By telling old stories, we reinforce the current world.
By telling new stories, we create new possibilities and can change the world.
I recently read The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and appreciated how he took responsibility for the stories he tells and how they reinforce certain beliefs in the world. A few quotes I liked:
— “words are powerful, but more so when organized to tell stories. And stories, because of their power, demanded rigorous reading, interpretation, and investigation.”
— “The systems we oppose are systems of oppression, and thus inherently systems of cowardice. They work best in the dark, their essence tucked away and unexamined…”
— “The arts tell us what is possible and what is not, because, among other things, they tell us who is human and who is not.”
— “History is not inert but contains within it a story that implicates or justifies political order. … Some of us see the lack of policy change and wonder if the movement itself was futile. But policy change is an end point, not an origin. The cradle of material change is in our imagination and ideas. … we have the burden of crafting new language and stories that allow people to imagine that new policies are possible.”
But with the power of writing comes responsibility, and in the essays in this book, Coates takes personal responsibility for what he witnesses. He wrestles with his own complicity in amplifying or repeating stories he had been told rather than experiencing reality directly.
You can read my longer book review at https://lnkd.in/gG3TeRzs
Note that the final essay in the book is controversial and may be offensive to some people as he compares the Palestinian experience to that of apartheid in South Africa. I include in my post a link to the rebuttal from the American Jewish Committee so you can decide for yourself what stories to accept from each side.
What stories do you repeat without thinking?
What stories do you interrogate and challenge?
What does that reflect about the world you want to maintain or create?