Friday, February 24, 2006
More About how to Influence, the Lakoff Way
Lakoff argues that Republicans have been winning elections because they have been better than Democrats at framing issues -- from taxes to abortion to national security -- in ways that resonate with core American values.
The title *Don't Think of an Elephant!* comes from a classic experiment Dr. Lakoff conducts in Cognitive Science 101.
He tells his students not to think of an elephant, and he has yet to find one who has managed it. Thinking about elephants is the frame, and negating it simply reinforces it.
This was the problem, he says, with President Richard Nixon's famous declaration, "I am not a crook."
Trying not to think of elephants, Dr. Lakoff suggests, sums up the Democrats' plight. Because Republicans have framed the key issues, Democrats cannot avoid being on the losing side.
Take taxes.
Republicans have succeeded in framing the issue as "tax relief," an image of aid from an affliction. The label establishes the heroes as tax opponents and the villains as increasing our tax burden.
Taxes are, of course, necessary even for programs Republicans back, such as the military. Simple economics dictates that we cannot keep cutting taxes and maintaining spending forever.
But the Democrats are hard-pressed to make these points once the frame is "tax relief."
One frame Dr. Lakoff believes could become a successful wedge issue for Democrats is what he dubs "poison-free communities."
He says: "The Republicans' war on government regulation has left industry increasingly free to spew toxins into the air and water, despite the harm it is doing to the public.
Keeping people healthy is a core Democratic value shared by many swing voters and Republicans. Few people want their children poisoned by mercury in the name of a theory about the appropriate size of government."
Tip: When you offer the most vivid characterization of a product, situation, person, or organization, you'll probably determine how others see it in their mind's eye, discuss it, and decide what they will do about it.
The title *Don't Think of an Elephant!* comes from a classic experiment Dr. Lakoff conducts in Cognitive Science 101.
He tells his students not to think of an elephant, and he has yet to find one who has managed it. Thinking about elephants is the frame, and negating it simply reinforces it.
This was the problem, he says, with President Richard Nixon's famous declaration, "I am not a crook."
Trying not to think of elephants, Dr. Lakoff suggests, sums up the Democrats' plight. Because Republicans have framed the key issues, Democrats cannot avoid being on the losing side.
Take taxes.
Republicans have succeeded in framing the issue as "tax relief," an image of aid from an affliction. The label establishes the heroes as tax opponents and the villains as increasing our tax burden.
Taxes are, of course, necessary even for programs Republicans back, such as the military. Simple economics dictates that we cannot keep cutting taxes and maintaining spending forever.
But the Democrats are hard-pressed to make these points once the frame is "tax relief."
One frame Dr. Lakoff believes could become a successful wedge issue for Democrats is what he dubs "poison-free communities."
He says: "The Republicans' war on government regulation has left industry increasingly free to spew toxins into the air and water, despite the harm it is doing to the public.
Keeping people healthy is a core Democratic value shared by many swing voters and Republicans. Few people want their children poisoned by mercury in the name of a theory about the appropriate size of government."
Tip: When you offer the most vivid characterization of a product, situation, person, or organization, you'll probably determine how others see it in their mind's eye, discuss it, and decide what they will do about it.
