Stories I believe are integral parts of how we interact and view the world. For thousands of years before the written word, stories were the sole means of transmitting and preserving valuable information. I would not be surprised if it is found that there exists some hardwired tendency for humanity to naturally gravitate towards storytelling as the de facto form of information dissemination. The stories we tell ourselves guide our preconceptions and shape our values which is why as it is so important as discussed in the article why politicians need to craft a story (whether the story is based on factual evidence is another case, just look to the republican story of "small government" in all things except in social policy such as gay rights and abortion along with "national defense") is necessary for people to believe and support you. Obama is credited with running a highly successful election campaign but has not seen the same success in his presidency. Ask anyone what Obama's campaign slogan was and all will easily respond "hope", but this slogan was built upon Obama's up and coming rags to riches story he crafted and people bought it. But what is the narrative pushed by Obama post election? Has his "centrist" policies and endless compromise muddled the story Obama was elected on and left voters confused?
What Happened to Obama’s Passion? - NYTimes.com: "The stories our leaders tell us matter, probably almost as much as the stories our parents tell us as children, because they orient us to what is, what could be, and what should be; to the worldviews they hold and to the values they hold sacred. Our brains evolved to “expect” stories with a particular structure, with protagonists and villains, a hill to be climbed or a battle to be fought. Our species existed for more than 100,000 years before the earliest signs of literacy, and another 5,000 years would pass before the majority of humans would know how to read and write.
Stories were the primary way our ancestors transmitted knowledge and values. Today we seek movies, novels and “news stories” that put the events of the day in a form that our brains evolved to find compelling and memorable. Children crave bedtime stories; the holy books of the three great monotheistic religions are written in parables; and as research in cognitive science has shown, lawyers whose closing arguments tell a story win jury trials against their legal adversaries who just lay out “the facts of the case.”"
