The Power of Narratives

Certain narratives get started—regardless of truth—and once they take hold, they become truth, like a famous line from the great western movie (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, starring James Stewart and John Wayne) "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Great movie and here’s a review.

There is an important narrative that can have impact on the upcoming presidential election—that of the reasons for going to war in Iraq—were they honest or manufactured, the subject of a new book.

Among the early days of Protestantism a favorite narrative was the identification of the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon mentioned in Revelations, and this narrative has staying power as revealed in recent reviews of it in connection to pastoral endorsements of presidential candidates, and it continues to be referenced in books.

The major narrative of today however—in terms of our country’s international standing, in terms of our country’s ability to be the one superpower capable of protecting smaller, weaker nations and capable of protecting the innocent even in countries far away from us—is the narrative that the left keeps trying to float, that we are losing the war on terror, that we should bring all of our troops home, that we should not interfere—even to protect the innocent—in the affairs of other countries.

Fortunately, this president and much of the country, has refused to accept that narrative, and the results have become very visible and success just keeps right on happening, as this article from Weekly Standard recounts.