Weaving Stories: Table of Contents

Community education. Democratic education. Popular education.

LIVE WITH OUR HEADS IN THE LION’S MOUTH:
Weaving stories of resistance and community.


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. INTRODUCTION: We understand the world through our stories.

The majoritarian project.
“A Swinish Multitude.”
Education for action.
• Democracy takes talk.
• The truth is not enough.
• Self-interest is not self-evident.
• We won’t find enough usual suspects.
• How we learn shapes what we learn.
• Democratic education efforts don’t always reach far enough.
# It’s easier to expend most of our educational effort with people like us.
# Democratic education programs tend to operate in a hothouse environment.
# Education through action is not always available.
# We don’t always get to new understandings.
# Much of what passes for political education is little more than top-down training.
# Sometimes we trade opinions without addressing the underlying experiences, commitments, and frames of reference.

The story telling species.
• Political stories.
• Stories matter.
# Making excuses.
# Stories guide us by explaining the world.
# Stories to solve problems and build democracy.
# Ideas and institutions.

A provocation.
A note on terminology.
Please comment.
My own story is in process.
Next steps.
Update ‘09.



2. LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE, LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER

2A. MAN IN THE MOON: processing the world.

Making sense of the what we see and hear.
• We sort new information into categories and patterns.
• We use schemas to focus on what’s important and filter out what’s not.
• Schemas help us fill gaps in the information we get from the world.
“Can you read this?”
• We match patterns to solve problems.
• We’re not aware of all the work our brains are doing.

There are big advantages to thinking the way we do.
• Reducing the world to stories and schemas helps us make decisions efficiently.
• Don’t spit into the wind: Our worldly knowledge keeps us on track.
• Our skill at seeing and matching even incomplete patterns lets us develop new combinations.

Gremlins in the data stream.
• WMD, anyone? It’s easier to see what we expect than what we don’t.
• Like selective perception, social roles simplify our lives by limiting information and options.
• How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?-- drawing conclusions from poor or incomplete information.
• It’s hard to see or anticipate massive “threshold effects”.

We’ve got to trust our personal experience while stretching beyond it.
• Sometimes we exaggerate the likelihood of what comes easiest to mind.
"Risk Assessment"
• We tend to remember the instances which suppport a claim and overlook contrary or missing data.
• Sometimes we see meaningful patterns where there is only coincidence.
• It’s hard to imagine very large-scale risks.
• Sometimes we apply the wrong patterns or analogies to a problem.
• We need imagination; but don’t be handing over the keys to con men.
• The made environment short-circuits the worldly reality check.
“Some information environments.”
# In a world without automated media, frequency and intensity is a fair approximation to a signal’s importance.
# In a world without automated media, repetition usually signifies multiple independent sources, implying a greater chance of accuracy.
# As institutions standardize communications, we lose the richness of meaning.
# By overwhelming us with information, the media machines distract us from key issues.
# Repetition can make lies more acceptable as well as more believable.

2B. PRECIOUS MEM’RIES.
It's hard to separate the good and bad information in memories.
• Sometimes our memories mix together several distinct events.
• Sometimes we construct or reconstruct memories in the light of later events and perspectives.
• We can be led to false memories.
• Institutions adopt and promote the memories that serve their own interests.
• Forgetting as policy.


2C. THAT’S MY STORY AND I’M STICKING TO IT: Reconciling behavior and belief.

Cherished lies.
“Hope is not a delusion.”
Investing in our stories.
• Our model makes us feel successful.
• We adopt the bosses’ Story.
• We like to keep our beliefs consistent with our experience and actions.
# Inconsistency is stressful, and we work hard to reduce it.
# Small steps can lead to lifetime commitments.
# We try to bring our beliefs in line with our actions, when we take responsibility for those actions.
# Bloody hands: we can't admit we were wrong.
# Stand and be counted: defending our public positions.
# Explanations become commitments.
# Inventing the self.
• The Self is a kind of explanation.
• The Ambassador.
# The Stockholm Syndrome: victims come to identify with their abusers.
• Sweeping back the sea: the endless task of justifying injustice.
• The Green Zone: thinking inside the boxes.

That’s not my story, but I won’t tell you what is: silent resistance.
Action and belief in context of the group.



LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE, LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER:
Apply understanding to action.

2D. CONDITIONS AND CONSTRAINTS: The challenge of sharing political stories.
• Some goals of political education.
• Where we share and develop political stories: common venues and conditions.
# Campaigns.
# In the course of mobilizing constituencies.
# The corporate mass media.
# The ‘net will set us free.
# Structured discussions.
# Casual conversation.
• Stress is a necessary but not sufficient condition of change.

Helpful dynamics.
• It’s not easy to make us obey gangsters.
• We have more than one idea.
• I count at least 3 chances to change our minds.
• Dissenters can move groups, sometimes.
• We learn and change because we need to, not to please each other.



2E. POLITICAL TALK ON THE GO: Turning our stories into conversations.

Educational safety and health.
• Democratic learning requires both risk-taking and respect.
• Safer space in organizations.
# Cultivate critical solidarity.
# Make room for new ideas.
• Explain what we mean.

