The Narrative String is a news analysis organization that focuses on
We are a values organization. Our
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 Deadlock”. 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 policy.
In a narrative deadlock, each side has gone their own way. It becomes more important to represent your position in opposition to the other position, rather than looking at the values shared between both sides and looking for synthesis. Narrative Deadlocks also have the subtle effect, of a turn-based system. Since there are multiple truths, we need to take turns, which defies the core American principle of liberty with just for all. If it is turned-based it is excluding people and by definition not, “for all.”
In order to heal these deadlocks, we must look at our shared values and try to stop talking past each other. We need a responsible media that will not only look to report but will provide a context to the discussion on how to move forward. Criticism has served us well, but we are in a period of change. We need creativity along with criticism to come up with solutions that are facing us, namely the automation of labor, and how to organize a global economy.
Automation means that our morality will be hard coded into the infrastructure of our lives. Does the self-driving car swerve to avoid the baby, or does it hit the crowd? We must realize that the answer is not a simple yes or no, this or that, but the answers depend on specific scenarios backed by our shared values. Values that we must come to define.
Automation also means rethinking society in a completely new way. Our basic relationship to society can no longer be tied to our relation to labor. How do we organize a society in the post-labor world? How do we deal with abundance, when all of our old narratives are based on scarcity?
The concept of “extra people” is already whispered in the halls of
Globally, we have the increasing calamity of climate change, the alarming rise of brutish politics, the mess in the Syria, and now Europe. As well as the rise of nondemocratic
The stakes are high. The future is unprecedented, yet we are reverting to old politics. Old politics that don’t even address our current crises, by old politicians that have the hubris to ignore the challenges lying ahead.
In order to heal the divide, our focus is to study the complexity of each narrative, untangle entrenched positions, find shared value, and synthesize a path forward. We must be critical in looking for new arguments and creative by giving people new stories that make sense of the world that we live in. Picking sides
We hope you will join us.
Jordan Service,
Editor In Chief