George Lakoff's book is worth a read

Another interesting article for you: Winning Words on the Sierra Club Web site. I've been reading George Lakoff's new book, Don't Think of an Elephant and I'm really enjoying it. I've been coming up with all kinds of new ways to frame issues based on the stuff I learned. The article I've linked to is just a sampling of the information he covers in the book. Below I give you a little summary of what he talks about, but do yourself a favor and read it.

Lakoff asserts that conservatives are brilliant with the way they frame issues, which is why so many people end up supporting them even if the politicians and policies they are supporting end up only helping big business and the wealthy in the end. It isn't that people are stupid (well some are, but that's another subject - my opinion, not Lakoff's)); it's that they make associations based on the framing of what they hear.

A few decades ago, the republican party started putting a lot of money into figuring out how to frame their issues. Progressives need to learn a lesson and start figuring out how to frame issues in ways that people can understand, because obviously our pointing to facts and figures isn't changing the average American mind (as evidenced by the fact that approximately 1/2 the nation is still supporting Bush as the election nears).

Lakoff explains that people relate to politics in two ways, which he calls the strict father and the nurturant parent. He explains a bit about both of these things in the article, and they are helpful to understanding how people use frames to understand issues.

Take taxes for example. Republicans throw around the term "tax relief" all the time. By using the word "relief" in relation to taxes, they are creating an idea of taxes as a burden and something that people need to be protected from paying. Automatically there is a relationship built between those two words and suddenly taxes become a bad thing, even though we know that we need taxes to pay for things like roads and schools. Some other stupid things that republicans have framed well are No Child Left Behind, Clean Skies, Healthy Forests, etc. - these are all horrible in reality, but they sound good and most people don't have the time or want to delve any deeper than the name. "Clean skies - why that sounds great!" despite the fact that Clean Skies has actually led to more pollution.

So there you have it - a very brief description of Lakoff and framing.