On Unstitched, Jordan Service, Daniel Austin Warren, and Matthew Donovan “unstitch” current ideologies and narratives that define American life. This week’s episode: Where Are We? We ask how we got to a post-truth world, what are the old narratives that have failed us, and how do we move forward. Music: Opening Song “Secret things” by Jeris ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/55003 Closing Song “Up To Us” by Mr_Yesterday...
Read MoreThe Narrative String is a news analysis organization that focuses on long-form articles and essays on American Civics. We are a values organization. Our canon expresses our American Values, and it is to those values we seek to champion. We recognize that America is divided, but our values do not stem from our division, nor does selling the divide live up to our legacy as a united people. At The Narrative String, we look to mend the division. The media needs to have a larger role in not just reporting the news but in creating a better frame for our discourse. Instead of arguing for sides, we need new sides to argue from. We need a shared center ground. A place where we ask very hard questions, recognize our values and put out a shared vision of the future. Most of our divisions stem from entrenched political positions we call a Narrative Deadlocks. Each side is talking about completely different things. An example of an entrenched position is the politicization of Abortion. The right’s narrative is the right to life, and the left’s narrative is about the right of self-determination. Both of those values are shared American values that are in different narratives. Criticism of the other side has become meaningless because they are talking about different, important things, that are not mutually exclusive and do not have to dictate party and...
Read MoreWe live in a time where the truth is no longer real. We live in a time where numbers are replacements for values, winning is more important than leading, and the false notion of rational objectivity replaces the old notions of philosophical reason and conversation. The stories that we tell each other are no longer the same, as one group insists we came out of the earth billions of years ago, and another insists that we are descendants of a young-earth God. There is division in thought and it stems from a narrative collapse. We collectively said, “this is my story, this is my truth– To hell with yours.” But what is truth? How do we even know what is the right thing to do? How did we get to a place where both sides think they are right, and how do we get out of this deadlock? At The Narrative String, we think the media has a responsibility to break the deadlock. Narratives are real, they define our daily lives. It is our goal to break through the confusion of a culture with a broken narrative by studying the nature of the current chaos, finding the through-line, and telling a better story. Narratives are the structure that we use to define the world around us. Depending on the narrative we are currently using, we decide who someone is if their actions...
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Make America Great Again? Rediscovering our American Narrative By Jordan Service There is a growing consensus that “America” has been lost and we need to be found. This is coming from the right as the loss of “family values.” The family unit has been replaced with the corporate unit. Rampant globalization churned through the heartland, sorting out intellectuals to bigger cities for service jobs, and shipping manual labor overseas. The old style of a life of labor that could support a family with dignity no longer exists. The old deal, “Work hard and be rewarded,” is now, “Work hard...
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