Changing the narrative on social issues

Over the past six years, we have seen an alarming attack on our democracy, and by extension, our social safety net. From the Supreme Court down, conservatives—and even moderates— have unraveled decades of progress. Our society is more divided than it has been in nearly X years.

I was living in Washington, D.C. in 2008 when we elected Barack Obama. I had the privilege of attending his inauguration and remember the day like it was yesterday. The energy, hope and optimism were palpable. It was our time to make substantial progress on virtually every social issue that had been plaguing our country—and we did just that.

Looking back, I realize just how lucky progressives were during the Obama Administration. One of the proudest moments of my career was working to pass the Affordable Care Act. In just eight short years, we indeed made a lot of progress. And in just one day, our country took a tragic turn that has set us back decades.

As a communicator, what’s been most frustrating has been the shift in how we talk about social issues and the people impacted by them. This is intentional. Conservatives (and even moderates) have spent millions of dollars reframing virtually every social issue, and attacking nearly every community that has been historically treated unfairly. They have pushed an individualistic mindset that places blame for society’s issues on individuals rather than systems. They have made people the villain.

Rather than focusing on solving important issues and demonstrating a deep understanding of the inequitable human experience, conservatives have waged a culture war to redefine social issues as issues of “morality” and pushing the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” farce.

This mindset is deeply flawed. And it is directly harming people living on the margins of society. The conservative narratives being pushed on virtually every social issue, from abortion and gun safety, to LGBTQIA+ rights and homelessness, to immigration and affirmative action, have put us on the defense.

We must go on the offense. This is why now, more than ever, progressives need to push back—hard—on harmful narratives. Narratives, which are a spoken or written account of connected events, or a story.We need to give people an alternative, more authentic narrative that taps into values of fairness and empathy. We also need to have a deeper understanding of just how complex social issues are to solve. Expectation that we are going to solve serious social issues within one election officials term is out of touch with reality. This is because humans are complex and policies take years to implement.

We have become obsessed with the personal lives of—and issues facing—people with limited economic and social power.It is not our business to define why or how someone is struggling. Our job is to look at the systems that have hurt them—and can support them better.

We need to have a much deeper understanding of human behavior and the barriers people face. We need to listen to people with lived experience. The pandemic reeked havoc on the lives of so many people who were already on the edge. Mental health issues, substance abuse and financial troubles affected virtually all of us. Yet according to the headlines, the most vulnerable among us are the ones to blame. It’s not about a lack of public safety resources, or rampant crime, or gun violence, or lax drug laws, open air, drug markets, and an overly generous safety net. it is because the systems are working exactly as they were designed, and they are flawed.

All of these issues are the direct result of electing candidates who don’t understand social issues and are pushing their own values and beliefs on people. We are electing reactionary candidates—from Trump to our local city counci and school boards. This overcorrection leaves people vulnerable to narratives that are an accurate and false. We have police forces that show up when we don’t want them to, and don’t show up when we need them to.

But when you look at the data, all of these issues point to the fact that people are not OK and our social safety net is weaker due to Trump policies, and a pandemic that took millions of jobs away and left people isolated.

We have hard choices to make. Refusing to accept narratives about people who are incredibly vulnerable is easy. They are our brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers. Harmful narratives can be counteracted with good public policy.

But we need to more authentically and precisely frame the root causes of social issues and advocate for policies that are based in best practice and social science. We need to understand an individual’s struggle, while accurately placing blame on the systems that were created to benefit some, but not all.