Metadata
Title:: Donβt Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the DebateβThe Essential Guide for Progressives
Author:: George Lakoff, Howard Dean, Don Hazen; Year:: 2004 Item Type:: book
Citekey:: lakoff_dont_2004 Tags::
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Abstract
Donβt Think of an Elephant! is the definitive handbook for understanding what happened in the 2004 election and communicating effectively about key issues facing America today. Author George Lakoff has become a key advisor to the Democratic party, helping them develop their message and frame the political debate.In this book Lakoff explains how conservatives think, and how to counter their arguments. He outlines in detail the traditional American values that progressives hold, but are often unable to articulate. Lakoff also breaks down the ways in which conservatives have framed the issues, and provides examples of how progressives can reframe the debate.Lakoffβs years of research and work with environmental and political leaders have been distilled into this essential guide, which shows progressives how to think in terms of values instead of programs, and why people vote their values and identities, often against their best interests.Donβt Think of An Elephant! is the antidote to the last forty years of conservative strategizing and the right wingβs stranglehold on political dialogue in the United States.Read it, take actionβand help take America back.
Key Concepts & Evergreens
Highlights
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Β« Reframing is changing the way the public sees the world. It is changing what counts as common sense. Because language actiΒ vates frames, new language is required for new frames. Thinking differently requires speaking differently. Β» (Page 18)
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Β« wrote a memo-the Powell memo (http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_m emo_lewis.html).lt was a fateful document. He said that the conΒ servatives had to keep the countryβs best and brightest young people from becoming antibusiness. What we need to do, Powell said, is set up instirutes within the universities and outside the universities. We have to do research, we have to write books, we have to endow professorships to teach these people the right way to think. Β» (Page 34)
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Β« To be accepted, the truth must fit peopleβs frames. If the facts do not fit a frame, the frame stays and the facts bounce off. Why? Β» (Page 36)
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Β« We may be presented with facts, but for us to make sense of them, they have to fit what is already in the synapses of the brain. Otherwise facts go in and then they go right back out. They are not heard, or they are not accepted as facts, or they mystify us: Why would anyone have said that? Then we label the fact as irrational, crazy, or stupid. Thatβs what happens when progressives just βconfront conservatives with the facts.β It has little or no effect , unless the conservatives have a frame that makes sense of the facts. Β» (Page 36)
Nice idea. Why we need to elaborate on books.
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Β« In cognitive science there is a name for this phenomenon. Itβs called hypocognition-the lack of the ideas you need, the lack of a relatively simple fixed frame that can be evoked by a word or two. The idea of hypocognition comes from a study in Tahiti in the 1950s by the late anthropologist Bob Levy, who was also a theraΒ pist. Levy addressed the question of why there were so many suiΒ cides in Tahiti, and discovered that Tahitians did not have a .concept of grief. They felt grief. They experienced it. But they did not have a concept for it or a name for it. They did not see it as a normal emotion. There were no rituals around grief. No grief counseling, nothing like it. They lacked a concept they neededΒ and wound up committing suicide all too often. Β» (Page 43)
Nice additions to nudging
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Β« The nurturant parent model has two equal parents, whose job is to nurture their children and teach their children to nurture others. Nurturance has two dimensions: empathy and responsiΒ bility, for oneself and others. Responsibility requires strength and competence. The strong nurturing parent is protective and caring, builds trust and connection, promotes family happiness and fulfillΒ ment, fairness, freedom, openness, cooperation, community develΒ opment. These are the values of strong progressive politics. Though the stereotype is again heterosexual, there is nothing in the nurturing family model to rule out same-sex marriage. In a society divided down the middle by these two family models and their politics, we can see why the issue of same-sex marriage is so volatile. What is at stake is more than the material benefits of marriage and the use of the word. At stake are oneβs identity and most central values. This is not just about same-sex couples. It is about which values will dominate in our society. Β» (Page 67)
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Β« Reframing is everybodyβs job. Especially reportersβ. Β» (Page 69)
The best itβs could be done, through questions.
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Β« And it is the special duty of reporters to study framing and to learn to see through politΒ ically motivated frames, even if they have come to be accepted as everyday and commonplace. Β» (Page 70)
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Β« One of the fundamental findings of cognitive science is that people think in terms of frames and metaphors----,conceptual strucΒ tures like those we have been describing. The frames are in the synapses of our brains, physically present in the form of neural cirΒ cuitry. When the facts donβt fit the frames, .the frames are kept and the facts ignored. Β» (Page 92)
Conceptual mapping. How can we change it, or at least upgrade it through mapping?
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Β« The most startling finding is that in considering whether a statement is a lie, the least important consideration for most people is whether it is true! Β» (Page 95)
The same is true in logic. Is it true or false. Valid or invalid.
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Β« The more important considerations are, Did he believe it? Did he intend to deceive? Was he trying to gain some advantage or to harm someone else? Is it a serious matter or a trivial one? Is it just a matter of political rhetoric? Β» (Page 95)
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Β« If it was a lie in the service of a good cause, then it was a white lie. If it was based on faulty information, then it was an honest mistake. If it was just there for emphasis, then it was an exaggeration. Β» (Page 95)