Storytelling has been an integral part of social engineering that shapes how society behaves, of what we do, what we agree and what we allow.

Picture this, a young child believing that one day that too would become superman and save the world, this was a result of storytelling and how well it was presented to the public and this child found it appealing.

There is a quiet power in storytelling, it is not the loud or the obvious kind that announces itself, it is a subtle kind that slips into our thinking, rearranges our values, and leaves without saying goodbye, do they even leave? No they don't, they build structure in our heads that shapes the opinions we give and how we view the world itself. Storytelling in any form does not only entertain us; it teaches us what is normal, who is worthy, what success looks like, and sometimes, who deserves to be feared or forgotten. And before you think about laws, algorithms, or institutions, storytelling is humanity’s first operating system and it shows in how we all operate. And till today, it still runs in the background of our lives.

Storytelling Is Not Just Movies Or Fictional Bookss—It’s the Air We Breathe

When people, which one is people sef? When you hear “storytelling,” more often you would agree with me that it is the thought of movies, novels, or bedtime tales that comes to mind. But storytelling is far broader and far sneakier than that. Storytelling is in sermons, headlines, adverts, gossip, social media trends, family advice, motivational quotes, and even jokes. It is in the way success is described at graduation parties and weddings, the way poverty is discussed on television and on social media, and the way certain careers are praised while others are pitied. It is more like social programming if you ask me.

Storytelling is your aunt saying, “If you don’t leave this village, you’ll never make it.” It is the motivational speaker insisting, “you can make it with anything without checking if it is wrong or not.” It is the influencer selling a soft life without mentioning inherited wealth, networks, or timing. These are not just statements; they are narratives, carefully repeated until they sound like truth and become a norm.

And as funny as it may sound, storytelling is like that. It often arrives wearing humour. We laugh, nod, and move on, unaware that something has just been planted in our subconscious. Jokes about certain tribes, professions, or genders feel harmless until they shape how we react to real people. Stories rarely ask for permission; they just move in.

That is why storytelling is powerful. You don’t have to force people to believe anything. You simply tell it well, repeat it often, and let humans do what they do best—fill in the gaps.

The Stories That Shape Reality (and Hide It Too)

Here is where storytelling becomes dangerous and fascinating at the same time.

Imagine this: many people around the world love Thor—the god of thunder. He is heroic, muscular, noble, and worthy of admiration in marvel movies. Yet when we mention Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder, suddenly the tone changes. One is mythology and entertainment; the other is “pagan,” “dark,” or “archaic.” Same elemental power. Different storytelling. Different perceptions.

This is not accidental. Storytelling subtly decides who is celebrated and who is tolerated. They decide whose gods are legends and whose gods are demonised. Whose culture is aesthetic and whose is “primitive.” They are not obviously shouted on the streets, they are slowly and quietly infused into thinking patterns through repetition.

Take a look at modern films and television, Superhero movies show cities being destroyed in the name of saving humanity. Buildings collapse, streets burn, economies are ruined, but the credits roll, the hero smiles, and we clap that they have saved the day. Nobody asks: where are the displaced people sleeping tonight? Who pays for reconstruction? Who cleans the rubble? The story doesn’t need us to ask. It just needs us to cheer.

Is on love and romance,romance narratives overly stimulated and unrealistic—especially the billionaire romance genre popular in Nollywood, Korean dramas, and Chinese films. A rich, emotionally unavailable man meets a poor but virtuous girl. Showing a world where love conquers class. You would see an elaborate and fairytale wedding happening and credits roll from left, right and centre. At the end of the day everyone is happy and hopeful that might be their reality.

But the truth is that reality rarely works that way. If you look at it very well you would notice around you in your society that wealth tends to marry wealth. Power consolidates with power. Social mobility exists, yes, but not at the scale and pattern that these stories suggest. Yet the narrative persists because it is comforting, it sells hope to those who can dream. It keeps people on the mountain of delusion making them believe that love alone can fix structural inequality.

Then there is the village-to-city story, the good old nollywood days. The moment someone leaves the village for the city, storytelling immediately upgrades their status.

They become rich, because obviously there are opportunities in the city. They are assumed to find it easy and get rich quickly, but the part of struggling is avoided or not shown well, nobody wants to tell the stories about urban poverty, broken dreams, or the millions surviving on the margins of city life. Those stories don’t trend and they don't sell at all, and one of the main aims of storytelling is profit.

Storytelling selects what is visible and what remains hidden in plain sight.

Propaganda works the same way, constant repetition and emotional appeal is used in storytelling. Simplified villains and heroes. Rumours thrive because they are stories without responsibility. Once they are told probably a few times, they become “what everybody knows,” even if nobody can find the origin of the supposed story.

The most effective stories are not outright lies. They are half-truths, true enough to feel real and so incomplete enough to mislead anyone that comes across it.

What Stories Leave Unsaid (and Why That Matters)

Every story has a frame, one that is carefully crafted and whatever is outside that frame disappears or is not even relevant at all.

Movies tell us the good guy always wins. Life does not work that way, you might be a good guy and still see shege or even experience disappointment because life does not have a script. Stories tell us hard work guarantees success. Reality shows us that hard work alone is not enough but other factors are also needed like luck, timing, networks, and even nepotism. Stories tell us certain countries are “failed,” certain cultures are “violent,” and certain people are “naturally corrupt,” without exploring the historical, political, or economic contexts that shaped those realities and everyone just agrees without any question asked.

Here are some subtle storytelling tricks that often hide in plain sight:

• Selective focus: Storytelling zoom in on exceptional outcomes and present them as normal. The one person who “made it” becomes proof that everyone can without showing the process that brought the success

• Moral packaging: Complex issues are reduced to good versus evil, removing accountability from systems and placing it on individuals.

• Aesthetic distraction: Beautiful visuals, humour, romance, or action distract us from uncomfortable questions or from facing truths and setting patterns for families, relationships and even friendship.

• Repetition masquerading as truth: The more we hear something, the more it becomes normal and the less we question it.

• Absence as a tool: What is not shown is just as powerful as what is shown. Silence is also storytelling and can shape a narrative whether intentionally or not.

This is why storytelling is a weapon in the hands of those who understand it and can effectively use it. It can literally liberate or manipulate, educate or erase people. It can challenge power or protect it and yet in all of this, storytelling itself is not the enemy. Unexamined and doctored storytelling is.

When Africans tell their own stories, fully, honestly, and without apology, the narrative shifts and Africans get to tell it well without external addition. When we interrogate the stories we consume, we begin to see the gaps, the exaggerations, and the quiet assumptions we have unknowingly accepted as normal and even made a way of life.

Source: Google

Storytelling shapes our lifestyles, it shapes how we perceive the world. It influences how we define success, love, faith, and identity. It tells us who we can become and who we should never try to be.

So if you are reading this, the question is about whether stories are powerful. They are, you and I obviously know that .

The real question is: whose stories are we living by and what are they telling us? Or more importantly what are they not telling us?