Finding Common Ground/Powerful False Narratives

Very often, the best story wins. Here are examples of powerful and influential false, misleading, or unsubstantiated narratives. As you investigate these narratives, keep these questions in mind: 1) Identify the narrative elements that make this compelling, convincing, memorable, and likely to be shared with others. 2) Identify the falsehoods in the narrative. 3) Identify the various calls to action inspired by the narrative. 4) How is this narrative harmful, if at all? 5) Who gains, and who loses as this narrative spreads?

Political Narratives

Healthcare Narratives

If you don’t eat fat you won’t get fat.
Nutritional cholesterol causes serum cholesterol
Vaccines cause autism.
Homeopathy is effective.
Other popular yet ineffective treatments.

Psychological Therapies.

Many practices claimed to be effective psychological therapies are ineffective.

Merchants of doubt

Merchants of Doubt is the name of a book and documentary film that describe several practices the tobacco industry uses to discredit evidence-based research that tobacco is harmful to health. Similar tactics are also used to discredit or minimize several other dangers, listed here.

Character Traits

Kindness is weakness
Apologizing is a sign of weakness
Toil is virtue.
Leisure is laziness.
Leisure is earned.
The world does not owe you a living.
The world owes me a living.
The Noble Savage
Appeal to nature
Blank Slate
A woman’s place is in the home

Charismatics, Hero, and Tyranny stories

Vilifying others

Obama citizenship conspiracy theories
Hillary Clinton, lock her up, Pizzagate conspiracy theory
Swiftboating
McCarthyism
Men are pigs

Religious Stories

Happy History

Columbus discovered America
The American dream
American Exceptionalism
Blacks were better off as slaves
Holocaust denial
Using the phrase ethnic cleansing as a euphuism for genocide.
Big lies
Many examples of historical negationism