Why the Conservatives are winning: Language/Framing:

[janekat]

Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how
conservatives use language to dominate politics
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

BERKELEY – With Republicans controlling the Senate, the House, and
the White House and enjoying a large margin of victory for California
Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's clear that the Democratic
Party is in crisis. George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley professor of
linguistics and cognitive science, thinks he knows why. Conservatives
have spent decades defining their ideas, carefully choosing the
language with which to present them, and building an infrastructure
to communicate them, says Lakoff.

The work has paid off: by dictating the terms of national debate,
conservatives have put progressives firmly on the defensive.

-snip-

In a long conversation over coffee at the Free Speech Movement Café,
he told the NewsCenter's Bonnie Azab Powell why the Democrats "just
don't get it," why Schwarzenegger won the recall election, and why
conservatives will continue to define the issues up for debate for
the foreseeable future.

-snip-

The background for Rockridge is that conservatives, especially
conservative think tanks, have framed virtually every issue from
their perspective. They have put a huge amount of money into creating
the language for their worldview and getting it out there.

Progressives have done virtually nothing..... Liberals don't get it. They don't understand what it is they have to be doing.

-snip-

How does language influence the terms of political debate?
Language always comes with what is called "framing." Every word is
defined relative to a conceptual framework. If you have something
like "revolt," that implies a population that is being ruled
unfairly, or assumes it is being ruled unfairly, and that they are
throwing off their rulers, which would be considered a good thing.
That's a frame.

-snip-

If you then add the word "voter" in front of "revolt," you get a
metaphorical meaning saying that the voters are the oppressed people,
the governor is the oppressive ruler, that they have ousted him and
this is a good thing and all things are good now. All of that comes
up when you see a headline like "voter revolt" — something that most
people read and never notice. But these things can be affected by
reporters and very often, by the campaign people themselves.

[salmonhorse]

1. It not just that...

It is the way they conduct 'debates'. They are always interrupting while implying that others have interrupted them; not allowed them to say their 'god given' piece in contravention of some 'creator' given right or other...just as a for instance. Which is nearly exactly the point at which someone has to suggest before the entire country that they in fact have nothing to say. Start slinging; or at least be willing to sling a little shit water and let the chips fall where they may while staying on point!

Started with the likes of Rick Lowery I might add. And proceeding on through the entire gauntet.

[joeybee12]

2. It puts Dems on the defensive--and even if you're right, people

will react better to the party that's being on the offensive.

[stopthegop]

3. goes both ways...

when I was young there were 'jungles'...now they're 'rain forests'...swamps are now wetlands...both sides frame issues to their own advantage...'choice' as opposed to 'abortion'...'school choice' as opposed to 'vouchers'

[Mountainman]

4. Dems do not have the control of the media either

When the conservatives frame the issue and you hear it on TV or the radio, you never hear a rebuttal. It is easy to go on a show and say anything you will if there is no one to challenge you.

The conservative talk shows are on during drive time and the progressive ones are on at midnight or the early AM when everyone is sleeping.

I think that if the progressive message were on during prime time the conservatives would not have a chance because what they say and what people see happening in their lives doesn't match.

The conservative control of the message is something that has to change somehow.

[soupkitchen]

5. What he's saying is that conservatives have learned to bullshit better

Which makes sense since bullshit pretty much seems to be their stock and trade. What conservatives know: How to bullshit a bullshitter.

[Abaques]

6. This is right on the money.

I've felt the same for a long time now. This is an issue that all of us as progressives, Democrats, Liberals, or just plain anti-Bushco need to be aware of.

[kodi]

7. "forget winning on the facts or the science. It's all about the story"

it is the ability to generate a narrative which sticks in the mind that is the best way to win an arguement or poltical campaign.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17034

"This Is Your Brain on Public Relations"

"New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote last year to the effect that, "George W. Bush's harshest critics say he's dumb. But the real point is – he thinks we're dumb." Perhaps part of the problem is that human beings seem to be hardwired for fraud. "George Lakoff, an author and professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley who calls himself a "cognitive activist," says this: "One of the fundamental findings of cognitive science is that people think in terms of frames and metaphors – conceptual structures. The frames are in the synapses of our brains – physically present in the form of neural circuitry. When the facts don't fit the frames, the frames are kept and the facts ignored."


"In other words, forget winning on the facts or the science. It's all about the story. And once stories take hold, they're hard to dislodge. "

so the way to win in politics is to attach to known and well-worn american myths and icons one's political positions and policies. the one who does it best, usually wins.

its about that simple.



ps janiekat, i was about to post my reply as a separate thread until i saw yours.

[Tikki]

8. I got 'nowhere' calling my Fundie...

..relatives...'hypocrites'...even when they knew that was exactly what they were
expounding. It appears that there are Fundies that take offense to being called hypocrites...(some may remember, somewhere back in their early religious training, that this is considered a 'sin').

So, now, when they start talking out of both sides of their mouth...I tell them, in a compassionate tone, "It must be very 'joyless' for you to have to reconcile these issues, this way." ;-)

[soupkitchen]

9. It's hip to be hypocritical

The only truth is the lie, dude. Don't you get it. You're not supposed to believe the "Bull" you're just not supposed to let on that you don't believe it. Can a person lie, if there is no one there who will call him a liar?