PARTLY FACETIOUS: The difference between ‘good narrative’ and ‘bad narrative’

“What’s the difference between a good narrative and a bad one?”

“Depends on how you define bad?”

“As not crediblex.”

“Oh, I thought you were going to distinguish between the mode used - mainstream media or the social media - a distinction that indicates a different age group. Mainstream media is used by the over 50s and the social media by the under 50s.”

“So social media is bad media?”

“Depends on which side of the political divide you are sitting on. Don’t forget, some countries support a state-run television with a rather obvious bias.”

“Shut up, that to me represents true democracy at work – state television is funded by the public, it is of the public, its employees are carefully selected, and lastly it is for the public as the target is the public.”

“The BBC is having difficulty in convincing the British to watch its broadcasts, I heard there is an ongoing campaign to go to all houses who don’t pay the fee because they don’t watch the channel with the investigator reportedly checking all electronic equipment of the householder to see whether he or she is watching any live channel…”

“That’s a great idea maybe the Pakistani government can follow the British model - you know those who are now redundant due to right sizing, I mean the Utility Stores Staff and OSDs, officers in search of duty can be used for…”

“Don’t be facetious.”

“Anyway when I asked you what is a good narrative and what is a bad narrative I was thinking of the European Union office holders’ blunders – their narrative is based on lack of knowledge of history, the Union’s Estonian Foreign Minister needs to be sent on a course of World War II History, and…”

“A narrative that is not accepted by the public of a country must be abandoned because democracy is about representing the will of the people and…”

“Where do you get your ideas from?”

“In Pakistan, the February elections…”

“We go to the source, the elections, the West hasn’t learned that yet. Give them time. Right now they form coalitions to keep the most popular party out of power, they have learned to use their institutions to ban those who challenge their policies…”

“So what is the moral of the story?”

“A fact-finding mission to Pakistan…”

“Don’t be facetious.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025