Controlling the Narrative: A Recipe for Regime Change (Detailed Simplified Version)
Written by: Harsh Thakur & Salil Kulkarni Originally Published: The Probe July'25 “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” - George Orwell Introduction W ars are no longer fought on the battlefield, but in classrooms, universities, social media, television, print media and beyond. These wars are not fought with guns or ammunition but with narratives, that is, stories woven intricately to build a larger picture - a picture which portrays something as a reality even when it is not real. George Orwell aptly says, “Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else." The War of narratives has been a reality since antiquity; however, the Information Age, starting from the mid-20th Century, has made narratives a more powerful weapon which can influence masses effortlessly. Building narratives and sustaining them is part of the effort to control storylines, which, as a consequence, aids in one’s ability to co...