- 1. Why are most legal storytellers black or brown (Derrick Bell, Richard Delgado, Patricia Williams, Tara Yosso, Matthew Fletcher, Mari Matsuda, etc.)?
- 2. Do white people tell stories, too, but deem them not stories at all but the truth?
- 3. If one wanted to change another person’s mind about something, say, the death penalty, what would be more effective, an array of statistics or a good story or movie?
- 4. “Once upon a time . . .” Do stories (at least ones that are well told) cause the reader or listener to suspend disbelief, and, if so, is this a good or a bad thing?
- 5. Suppose you have a particular account of the world. For example, as a result of experience you have come to believe that virtue is almost always rewarded and that people generally get what they deserve. Social handouts and welfare just make matters worse. Someone tells you a story about a welfare recipient who used her allotment to raise her children, then went to school and became a Ph.D. and owner of a start-up computer company. How do you react? Do you reconsider your views—or merely pronounce her an exception?
- 6. What stories do you tend to hear in the debate over affirmative action? Which ones do you hear over and over again during presidential campaigns? (Self-made man? Patriotic American? Tells it like it is? Defender of the Constitution?) During judicial confirmation hearings? (Will stick to the rule of law? Future judicial activist? Understands the common man?)
- 7. Is capitalism—our society’s dominant mode of doing business—a collection of stories, for example, that the market is the best way of allocating resources, that if everyone pursues his or her own self-interest, society will benefit from the citizenry’s energy and inventions, and that state control is almost always bad? If it is, will capitalism’s periodic crises and crashes eventually cause its supporters to modify their views? Or are stories of this kind impervious to experience?
- 8. If you hear a given story too often, does a discrepant item of evidence merely cause you to ignore it?
- 9. Suppose you have a friend who believes in a militarized border and strict enforcement of immigration laws. During a discussion, you learn that she believes that immigration brings Mexican criminals and terrorists into the country and increases the chances of the “next 9/11.” You have read studies showing that regions that have experienced increased immigration, including the undocumented kind, see decreasing (not increasing) crime rates. You have also read that to date not a single foreign terrorist is known to have sneaked across the border from Mexico. Are studies like these likely to persuade her to change her views on immigration, and, if not, why not?
- 10. How can a community activist employ storytelling in his or her work?