Why Storytelling Can Save Conservatism

Storytelling is a powerful tool for the dissemination of information. When done well, it can convey valuable insights, inspire action, and unearth emotions that can be catalysts for good. In the hands of charlatans, however, storytelling can often be used to do the exact opposite; to sow hatred, to feed suspicion, and to destroy the trust necessary for a cohesive and united society.

Our country today is a tale of dueling stories and narratives being spun by powerful forces and interest groups with agendas that may not necessarily be in the best interest of we the people. Unfortunately, like the song of the pied piper, these hypnotizing and numbing narratives have succeeded in capturing the minds of our fellow citizens, driving many of them obliviously towards mediocrity, self-destruction, and doom.

As an immigrant with an outsider’s perspective on many of these narratives, I have often wondered what if anything can be done, especially when it seems the most destructive narratives are winning in the court of public opinion.

One such narrative states, “America was founded on racism, slavery, and white supremacy in 1619, not on liberty and self-determination in 1776.” This narrative was sanctioned by The New York Times and rewarded with a Pulitzer, even though by all available evidence is fundamentally flawed and woefully misleading. “White people are inherently racist,” is another increasingly pervasive narrative expertly spun in the war rooms of leftist think-tanks and laundered to the masses through a media and corporate apparatus wholly beholden to leftist orthodoxy.

Even more damaging are the narratives that appear purposefully engineered to target our children. Narratives about gender and sexuality that run counter to millennia-old norms and biological reality are now being promulgated within the halls of academia and at institutions supposedly dedicated to the conduct of rigorous scientific research. What’s worse is the fact that those courageous enough to challenge these narratives are seen and treated as though they were dissidents of a fascistic regime that demands a total subjugation of one’s intellect to the propagation of sanctioned talking points from which no deviation is permitted.