He made this comment that those who tell the best stories captivate and compell the people. He referenced the Ewoks. Remember that when boys landed on their planet with R2-D2 and C3PO in tow, the Ewoks took them prisoner. But by the time they were done telling stories (mainly C3PO and R2-D2), they had new allies in fighting the "evil Empire"? Rushkoff asked, "What if Darth Vader and his cronies arrived on the planet first? Would the Ewoks have been compelled by their plight to join them? After all, the Republic had become unmanageable and the rebels were causing such a stink. Would the Ewoks have served the Dark Side instead?"This got me to thinking about how people change. I have always felt that truth might have the strongest potency in helping people live their lives. That is, I always thought truth would be the most compelling thing to people simply because it is...well...true.
So I gathered scattered facts (thinking that fact and truth are the same...ha!) and presented my case to people. I never understood why telling people that thousands of people are dying in africa everyday seldom compelled people to live off less and give away more. I guess this also helps shed light on how–even after so many facts about the Bush cronies and their policies and the corruptions are presented–people are still behind their guy.
My point is that sheer fact does little to nothing in getting people to change their paradigms or lives.
But story does.
So Rushkoff said it's time to re-learn the sacred art of storytelling...and stop telling the same damn story. Allow your imagination to re-imagine and re-create the world, to frame the questions differently, to remind you that you don't need that... or perhaps even want that. Stop settling for what everyone's saying... that that's just the way life goes or that's just they way things work. Perhaps it doesn't have to go that way.
Stop swallowing their cliché, as if it's the only way, it's overplayed...
And support artists, writers, screenwriters, poets who are creative subversive art, who are telling new stories.
3 comments:
Ryan,
Thanks for sharing this reminder about the nature of story. It reminded me of my fave Campbell quote:
Myths are truths that are bigger then facts
Myth is one of the longest surviving meme vehicles. In the words of Neal Stephenson, Myths are "stupendous badasses on the evolutionary stage."
I hope you can continue to master the craft of myth making and story telling, you already have eyes that see.
Things Bono and Ryan have in common:
#238 They quote themselves in conversation. (uber cool)
Um, first off Andrew, this is not a place to put your Amazon review (or someone elses). I appreciate your thoroughness, but your tone is very un-compelling.
I have only ever deleted one comment from my blog. But if you continue to use this space to toot your own horn about books you've read and what you think they mean, I will delete your posts.
If you want to dialogue about a book or idea, please feel free. But don't copy and paste some review to respond to my blog.
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