In Uncharted Territory, Yet Here All Along
Rage! That is the first word of “The Iliad,” Homer’s ancient Greek epic of the various battles, external and internal, for power, prestige and privilege during the ninth year of the Trojan War. Rage! It animates not only that ancient tale of pride and grievance, humiliation and hubris, but our own political present, fueling social media algorithms and nightly newscasts. And now, just as it did three thousand years ago, that self-absorbed rage can unleash unspeakable violence against people and the planet.
From racist narratives blaming DEI for California’s raging wildfires, to hateful, anti-trans legislation moving through Congress, to the historic insult of the second inauguration of a fascist on Martin Luther King Jr. Day looming, it’s essential we examine the stories we tell ourselves about who we are as a society, how we got here and where we’re going.
The whiplash of dread and fatalism we’re feeling makes sense. We’re simultaneously defiantly energized and debilitatingly exhausted. All at once, we’re in uncharted territory, yet when we consider the history of this country, we also know we’ve been here the whole time.
A renowned sociologist and civil rights activist wrote in The Nation magazine, “This administration is dominated and directed by wealth and for the accumulation of wealth … Corporate wealth profits as never before in history. We turn over the national resources to private profit and have few funds left for education, health or housing.”
Raging against corporate capture of our institutions and rising oligarchic power, he added:
We let men take wealth which is not theirs; if the seizure is "legal" we call it high profits and the profiteers help decide what is legal. If the theft is "illegal" the thief can fight it out in court, with excellent chances to win if he receives the accolade of the right newspapers. Gambling in home, church and on the stock market is increasing and all prices are rising. It costs three times his salary to elect a Senator and many millions to elect a President. This money comes from the very corporations which today are the government.
That was W.E.B. Du Bois in 1956. Sound familiar?
To me, as a communicator and media critic, Du Bois naming the power of the press to affect not only public opinion but judicial outcomes and public policy sticks out as especially salient. How media drive and reinforce public narrative was the subject of a presentation I moderated last month entitled “Far-Right Media & The Power of Narrative.” The session shared key findings of research funded by the Lumina Foundation and conducted by Protagonist, a big data analysis organization that studies how public discourse drives human behavior.
The results are illuminating. Drawn from 2.2 million articles, commentary and broadcast news reports on everything from education, politics, immigration, the economy, race, religion and climate produced since January 2020 by 38 right-wing outlets, including Fox News, Breitbart, The New York Post and Heritage Foundation, Protagonist identified four dominant narratives, stoked by rage and grievance, that are deliberately seeded and sustained across all of this content. The narratives are:
Reject the Woke Agenda: The radical and all-powerful Left is waging a mass indoctrination campaign that is silencing Conservatives and threatening the sacred values of our nation.
Americans Under Siege: Chaos, crime, and violence have descended on this country, and Americans live amid constant threat of physical harm.
Expose the Deception: We must open our eyes and resist efforts by Democrats, elites, and corporations to pull the wool over our eyes and amass power.
Preserve Capitalism: In order to keep our country strong and prosperous, we must not lose track of our commitment to hard work, self-determination, and a free market.
As seasoned storytelling expert and trainer Andy Goodman reflected on these four narratives after viewing the presentation, “Ignore them at your peril, because it’s quite possible they are undermining your work as you read this.” Goodman adds:
These four narratives can work individually or in combination. For example, arguments that climate change is a hoax which restricts drilling for oil and hurts the economy tap into both the “Expose the Deception” and “Preserve Capitalism” narratives.
Protagonist also found that many of these narratives created clearly identifiable villains, putting human faces on otherwise abstract subjects, making them easier for audiences to emotionally connect with (and become enraged by.) Don’t like the government telling you to get vaccinated? Blame Anthony Fauci!
Another tactic connected with these narratives is the poisoning of key terms associated with progressive ideals: DEI, CRT, affirmative action, and others. Far-right outlets are using every opportunity to make these terms so toxic that they can no longer be used. (In a similar vein, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law in May 2024 banning the use of the words “climate change” in any statewide statutes.)
More media narrative research from Protagonist is forthcoming; they’re also looking at what drives both corporate/mainstream coverage, as well as more progressive and left-leaning media ecosystems. To learn more about this work and check out the recent presentation and other material, send an email to narrative@spitfirestrategies.com.
Goodman concludes, “These narratives comprise a well-orchestrated, relentless, and emotionally powerful attack on progressive values and causes. It requires the same in response.”
When thinking about what’s ahead, I return to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., who shortly before his assassination, said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
Yes, we’re all in it right now, but I’m thankful that we’re in it together. Against the dying of the light, we will not go gently. We, too, will rage on.
This blog post was originally published on January 17, 2025, as part of the Disinfo Defense League‘s “Narrative Takes.” DDL is a distributed national network of organizers, researchers, scholars and strategists dedicated to disrupting online racialized disinformation infrastructure. Spitfire has supported the work of DDL since its inception in June 2020.
The “Narrative Takes” newsletter for DDL members features keen insights, errant thoughts and brief reflections on our ever-evolving socio-political landscape from narrative strategists and cultural thinkers who sit on the DDL Narrative Council. Below is a slightly edited version of my latest entry.