Or “Why can’t we resist a pop narrative”?

So before you ask (or hit the back button) – “solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one’s own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind.”

So, then, to a thought about the rise of the solipsist – an individual (or collective behaviour? An ‘idealism of solipsists’ perhaps?) who’s rise is neatly encapsulated in the last part of that definition. Namely the “other minds… might not exist” bit.

I sense it stems from being pressed hourly to listen to a certain competition playing out here right now.

The one thing guaranteed to be spun out in any competitive situation – from free-pitches to the race-to-the-bottom-leadership-thrash – are those great three or five or 25 word snaps of what a contender stands for.

These bubblegummy takes masquerading as serious ideas, a kind of crap c.21st heraldic shield, are supposed to ‘cut through’ to audiences who are condescendingly coined as being ‘too busy’ to look at the detail.

For the solipsist, a trite pop narrative perfectly captures what they think everyone wants them to stand for. To which the answer is ‘and why wouldn’t they?’ After all, they clearly believe it is what they stand for…

But to people (like you) who actually have to care about claims – like what a brand might mean, or its values are. What tone it should take – finding the right words are important as they should speak to some kind of truth, no?

Otherwise you’re abandoning principle for, well what? Truth? Honesty? Authenticity?

So to help you make those tough calls, can I recommend The Practical Home Solipsist (it really worked for me) as a means to help your next narrative to really pop. It’ll certainly help your thinking stay well inside the box (where it deservedly belongs.)

Or you could actually start from another perspective. Perhaps even one based not on what you think (or are told) ‘people’ want to hear, but what actually needs or should be said.