Change the story, change the world

That is why I write

We think in story, we learn in story, we perceive in story. While facts and logic are useful and important, they don’t persuade unless conveyed through story. They don’t help us make meaning of the world around us.

Public relations firms know this. Marketers know this. Notice how advertisements tell a story. They don’t post facts about their products and statistics to show how they are better than their competitor. They show the family out having amazing fun with their product. They show the lonely person noticing others with their product, then magically connecting with the world, all smiles. Or they have an animated, disgusting-looking germ say he’s stalking you, and he’ll do horrid things to you. The product saves the day.

Political strategists do the same. Think of slogans that work because they come with backstory to grab you. They change the frame to insert the values they want. Do you like the good old days? Do you think all the others, the outsiders (and similar code worded groups) have it all and you are left out? That you are being treated unfairly and being overlooked? Well then, make America great again. <whew, I could barely bring myself to type that slogan>

It’s how our brains are wired.

I refer you to George Lakoff’s research and writing on cognitive science and linguistics for so much more than I can tell you about why and how our brains are persuaded by story and not by facts. Here is Lakoff talking about how Republicans are more persuasive than Democrats because they are more skilled at selling and marketing.

The marketing profession uses knowledge about the mind, the brain, language, imagery, emotions, the framing of experiences and products, personal and social identity, and normal modes of thought that lead to action and that change brains over time. . . . In short, marketers take results from my field — cognitive science — the field that does scientific research on real reason, on how people really think. Marketers know very well that most thought is unconscious — the usual estimate is about 98 percent. They use their knowledge of how unconscious thought works. And they know that consumers are not aware of how knowledge of the science of mind is being used to sell them products that often they don’t need or may actually harm them.

We respond to story with our gut, and this creates belief.

Certainly science should underpin policy as it underpins life on this planet. But just presenting scientific facts or rational arguments won’t cut it — won’t persuade. People respond on the emotional and unconscious level to how information is framed (again, see Lakoff). We seek frames, stories to make meaning of our world. That is how our brains are wired. Stories are vehicles to let facts/science into our conscious minds through our unconscious minds.

Join me in telling stories that are based in science and truth.

Years ago I wrote a column for a local paper inviting people to act for wild and natural lands, particularly for trees. Instead of just asking them to do so, and giving them facts to support my ask, I wrote this:

Let me tell you a story. The story takes place in Coryell. Or maybe, it was Locks Ferry. Or maybe right in your town.

Once upon a time there was a big old spreading tree in a meadow. That tree had been there forever . . . well, at least as long as anyone could remember, and even as long as anyone’s great-grandparents could remember.

Many people have memories of spreading a blanket and food beneath her branches. . . sometimes when her leaves were deep green and hid the sun. . . sometimes when her leaves were bright orange and the air cool on their skin. Always, her branches spread wide and symmetrical.

One day they turned the meadow into a bank. They cut the tree. Leveled the ground. Poured a parking lot.

Oh well. The inevitability of change.

There’s more to the story, though. Maybe you’ve seen that bank where once stood meadow. But there’s a part you don’t know. Come closer, I’ll tell you . . .

The bank opened for business. The bank manager, who has lived in the community all her life, looked out the window each morning and sighed, remembering the tree that used to stand right about where she parked her car.

When the builder came by to check a few things, the bank manager approached him and asked, You know that big tree that was here before you built the bank?

Yes, the builder said.

Did it have to be cut to build the bank?

No, the builder said.

Then why was it? asked the shocked bank manager.

Well, no one asked us to save it. We could have planned the lot around it. Didn’t know the bank would want that.

Oh, said the bank manager.

The end. Or was it?

Well, the bank manager started to go to the local town meetings. She wanted to make sure that in the future, builders were asked to leave the trees standing.

Great Use of Story to Persuade:

Starhawk used a powerful, effective story about the effects of globalization on one tiny woman in El Salvador rather than listing facts about how globalization harms people and land. Read Hermana Cristina’s Well about the burdens added by the aid groups, the obstacles added to Hermana Cristina’s daily tasks.

Here is a cute animated advertisement for a wind energy company. This company shows Wind as a human — one who annoys people. He blows off hats, makes a mess of hair, pulls papers from our hands. But he wants to be loved and accepted. (Don’t you?) When he finds that he can make turbines turn to harness energy, he has a purpose. A useful purpose. Now everyone loves him. See how they used story to grab you and get you to support Wind (wind farms) and his newfound purpose?

I invite you to craft stories.

They need not be written in once-upon-a-time style as I used for the tree story. A simple formula for a story is WHO wants WHAT but OBSTACLE forces him to TAKE ACTION for an OUTCOME. While this is simplistic, you can use it as a beginning, as a way to start reframing arguments.

What do you want for the world and who/what opposes you? Turn this into a story, preferably by adding universal desires that people can relate to. Think of something you wish to save in this world. Something you stand for. Now create your story: