Defying Gravity and Defending Truth

Read this latest article by Emerging Leader Corey Stevens HERE.

Don’t hear them, hate them.

In the famous Broadway musical, Wicked, Elphaba never changes; only the story we hear about her does. Smoke, assisted by a thunderous voice and a gleaming city, coerce the public to chant “wicked” at a young woman whose only offense is seeking the truth. That’s not just theater. That is our current political culture when narrative drowns out truth and power needs a villain more than it wants a conversation.

In Oz, the Wizard survives on stagecraft — a stately sleight of hand. He doesn’t have to be true if he can be mesmerizing. He doesn’t have to be right if he can be reassuring. Sound familiar? Feel similar? Legacy media too often declares who is “popular,” who is “wonderful,” and who is “wicked,” then deputizes their viewers to enforce the script. When everyday Americans raise an eyebrow at the fog machine, they are treated as the problem, never the proof that something behind the curtain is off.