Stories have been used throughout human history to exert power and influence over others as well as to develop and maintain communities and cultures. They are powerful but fragile tools that rely purely on people believing them. Whether a story lives or dies, brings us together or tears us apart, depends on us and what we choose to believe.
I was born and grew up in the north of Ireland during a conflict called ‘the Troubles’. While a peace of sorts was obtained in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, there has been no meaningful attempt at a government level to nurture reconciliation, and indeed the British government has done much to undermine the process. This is in large part because the British state and its army were active participants in the conflict. As a consequence, the community remains deeply fractured – there are 97 ‘peace’ walls and barriers in Belfast alone, up from 18 during the conflict itself, and the collective and individual trauma the conflict brought goes largely unresolved, keeping the country and its people anchored in the past and the peace in a perpetually fragile state.
As a kid I had friends from both sides of the community, and struggled to comprehend how people could justify causing harm to others and killing them. Ultimately, it’s about narratives – both those we create internally, and those we have embraced from external sources. Everything we believe about the world, about others, and even about ourselves is ultimately a story – a narrative constructed in large part by the cultures that surround us – be it our families, our communities or the countries we were born in and live in. These cultures are themselves built upon stories, and are in a perpetual state of flux - continually evolving as they are shaped by every member within them.
Prevailing narratives, while embraced by many and forces to be reckoned with, are not rigid, static things. They can and do change constantly. This is in large part because a narrative is not necessarily dominant because it is true, but instead because of the existing power structures or limited understanding of the world around us. The impact of burning fossil fuels on the climate is but one example of both these forces. Both external information and internal reflection help the narratives we build in our minds to evolve – for better or for worse.
Ideally, the stories that are propagated by us and our cultures would converge towards constructive, widely held beliefs that enrich the lives of the majority and reduce suffering – from, for example, the destructive act of othering people different from us to the belief that all humans should be treated equally. Such beliefs should not be mere rhetoric, but instead be reflected in the way we and everyone within our cultures, and the systems we create, act and engage with the people and world around us. This will invariably take time and both individual and collective effort, and is helped or hindered by the forces that are sustaining a prevailing narrative and those that are challenging it.
The use of narratives by vested interests to manipulate people as a means of sustaining their power and wealth is deeply rooted in human culture. For example, as Eric Williams highlights in his book ‘Capitalism and Slavery’, anti-Black racism was created by those profiting from the transatlantic slave trade as a means of justifying its continuation and opposing abolition. Racialisation has a long history of use as a tool by those in positions of power to justify atrocities carried out against other peoples – from the colonisation of Ireland to present-day genocides, illegal wars, and conflicts. We should therefore be continually assessing and challenging every story we hear and hold, to ensure we ourselves are not unwittingly being manipulated.
We may not have chosen where we were born, when we were born or our biological family, but we have agency as to what beliefs we choose to hold. In the absence of critical thinking, we run the risk of being used to maintain and propagate destructive narratives that serve to only benefit a small minority at the expense of the majority. We are currently seeing this being weaponised, in a way never before possible thanks to social media and AI, by the likes of the Trump administration in the US, Reform in the UK, and other far-right political groups – as well as European and Western governments that are pushing an increasingly far-right agenda. This is partly driven out of desperation. As history shows us, those who have power and wealth strive to control the narrative in order to maintain the status quo in the face of increasing challenges to it. These new tools allow the rapid and comprehensive spread of misinformation and disinformation before the facts can be verified. They allow targeted and sustained influence with minimal effort and expense.
Equally, as is the case in the north of Ireland, and anywhere where there has been a war, a conflict, or intercommunity violence of any kind, if we as individuals and communities do not do the work to resolve and release the traumas of our past, and reconcile those narratives that drive a wedge between us, then we also run the risk of being manipulated by internal forces of which we are not even conscious – haunted by the past, and unable to free ourselves from its influence over our present.
If we’re going to address the issues of our time, we need to first understand our own role in sustaining them. We need to strive to both understand the world around us – to engage critically with every aspect of our lived experience, and to know and understand ourselves – both the unique aspects of our being, and those that make us human. Whether external to us or internal, we need to be proactive in engaging with that which seeks to hide in the shadows, and dragging it out into the light – to learn and understand how the narratives we hold and are exposed to are seeking to influence us, so we can make an informed decision as to how we engage with the world.
To neglect this process, whether on a personal, community or societal level, will only allow the status quo to be sustained by those who benefit from it. Whether it’s racism, misogyny, neo-liberalism, the patriarchy, or any other power structure that seeks to label, other, and impose a hierarchy through narratives, despite all the issues and suffering they create and sustain, neglecting the process allows the traumas caused to reverberate beyond our present and into our future.
The process of creating meaningful, sustainable cultural change takes time and effort. It will ultimately only arrive after the alternative being promoted exists and is seen to work, and the people, or someone they trust, has direct experience of it. Exposure to an alternative narrative then helps people make sense of the experience, and amplifies the awareness of the alternative’s existence. Raising awareness and promoting an alternative narrative are often not enough in and of themselves to create meaningful change within our cultures – they simply set the groundwork. The lived experience of the alternative being promoted is critical, as is understanding the forces acting to maintain the status quo. The suppression and then rise of renewable energy and electric cars illustrates this dynamic at work.
By nurturing the lived experience of the alternatives, and challenging and changing the prevailing narratives, the status quo will shift, and with it the systemic change that is so desperately needed to reduce the vast amount of suffering that has been, and continues to be, inflicted on so many for so long.
The existing systems are desperately failing the majority, and causing more and more suffering. It’s time for us to create new systems that address these failings and prioritise equality, egalitarianism, and community. We need systems that strive to ensure everyone – not just the privileged few – has the best quality of life possible. Alternative political, social, economic systems and business models already exist. Let’s seek them out, support them, and spread the word, and then together we can start changing the narrative about what kind of world we can live in.
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