Jim Geraghty of the National Review recently opined about “what impedes conservative efforts to shape the culture?” Rod Dreher over at the American Conservative puts the blame squarely on conservatives’ lack of narrative and the offloading of storytelling to the far left:
“Argument has its place, but story is what truly moves the hearts and minds of men. The power of myth—which is to say, of storytelling—is the power to form and enlighten the moral imagination, which is how we learn right from wrong, the proper ordering of our souls, and what it means to be human.”
It doesn’t matter how logical or sane an idea is. If people don’t understand the narrative it embodies, the whole human experience as it were, then people won’t connect. To put it another way:
“The best art imitates life in a compelling way. If it imitates a dream, it must be a dream of life. Otherwise, there is no place where we can connect. Our plugs don’t fit.”
—Darwi Odrade (from Chapterhouse: Dune)
Have conservatives forgotten that “[s]ocieties governed strongly by tradition keep their collective wisdom alive through storytelling… So why are contemporary conservatives so lousy at telling stories?“
