Choosing your political stories. Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.

Related Categories: Political Communications

When you’re looking for the perfect dress, do you go to your favourite boutique or do you go to the store across the road with its unappealing window, the one that never really catches your fancy?

That window tells the story.

It either appeals to or repels your taste and its attraction is based on what story it tells and what story you want to hear.

Essentially that boutique on the corner is attracting your worldview and every person in the market place has one when it comes to what they’re buying. It might be, "I don't care about that," or it might be, "all big companies are inflexible" or it might be, "I love that store window"

When a story aligns with a person’s worldview, there is something to discuss and take note. When it doesn't, the conversation becomes inaudible.

Since the May 24th. bell was sounded I’ve thought a lot about this alignment, the connection that happens when stories stick and spread and the dissonance that occurs when stories don’t find traction in the market place. During an election cycle, politicians spend a lot of time telling (negative) stories about the competition: Who stole what? Who did what? Who is more corrupt ?

It's illuminating, because it makes the resonance idea really clear.

Take the UNC / COP Alliance and its theme of change. Change is a story that resonates with both the UNC and COP base, not only because the party’s lead candidate is female and her potential win makes it the first time that a woman might govern the country but because her lead of the party represents a generational change, a gender change, and a somewhat reluctant passing of a baton. This is a world view that resonates with a lot of its base and beyond.

But many wonder about the story of change. Is it real? Is the desire to get rid of the ruling party the only thing that makes the coalition gel? And so the story the PNM is suggesting: that the current opposition is weak, its coalition unstable and the suggested theme of change as real as Pinocchio’s tales, also has traction.

Should we care about these stories? Which ones are truthful. Which are the ones that resonate ? The fact that they are told with vehemence and speak to tribal fears, do we even care?

We should. It is imperative that we choose our stories wisely, because we have to live with the story tellers for a long time, and if they are not authentic, if they don't hold up, we’re left with nothing.

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No comments? Wow.

Truth, this, the two alternatives are like two ingredients in the worst sandwich filler you can imagine. The PNM represents the hard, inedible, tooth-cracking hardness that make you spit out whatever you were eating, and the Alliance represents the runny stuff that faintly reminds you of things that your biology class told you gave you the trots.

the "new" alternative represents a slice of raw pork with infectious bacteria in it.

Unfortunately, we, the people are the sandwich.

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Choosing your political stories. Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.