But if that’s the way to understand narratives, what do we do with stories that *aren’t* narratives? What do we do with complexities like world news, politics, art? Surely we can’t reduce all conflicts to a matter of heroes and villains competing over a prize, can we? (And what about information that *isn’t* a “conflict” to begin with? Do we have to invent heroes and villains there, so people will care about the “outcome”?)

Andre: Great observation about technology limiting our willful exposure to conflicting opinions. I attended a lecture last weekend about “The Lonely American,” which mentioned that many of the public acts which used to deposit us shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors & fellow citizens (who may differ from us in opinion) are now automated or done online, further reducing our opportunity to engage “the other” in person.

To me, defending your opinions face to face, or dissecting an issue from multiple POVs in person, requires different social skills than being able to debate someone from the anonymous privacy of the web. If those abilities continue to erode, I fear it’ll take events on the scale of national disasters to rekindle them.

Our “on-demand” culture seems to be pushing us backwards in some ways. Back to a time when the average person spent his whole life within 20-30 miles of home. Today we venture farther from the home on a daily basis – physically. Our minds however, are finding it easier and easier to stay local. And just like those people in the past that spent their whole lives close to home, our minds rarely come across anything that asks or forces us to question our beliefs or consider other perspectives. We don’t feel the need, because most things in our little spheres of information agree with and support our point of view. That confirmation allows us to feel justified. All too often the only exposure we have to different perspectives is a filtered, second-hand version delivered by a familiar source along with his/her rebuttal. Confirmation, ensuring us that what we originally believed is in fact correct and that no additional consideration is necessary. Our subsequent actions and behavior are justified.

I think this is a truly frightening trend.

We’re complicated.

In movies, the best we can hope for seems to be the open ended ending, without a sequel. Not providing closure is upsetting but also gratifying in some ways. It’s a truer reflection of life, in my opinion.