The amazing power of storytelling in elections
Published: 29 Oct. 2024, 19:58
JUNG KANG-HYUN
The author is a Washington correspondent of JTBC.
For a considerable period of my career as a journalist, I covered and reported about politics. Despite my career, I still find many parts of the U.S. presidential election hard to understand.
For instance, Harris had a sweeping victory over Trump in the television debates but cannot get ahead of him. Moreover, Trump openly lies and is involved in all kinds of unethical scandals, including paying off a porn star. But with only six days left until the election, Trump’s ratings are ahead of Harris’s in some swing states, rather than declining.
As I covered the public sentiment in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, I had a chance to get a glimpse of what lies beneath this incomprehensible phenomenon. It’s the power of storytelling that Trump constantly fabricates.
American literary scholar Jonathan Gottschall declares in his book “The Storytelling Animal” that “story is constantly nibbling and kneading us, shaping our minds without our knowledge or consent.” I tried to understand Trump’s possible return to power despite various moral flows from the perspective of “Homo fictus,” what Gottschall describes as a “storytelling man.”
Aside from a value judgment, Trump is a better storyteller than Harris. This is evident from their countless speeches and debates. If you want to classify genres, Trump tells fiction while Harris tells non-fiction.
In other words, Trump tells stories that his supporters want to hear, often using false claims to make them. He narrates his character as a hero fighting against villains and turns the presidential campaign into a drama. The basic structure of his story features illegal immigrants as villains, the jobs and security crisis as a conflict and Trump himself as the hero who solves problems. It has the effect of taking the listener into a fantasy that has nothing to do with reality.
On the other hand, Harris is a nonfiction speaker narrating facts based on reality. Rather than fabricating, she preaches reality such as Trump’s threat to democracy. Her story is morally valid, but it may not be a charming, persuasive one in terms of Homo Fictus, who enjoys raving over gripping stories.
After all, stories depend on the power to attract people. Authority is the power that forces others to obey, while charm is the power that draws people in whether it is right or wrong. In the tight presidential race, the weight of charm may determine the outcome. Authority cannot force charm, but charm can often be an important springboard to seize power.
The author is a Washington correspondent of JTBC.
For a considerable period of my career as a journalist, I covered and reported about politics. Despite my career, I still find many parts of the U.S. presidential election hard to understand.
For instance, Harris had a sweeping victory over Trump in the television debates but cannot get ahead of him. Moreover, Trump openly lies and is involved in all kinds of unethical scandals, including paying off a porn star. But with only six days left until the election, Trump’s ratings are ahead of Harris’s in some swing states, rather than declining.
As I covered the public sentiment in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, I had a chance to get a glimpse of what lies beneath this incomprehensible phenomenon. It’s the power of storytelling that Trump constantly fabricates.
American literary scholar Jonathan Gottschall declares in his book “The Storytelling Animal” that “story is constantly nibbling and kneading us, shaping our minds without our knowledge or consent.” I tried to understand Trump’s possible return to power despite various moral flows from the perspective of “Homo fictus,” what Gottschall describes as a “storytelling man.”
Aside from a value judgment, Trump is a better storyteller than Harris. This is evident from their countless speeches and debates. If you want to classify genres, Trump tells fiction while Harris tells non-fiction.
In other words, Trump tells stories that his supporters want to hear, often using false claims to make them. He narrates his character as a hero fighting against villains and turns the presidential campaign into a drama. The basic structure of his story features illegal immigrants as villains, the jobs and security crisis as a conflict and Trump himself as the hero who solves problems. It has the effect of taking the listener into a fantasy that has nothing to do with reality.
On the other hand, Harris is a nonfiction speaker narrating facts based on reality. Rather than fabricating, she preaches reality such as Trump’s threat to democracy. Her story is morally valid, but it may not be a charming, persuasive one in terms of Homo Fictus, who enjoys raving over gripping stories.
After all, stories depend on the power to attract people. Authority is the power that forces others to obey, while charm is the power that draws people in whether it is right or wrong. In the tight presidential race, the weight of charm may determine the outcome. Authority cannot force charm, but charm can often be an important springboard to seize power.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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