Functional Narratives

An actionable view of the world through an ongoing and self-reinforcing story or narrative

Example: The Russian military complex is rotten and hollow from the ground up. Investments in the military have been siphoned at all levels of the hierarchy, leading to neglected maintenance, under-supplying of parts, stealing of existing supplies, and procurement of shoddy materiel.

All aspects of Russian military are dysfunctional including troop training, troop morale, logistics, equipment, leadership, organizational choices, intelligence, tactics, military doctrine, information warfare, and industrial base.

Narrative is a deeply embedded construct that can’t be budged without significant effort and investment on the part of the individual.

1st tier data collectors and reporters. Give episodic information without context or systemic understanding. 2nd tier analyzers produce or reinforce narratives with context. Answer the question of “what does this mean?“.

Search out orthogonal voices. Orthogonal is better since they escape the polarized narrative and create lateral narratives. Contrary narratives usually reinforce the polarized narrative.