yes, originally I am writing this text to show you how a self-fulfilling prophecy about NATO has brought us to the current moment of being. And then the first thing you need to think about, was there really an enemy?
And here it is necessary to start with a confrontation between NATO and the USSR. And where did she go? Of course, one can recall the results of the Second World War and even then the emerging division along the poles. But this will not be true, since the root of all evil in this situation lies ... in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you read the writings of the people who founded the USSR, you will see many statements about the need for a world revolution and evil capitalist-imperialists. That is, in the foundation of the country, initially at the level of ideology, it was laid that certain countries are enemies. In this scenario, it becomes a matter of time when the “pygmalion effect” will work, and the picture of the enemy that the Marxists so carefully outlined will come to life. Naturally, not without a reaction to the actions and statements of the Marxists.
Imagine yourself in the place of the United States or Britain, when a country appears in the world that stands on the fact that it declares hostility to all the principles on which your world stands. Of course, such a country is treated with caution, and actions are evaluated, which in turn is perceived as ill will ... and now a self-fulfilling prophecy from the books of red writers comes to life.
The consequences of the Second World War also became the reason for the redistribution of countries into spheres of influence. The end of this epic will be the collapse of the USSR. Everything, the very source of self-fulfilling prophecy was rejected and confounded. But as we see, history judged otherwise.
And now a new time has come, and a new country - Russia begins its interaction with the West. The United States is well aware that it does not benefit from the second coming of an antagonistic ideology for them, so they help Russia. This is expressed both in humanitarian aid and in technological cooperation, but the stereotype left over from the ideology of the USSR continues to live in the minds of the population, that the enemies are from the West.
And this hostility in our history is destined for the role of Chekhov's gun, which sooner or later could not fire. The Chekist past of the president and his desire to remain in office also played a role in this, but the main thing is the outdated belief of the people that the enemy is in the west. The ideological heritage of the USSR worked for the fact that people did not even reflect on “why the enemy?” and “what is the enemy for?”. Therefore, the doctrine of a besieged fortress began to unwind in the state, for which there was already a ready enemy so successfully.
As a result, from a peaceful situation, we came to what is happening now. And each of our actions made on the basis of false promises caused a response, which only convinced people of the fidelity of the “prophecy”. And instead of breaking out of the vicious wheel, we again, for the second century in a row, create our own enemy.
Still, I would like to believe that, following the results of these historical events, we will nevertheless reflect on the psychological problems of our country.
And that's about it.
