Would you say story and narrative are synonyms? Check the links for Merriam-Webster's definitions, from where one might say they could be, at least partially.
Then why when we are being fed some BS, it's not a story, but a narrative?
Is it an attempt to keep people from thinking about this potential meaning of story?
But to me the term narrative started to be loaded with more connotations, that make me cringe every time I hear the word.
It's not just a BS made pretty, most times, it goes further than that into the manipulation territory. The official narrative, mainstream narrative, the company's narrative... A narrative has often become a story with some elements of truth to make it credible, followed by a call to action or in more subtle cases, by a powerful suggestion to an already conditioned audience.
With such manipulatory narratives fed to the masses over long periods of time, critical thinking will become a rarity that gets replaced by either people who are afraid to have or state any opinions of their own, or by fanatics. Very little middle ground...
Luckily, alternative sources of mass information came out before most people lost their ability to think critically. That doesn't make all (or even many) alternative sources of information any better. Many just have their own narratives to propagate.
So, what can we do to protect ourselves? Take care and use your critical thinking as often as you can. Don't let it atrophy by not using it! Don't let others (like the government) do the thinking for you. That's why you have a brain, use it. Of course, there are some things you probably shouldn't do, like being your own doctor. But even doctors make mistakes, so you can use critical thinking to ask for another opinion if something doesn't seem right.
What else can we do? Turn off any channels (media or of a different nature) that you discover are feeding BS and manipulative narratives. I am less categorical here because I probably have my own biases. I do avoid such channels (sources) but sometimes I intentionally check them to see a different perspective, fanatical or not.
How about you? In a world full of manipulative narratives, how do you protect yourself?
Want to check out my collection of posts? (work in progress!)
It's a good way to pick what interests you.