A narrative is a generalization that helps us understand how the world works. Narratives can be useful – they allow us to begin to comprehend social and political phenomena that are too complex to understand in full detail, especially given a limited amount of time to analyze them. But narratives are also dangerous. They can lead to what psychologists call “confirmation bias,” which means that once we have selected our favorite narratives we can use them as filters to notice more and more evidence that our narratives are the right ones while we ignore or minimize evidence to the contrary. It can be intellectually and emotionally satisfying to believe that we “get it,” while those who have not been adequately exposed to our selected narratives do not.
Here are some popular narratives:
- People who accept government assistance are lazy and expect others to take care of them.
- People who do not support government entitlement programs care only about themselves.
- People who support government entitlement programs are selfish or naïve.
- Government is not effective since it has no competition and can stay in business by force.
- Government is not effective because it is controlled by rich people and corporations who fund political campaigns.
- Charity is less effective than government because people and corporations with the most money disproportionately decide how much is contributed and how it is spent.
- Poor people are poor by choice. They can pull themselves up if they really want to.
- Poor people are poor due to circumstances beyond their control.
- Rich people are rich because they are lucky or dishonest.
- Rich people are rich because they work hard.
- Journalists, educators, and bureaucrats have an inflated sense of their own importance and feel they have the right to tell others how to live their lives. Ordinary people who accept their propaganda are unthinking lemmings.
- Rich people and corporations use their money and sophisticated psychological techniques to gain an unfair advantage in the battle of ideas. Ordinary people who accept their propaganda are unthinking lemmings.
- Since the mainstream media is made up of large corporations and is supported by other large corporations in the form of paid advertising (and donations to public television and radio), they have a predictably pro-corporate agenda.
- The mainstream media is liberal.
- The mainstream media is jingoistic.
- Political correctness prevents us from communicating openly about the real causes of social issues.
- Political correctness prevents us from communicating openly about the actual role of the United States in the world.
- Political correctness prevents us from telling the truth about Islam (just read The Koran).
- Political correctness prevents us from telling the truth about Judaism and Christianity (just read The Bible).
- The United States promotes freedom and democracy around the world because it is right and it is in our national interest.
- The United States suppresses freedom and democracy around the world because it is in our national interest.
- We fight wars for moral reasons.
- We fight wars for economic reasons, masked by patriotic and fear-inducing pretenses.
- Strength promotes peace.
- Empathy promotes peace.
Which of these narratives are true? They are all true. And they are all false. It is simply a question of how much, how often, by whom, and under what circumstances. Even the narratives that seem to be opposites are true at the same time. That is, they are not mutually exclusive.
I am not saying that all of these narratives have equal merit. They don’t. And I certainly have my own favorites. But recognizing these narratives and others like them can help us become conscious of and challenge our own biases and, more important, begin to understand – if not agree with – the people we interact with. Pitting one set of narratives against another makes for entertaining television, but does little to promote much needed understanding among ordinary citizens.
