Narrative

No country speaks with one voice. No organization speaks with one voice. No company, division or group speaks with one voice. Not even individual families or people speak with one voice. There simply is no single perspective, language or paradigm through which it is 'right' to view the world.

Strength comes from diversity, and strength and robustness of narrative is no exception. There is a premium placed on strong leadership, and coherent, singular thought lines, but this is an artificial constraint placed on us by the need for common understanding. Too often individual thought is exchanged for the memorization and regurgitation of the narratives that delineate a given field.

Narrative is really about making sense of things. It's about creating internal consistency in our minds. It's about trying to understand the world around us, even when we may not have the time or insight to truly understand. Its about coming to an agreement of what is 'close enough' to the truth, without really getting to the true depth of the issue.

Perhaps this is why so many people are captivated by sport. Because, while the game may have been close, or back and forth, or hotly contested, there is a clear story. A clear ending and in most cases a clear result. There are heroes, and almost always they are heralded from the winning side. Might is right, and that's the story.

And perhaps this is what draws us to war - the historical sense that while we're told it's terrible, at least the wars of the past have left us with a clear story about what happened. The winners and losers stories are told extensively, to the point where their thorny details are polished away to leave a shiny, clear and clean story of how justice was done.

But there is no mono-story, no singular interpretation of the world. Singular truth is not a naturally stable configuration. It is not where nature tends to, and it is not where strength is derived from.

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“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy