Political stories

It's been a minute!

Brief post to reflect on this video by Richard J Murphy.

The video makes a great case for thinking clearly about the change we want to make in society and doing something about it in an engaging, optimistic way.

To reinforce the case, I would point to the most successful politicians in democracies often being the best at telling a powerful story. Churchill, Thatcher, and Blair are good examples from the UK. Now Farage is gaining ground simply by articulating (wrong-headed) stories about immigration and "wokeness".

In fact it's difficult to think of a current frontline politician other than Farage with that ability. (Though obviously he's massively helped by the wealthy and their media in spreading his stories.)

On the other hand, there are also many examples of politicians who are great at telling a powerful story but didn't achieve the lasting social change they deserved. I'd suggest Tony Benn for one.

I've dissected and played with political narratives many times over the years. See this post from a decade ago, for example.

However what I particularly liked about Murphy's video is that it's not about the clichéd longing for a "great leader" to rally behind; but instead a democratising call for all of us to develop and tell our own stories of social change. 

I doubt I've changed many minds in my time, even when I think I've got a compelling narrative. But I suspect that just the processes of developing and sharing authentic stories for change might help us all be a little clearer about what's important and how we might get there, and make us a little more circumspect about the emotion, half-truths and rhetoric of snake oil sellers.