Home / Library / The new ‘Story Wars’

The new ‘Story Wars’

In this campaign, the Pessimists Party is battling the Optimists over the American self-concept

Overview

If the 2016 U.S. election is in any way profound, it is because everyone feels the ground moving beneath the feet of their children and jobs and communities. We are looking for narratives describing how we should grapple with dramatic upheaval in our futures. When the ground moves beneath her feet, any sane primate looks for something apparently solid to hang on to. That’s why anybody will attract attention who offers apparently simple answers, powerfully expounded. (Excerpt)

Why is this important?

This is my “New Story Wars” piece from August, 2016 – when the conventional wisdom was that Trump was a loser. It says wait – the future of political and cultural and societal battle is all about story. The argument is that now and in the future, American political battles are not between the left vs. the right. Those are obsolete Industrial Age categories and those labels have become hopelessly scrambled and non-useful. Instead, the battle is between The Optimists and The Pessimists – those telling stories about what is dying versus what is being born. And it’s winner take all. – Joel Garreau