Politics of Language: George Lakoff

Wow, George, this is one of your best presentations ever. I've never heard you lay out the foundational structure for empathy before, and you did it so eloquently in this section: 02. Misconceptions About Rational Thought

I've been used to one of your tenets about liberals tending to believe that logic & reasoning will set you free, all derived from the huge errors of the Age of Enlightenment.

Now having said all this could you please counsel me in how to refrain from being perpetually pissed off at Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of the Democratic "leadership" for lacking any of the emotional & framing messaging skills to be effective in their jobs? Maybe you can explain to me: How is it possible for people to matriculate through these halls of power, dealing with PEOPLE all day long every day & night, and be so utterly clueless about the mechanics of messaging?

Okay, so after you explain that to me -- essentially, how is it that people like Pelosi & Reid & Feinstein, can be such shining examples of incompetence, yet rise in stature and power to positions that then influence and control the entire flow of which bills even get to come before Congress ... without having any skill whatsoever in the framing and emotional connecting of issues to people's lives -- can STILL be totally clueless after your work rose to prominence in the 2004 election cycle, and in lessons of the loss throughout 2005...? That's 4-5 years ago, and still they are as unskilled in these critical areas of influence as they were BEFORE being exposed to your work... Pelosi's & Reid's apparent take-aways were to miss the boat & dock completely, so much so as to do exactly the things you warned against NOT doing -- specifically, use "magic phrases" as some shortcut to understanding and implementing the ideas embedded in your framing messages in 04-05-06. Pelosi droned on with her repetition of "Culture of Corruption" and "Drain the Swamp" and "Rubber Stamp Republicans", and managed to win in Nov 06 midterms -- and must have connected the wrong dots: That it wasn't her magic phrases repeated mechanically without emotion that made her Speaker of the House, but rather Howard Dean's "50 state strategy" which brought multiple contests into the Dem's win column which the Pelosi-Rahm Crowd had dismissed as strategically uninportant and unwinnable.

So here you are 4 years later with another really brilliant and engaging presentation (one would have to have concrete in the brain to not grasp the lessons of what you're saying), and the story is the same: You laying out what chnages the Dems have to make in order to connect with people and effortlessly sell policies that improve people's lives -- while the reality is that those who most need to deliver such messaging are still apparently unaware that they haven't learned anything at all during these years.

How many years of repetition will it take for Dems to ever grok to this material? I honestly don't think their minds are fluid enough to change the organization of their brain structure.

So I had to just share this here, so you could advise me where am I supposed to dump or channel these emotions of complete frustration? A child could grasp this stuff.

[ PLEASE INSERT YOUR ANSWER HERE ]

Thanks & again, great job.

1: Social security has kept seniors out of poverty for over 70 years. Its one of the most successful gov't programs we have ever had in terms of doing what its supposed to. The only reason it faces a deficit in the future is because congress uses the surplus it generates to pay off the budget deficit. People laughed at Al Gore's "lockbox" but he was completely right about that.

2: Yes, many politicians are corrupt. So are CEOs. The difference is that the people have recourse with regards to politicians in elections. CEOs have no such thing to the public, only to their shareholders.

Mookie, "master of truth?" But where is this truth in your comment?

George, as a master linguist you undoubtedly understand the secret power of words. However did you intentionally or accidentally create a negative charged frame to the word "profit" in your speech?

Why don't I trust a government run healthcare system?

#1 - take a look at the social security system and tell us the truth about that success story

#2 - People, whether they work for corporations or government agencies, are all susceptible to corrupt practices. I would believe your frame if there was proof positive that politicians weren't -- in many cases corrupt -- Republicans and Democrats

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thanks for the kool aid George, but if the Democrats took your advice and told the truth about what's really IN the proposed legislation, even THEY would run in the other direction.

By the way, and I mean this with complete sincerity -- you are an excellent conversational hypnotist.

If you're ok with his lefty bias, Lakoff has an excellent way of explaining how language plays such an integral role in crafting political strategy. On this note, the health care reform highlight is a great rundown on how Dems have dropped the ball on this issue.

This! It is so aggravating to hear all the stuff that conservatives (read people who fear change) say about the health care issue that is so obviously ridiculous, yet it bounces in the echo chamber of right-wing media drowning out intelligent discourse. Sadly, I fear that since it's so insane, the fact that it does not merit any response leaves it as the only voice out there. Obama & Co. need to take Lakoff's advice and take control of the discussion.