Watching the Republican debate on Monday, I was struck (but not for the first time) by how much of our public discourse about thorny political issues is built upon “control mythologies,” those vast webs of shared narratives, symbols and concepts that get accepted as unquestioned truths and control much of what the members of the dominant culture think, feel and do (or do not do).

The politicians on the stage skillfully used numerous control myths to avoid offering specifics about how to fix our nation’s problems, or even substantive ideas. It went something like this: throw out a control myth, like “the free market is always good” or “regulations kill jobs” or “taxes are always bad” or “a pro-growth agenda will solve all of our problems”; explain nothing and offer no details of what that myth really means; and then move right along to the next issue as the audience nods in agreement.

How does this affect you as someone who needs to influence thinking, motivate action or change the existing narrative? Very often, control mythologies are the biggest obstacles faced by those wishing to move minds. This is true because, when your facts conflict with existing control mythologies, the result is more likely to be a defensive response from your audience than a change of heart.

We are programmed to be highly protective of our existing narratives about the way the world works—of our control mythologies—even to the point of ignoring fact, science or reason if they don’t’ fit our narrative, or threaten to subvert it. Cognitive psychology calls this “confirmation bias”—meaning we look for information that confirms our existing narrative and ignore that which threatens it.

This is both the challenge and the opportunity communicators face every time they go forth to persuade or to move minds. The facts alone will never be enough, but if you find the way into the heart of your audience’s existing narrative—a point of intervention into their control mythology—you can begin to weave your facts and your own narrative into theirs and create the opportunity to influence their thinking, or even replace their control myth with your new one.

This process begins with understanding the control myths you face in pursuing your communications objectives. What broadly accepted narrative(s) exist within your target audiences that control(s) their thinking about your issue/objective? What are the points for you to naturally insert your new narrative?

You can’t attack a control myth from a right angle, as to crack it and drive your narrative into it—your audience’s defenses will almost certainly repel your effort. You have to enter from a steeply oblique angle, such that your new narrative insinuates itself into the old narrative, at a predetermined point of intervention, and begins to displace it.

Consider the following list of common control mythologies and see if you recognize any of them.

• Bigger is better.
• You are what you wear.
• Better living through electronics.
• The free market will save us.
• Nature is too big and powerful to be affected by humans.
• Government is the problem.
• Government is never the solution.
• Our political system is broken.
• Regulation is bad/hurts the economy/kills jobs.
• It wouldn’t be on the market if it was bad for us.
• The FDA wouldn’t approve of it if it was harmful.
• Better living through chemistry.
• My family isn’t affected by pollution.
• Corporations that make stuff for me care about me.
• Progress (technological/industrial) is always good.
• Humans are separate from nature.
• Plastics are good.
• The creativity of “the market” will solve the problem.
• Science/technology will provide the solution.
• (Economic) Growth is good.
• Recycling doesn’t help.
• A rising economy will lift all boats.
• There is nothing I can do about it – I’m just one person.
• Natural resources are infinite.
• Renewable energy is always good.
• Clean coal.
• Radiation is good for you.
• You can buy your way to a greener planet.
• Food comes from the supermarket.
• Science/technology will fix the ecological crisis before it really hurts us.
• Corporations are people, too.
• If developing countries don’t do it, we shouldn’t have to.

Now, look at your own communications objectives and see how many control myths may impact your efforts. Then the fun really begins!

Thought for the day—

“We all know the big lies: Corporate capitalism is the same as democracy; humanity is the centerpiece of creation and “nature” merely a resource; the U.S. is the land of equal opportunity. These myths shape many people’s sense of everyday reality and create a control mythology…(that) defines our sense of ‘normal’…. Elements of the control mythology have become so deeply imbedded in our lives that they now define our culture, as witnessed in the unquestioned, unrestrained ‘right’ to consume.” —James John Bell, J. Cookson, Ilyse Hogue and Patrick Reinsborough, with John Michael Greer.