Thursday, January 22, 2009

Conservative Book Service

Conservative Book Service

I am in the process of assessing the status of Conservative story telling. I am fascinated by Mr. Breitbart's attempt to improve pop culture by forcing room for Conservatism in Hollywood.

The story telling, though, is going to be the ultimate source of his project's success. The audience will absorb the story, not the politics of the actors. When the story and the actor's politics are one and the same, you end up with a chicken and egg problem. Do audience come for the actor or the story. Mel Gibson has proved that this cycle can be broken with a Conservative story. So truly no dilemma. We just need to have Breitbart's project open the doors to more story telling.

So I am studying what stories already exist for when Breitbart's project succeeds. Is the terrain for the battle already well prepared and advantageous?

As I begin my search, I quickly found this Conservative Book Service page. The first impression I had was that the literature overview has one small entry for fiction amid a sea of philosophy, social science, and history.

This snapshot is frightening. Most people read fiction for enjoyment. This is the best opportunity to reach them with challenging ideas: when their defenses are down. This has been a method for success for Socialists going back to Jean Jacques Rousseau. Tell stories. His Confessions tell his story. It is easy to follow his life story. The persuasion comes second.

Conservative literature reminds me of a friend of mine that wishes to persuade everyone with the force of his logic and facts. The problem is few who matter to him will listen to him long enough for him to complete the argument. Admittedly, this is a personal weakness of mine, too, but I am striving. That effort is the key reason for my research of the topic.

Returning to the Conservative Book Service page, the writers Tom Wolfe and William F. Buckley jump off the list as Conservative writers, but few big names and many books that are about stories or literature but little story telling beyond the grandees Wolfe and Buckley.

Further Google efforts fail miserably, even on the phrase "Conservative Story-telling".

One reference I saw alluded to Reagan's gift of storytelling as part of his success. I have read that many times before. His speechwriters were known to take advantage of it. Then we have had the Bushes, Dole in public, and McCain. Dull as dirt in conveying stories to a crowd. Remember late November 1996 when Dole came out his shell and started telling stories in his own voice? The shock that hit even the Republicans?

Storytelling leads to natural humanity: humor, connection, pathos. Ivory towers? Interesting to understand the mechanics of the Economy, but little for the busy American who looks to Hollywood and Washington for frivilous and serious relief, respectively, from their own daily grind.

Take that same focus on storytelling, expand it to the arts writ large: painting, photography, plays, movies, etc. We need Conservatism to surround us. A new voice and image to represent the Founding Fathers' vision and lessons in the modern world.