Yann Martel

You have these fictions, these myths that led to the Greek people.

They are Greek because of those stories.

Same thing with the Gospels.

Obviously, the Gospels are the foundation for the Christians.

And if you told both those peoples, you know what, there's no facts to your stories, they're not gonna slap their forehead and say, oh, I no longer believe, I'm no longer Greek, I'm no longer Christian.

No, it seems as if the facts don't matter.

And that's what's wonderful about stories, with a capital S, is they can travel through time.

We find stories very memorable.

and they can explain reality, and they can lift themselves away from the facts, and facts are not needed, which is both positive, they can travel through time, but it can also be problematic.

It's very hard to get rid of a story.

Once you have a story with a capital S, it lives on.

And if it's a positive story, like the Iliad and the Odyssey, you're gonna learn from them.

The Greeks learn how to be Greeks from them.

But if they're negative, like antisemitism, or I hear a good example of a story with a capital S that's fact-free, Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is a fact-free president.

He speaks and he lies.

And I say this, those of you who like Trump in this audience, and I'm sure there's a few, he's at least accused of lying.

But somehow it doesn't seem to matter.

The New York Times always points out how many times he lies every time he speaks, and for some reason it seems to make no difference.

And the reason is because Donald Trump, uniquely among presidents, nearly, has story.