On the alethic and moral status of political storytelling

The article reconstructs the theory of political storytelling as outlined by political strategist Mark McKinnon. Stories that conform to this theory feature a suspense structure, and as such they invoke hope and fear in recipients, thereby instilling pro- or contra-attitudes. This is potentially problematic in four respects: Political storytelling (1) can be used to induce attitude-change without a rational foundation, thereby infringing on the receiver's right to epistemic self-determination; (2) political storytelling may involve a misrepresentation of the teller's communicative intentions, thereby disclosing the truth about them in a way that is potentially harmful to society; (3) by expressing rather than stating crucial elements of his or her "message," the political storyteller may immunize him- or herself from critique and mask the true content of the message; (4) by attempting to influence recipients' preferences, the political storyteller does not conform to some fundamental principle of representative democracy.