Get it on the table.
• Some rules of engagement.
# Discussion takes time, but we’ve got to start the process somewhere.
# Political workers have to be as careful as anyone else of stereotyping folks.
# The environment has to be doubly safe.
# We can distinguish problem-solving talk from power plays.

• The chance to consider many sides of an issue strengthens our conclusions and political commitments.
# Acknowledge the dominant ideas.
"Omelet."
# Preempt the lies.


Raise questions.
• Question the sources, look behind the slogans.
• Highlight the contradictions, ask for explanations.


Tap into our repertoires and build on our strengths.

”Learning from experience takes practice.”

Generate alternatives.

Risk, cultivate, and systematize dissent.

Open up our stories.
• Pay attention to how we develop stories.
• Reconsider the frames of reference.
• Don’t act on crummy information.
# Don’t rely on self-serving information.
# Get a second opinion.
# Apply the right information to the question at hand.
# Listen for new insights.
# Don’t wait for perfect information, but don’t stop looking, either.
• Learn how to change our minds.
• Remember with purpose.

Weave our stories from the best materials.

Tell the truth.
• Talk beyond the slogans.
• Avoid double standards.
# Back up our claims.
# Resist romanticizing.
# Celebrate survival. Then organize for justice.
# Walk the walk.
# Explain how we apply our standards in different situations.

Think big.
• Data insufficient.
• Pandering is for pimps.
• Tiptoeing around the hard parts means stumbling in the dark.
• Mental maps are not fixed; we can redraw them.
• Put some meat on them bones.
• We can handle complex ideas.
• Connect the dots.
• Cut some doors in the walls; let the light in.
• Painting the big picture together.

Expand the spaces and opportunities for talk.





3. INTEREST, EXPECTATION, RISK & ACTION

3A. I KNEW THE ANSWER, BUT THEN I LOST IT: The puzzle of self-interest.

3B. THE PLANET OF RIGHT AND WRONG
An excursion into altruism; some stories of self-interest and self-sacrifice.
• Investing in our communities.
• Competition and cooperation in game theory.
• Giving more than they get.
• Suffering and sacrifice.
• Do it for the children.
• Sacrificing the labor force.
• Honor and dignity.
• The road to hell . . .
• Frankly, m' dear, I just don't give a damn.


3C. CALCULATING SELF-INTEREST (OR NOT)

Prioritizing needs and goals.
• Balancing short- and long-term interests.
• Picking the best path to reach our goals.
• Shuffling goals.
• Sustaining stories.
• We simplify our choices to reflect long-term strategies more than short-term gain.

Our expectations shape our politics.
• Some common expectations.
• Lots of ways to calculate risk and reward.
"Class is a set of expectations and explanations. "
• Let justice roll down like dice: expectations of fairness.
• Pfooey on Ptolemy: my kitchen is not the world.
• Miracles await: unrealistic expectations.
# Sometimes we expect too much from ourselves and each other.
# Sometimes we expect too little.
# Sometimes we can imagine a better world but not how to get there.

Mutual or collective self-interest is even harder to figure.
• Elite-serving systems of cooperation.
# Clientelism.
# The Good King.
# The Lord is King.

• What we expect of ourselves and each other; the roots of trust and dis-.
# We can misread our neighbors’ self-interest.
# It’s easy to mislead and misunderstand each other.
# We start with different models of human nature.
# Some of us walk around in disguise, or hide in dark corners.
# In a top-down but mobile society, we have little leverage with our neighbors.
# Some people making a living by sowing distrust.
# Misplaced trust can lead to distrusting everyone.
# Defining our community is necessary, risky, and insufficient.
# Sometimes, though, our stories of distrust are nothing more than rationalizations after the fact.

• Recognizing stakeholders: interest and expertise confer standing.
# Stakeholders in democratic movements and organizations.
# Self-interest, knowledge and democratic decisions.

Our stories of self-interest help us understand each other and find common ground.



INTEREST, EXPECTATION, RISK & ACTION : Apply understanding to action.

3D. GET REAL: Clarify our expectations.
• Reconsider our expectations.
• I have been to the mountaintop: envisioning democracy.
# We make the path by walking and imagining.
# Keep our eyes on the prize, hold on.

3E. GET SERIOUS: Clarify our self-interest, goals, and strategies.
• Talk about our own self-interest and the risks of change.
• Distinguish survival choices from long-term commitments.
• Practice taking responsibility.
# Bring hidden decisions to light.
# Tell the truth about what we want.
• Track our progress.


3F. GET TOGETHER: Compare expectations, coordinate strategies.
• Identify expectations we share, and draw some conclusions.
• Focus on the big goals, over the long term.
• Recast the language of altruism to emphasize acting together responsibly.
• Tackle the trust issues.
# First of all, let’s don’t sell ourselves short.
# Don’t underestimate the neighbors.
# Make the rules we need; change them when we need to.
# Speak for ourselves.
# Don’t blame others when it’s really our own fears we are acting on.
# Examine the roots of our distrust.
# Don’t assume gangsters will act as we would.
# Give each other one more chance.
# Fragments of conversations about dis/trust.