IT IS CURIOUS, the number of supposedly seasoned politicians with many years in the arena, who still seem incapable of appreciating the gulf between giving voters information and communicating effectively through poetry, simple prose, colloquialisms, and memorable stories.

Public officials should strive to provide accurate and timely information, often gravely lacking in The Bahamas. Still, information alone (or mostly) does not tend to elicit feelings and move most human beings.

Highly educated and high information political leaders and voters typically believe that others will also be moved to action by simply informing them of “the facts.” Even when facts are not disputed, facts alone are woefully insufficient in getting audiences to respond in a desired manner.

The best communicators appeal to the heart, guts, and parts of the brain that light up and trigger emotional desires and responses. Think of a successful television advertisement. They sell products through emotions.

Coca-Cola, one of the best-known global brands, advertises continuously. A current advertising campaign places individual names on bottles and cans--evoking individual identities within specific countries--with the global brand.

A good story, well told, beats being bombarded with information at 100 mph by a politician trying to cram facts into a voter’s brain that is preoccupied with daily struggles.

Human beings are sometimes rational, but mostly emotional and often highly irrational. Given certain cultural and emotional appeals, voters often act against their own interests.

Donald Trump’s political career has been built on false or partial information. Nevertheless, he has a feral genius for understanding what motivates enough voters to support him, including genuine concerns on the economy and other issues. He excels at base appeals to emotion.

Many in the intellectual, media, and political circles are often exasperated that less informed voters simply do not respond to the facts.

Many of these same people fail to understand that human beings are more typically motivated by certain worldviews, prejudices, self-interests, values, and personal experiences that facts do not easily penetrate.

Information must be presented repeatedly in ways that are understandable and memorable and those who present the information must appreciate how it is processed. This is why social media can be highly effective.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a master study in public health and political communication. Many believed that the facts they were offered were false. Still, despite various evidence, many got sick or died because they clung to their version of reality.

Human beings daily engage in magical thinking, superstition, and emotional patterns which guide how they act. Appeals to so-called “reason” alone do not move voters.

Effective verbal, print, and audiovisual communications are clusters of artforms, sharing differences and similarities. For example, some who are adept at writing a speech may not be as capable of producing a 30-second meme for social media.

Still, good communications have several things in common and it begins with a clear, compelling, and authentic message, which takes considerable experience and thoughtfulness to get even partially correct. Authenticity and believability are key to the messenger and the message.

There is a strategy and narrative structure to good communications, which includes superior storytelling, vivid imagery, and emotional appeal. Once a message is honed it must be repeated ad nauseum.

Compelling storytelling is a form of magic. Words, images, and emotions are magic beads. When mixed into an elixir or potion they can help reap enormous rewards for someone seeking to become a prime minister or president. Good communicators copy the best communicators and communications.

The Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, is a collection of sayings by Jesus, the master of parables. It is not called “Policy on the Mount.” Instead of basic prose, it is suffused with poetry.

The language is textured, pictorial, pastoral, and evokes emotions in readers and listeners. It appeals to every human sense, as Jesus seeks to convert and change those hungry for a compelling message of hope.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

The Sermon includes instructions cum appeals on fulfilling the law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, limiting retribution, love for enemies, giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting.

Most recall the brilliant spiritual and moral passages on reliance on God, not judging others, true and false prophets and disciples, narrow and wide gates, and wise and foolish builders.

The language of the Sermon is extraordinary, utilizing master metaphors, hyperbole, similes, personification, and synecdoches. These literary devices seize the human imagination, embedding themselves in our consciousness in ways that bland information and boring prose do not.

Recall some of the images and metaphors delivered by Jesus in the Sermon: salt and light, city on a hill, narrow gate, eye-for-an-eye, log and speck, and others that many know by heart.

Like a good politician, a capable communicator requires a complex set of skills and gifts. These include an appreciation of psychology, sociology, and history.

Social media giants like Facebook, and public relations and marketing firms, typically hire individuals with experience or education in the behavioural sciences such as anthropology, social psychology, and sociology.

Such companies also hire experts in areas such as neuroscience and sociobiology to help them better understand how humans think and operate. Some hire individuals with degrees in literature, folklore and film, and other forms of storytelling.

The best political communicators are strategists and storytellers, who can help create and deliver clear, compelling, and simple narratives and messages that move audiences.

When politicians litigate the past, or facts, or speak in dense policy formulations they lose their audiences. When they speak in stories, master images and metaphors, and digestible policy ideas they win their audiences and are better set to win at the ballot box.

A political leader, especially the leader of a political party, wears many hats. Among his or her critical roles is that of a magician in the best sense, one who has a certain charisma, who can conjure magic to garner a following, earn support, and win elections.

The aphorism, “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose,” captures the imperative for politicians to speak and rhyme in poetry and short stories when courting voters, most of whom do not understand highfalutin’ talk.

It is often mostly through a mix of charisma, and superior, authentic messaging and storytelling that an adept leader helps to define reality and offer hope to a country.