Power packed!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Orlando Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: A book review


> Review– By Lanny Schwartz
>
> Don't Think of an Elephant! By George Lakoff. Chelsea Green Publishing,
> White River Vermont. 124 pp. $10.00.
>
> Those of us interested in the environment have been stunned by the
> political success of anti-environment politicians. We think there is a
> great disconnect between what people vote for and what they actually
> get. As one of my "rules of life" I always think that people are pretty
> predictable, they will do what is in their self-interest. Yet we now see
> people voting against their self-interest. As some columnist wrote, "How
> to you get poor people to vote for tax cuts for billionaires?"
>
> George Lakoff in this book tells us how. Lakoff is a liberal leaning,
> cognitive psychologist with the University of California. Democrats have
> always laid out facts and programs and assumed that people would figure
> out what was in their best interests. Clearly that is not working. What
> does work is appealing to people's "frames." We all have mental
> constructs and identities that have developed from our experiences in
> life or by hearing certain things repeatedly. Recall Hitler's famous
> saying that a lie is as good as the truth if you repeat it often enough.
> The often repeated claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq created
> a frame. The government coming to get your guns is another frame created
> by endless repetition.
>
> Lakoff decribes two global frames. The conservative frame is the "strict
> father model" with economic self-gain to protect the family, a
> subordinate position for women, and even an idea that it is immoral to
> help the less fortunate. All this harkens back to Ayn Rand and her Atlas
> Shrugged. The liberal frame is the "nurturing parents model" with the
> real "family values" such as child protection, honest communication,
> freedom, prosperity for everyone, and a nice place to live. Some people
> are stuck in only one frame. Most of us have some frames from both
> models. Both sides try to enhance their frame to these swing voters.
>
> No matter the facts and logic, people will generally not accept anything
> that does not fit into their frames. These might be frames or identities
> such as "union worker" or "God-fearing Christian." Frames must be
> appealed to with values statements that are consistent with those of the
> target audience. The facts and programs touted by Democrats are always
> doomed to failure. The Republican strategy was developed over the course
> of 40 years by financially well supported think tanks such as the Cato
> Institute and the Club for Growth. Lakoff suggests that Democrats could
> quickly adopt the Republican framing strategy, since the research has
> already been done and the product successfully test.
>
> The conservative genius of framing is consultant Frank Luntz. Each year
> he provides a very limited circulation book that has the framing words
> for the year. It goes to presidential speech writers and other political
> officials. The highly unified conservatives all agree to use these
> words. I recalled a TV discussion of an issue, a Republican county
> treasurer in Oklahoma described her views. Later in the broadcast a
> conservative senator used the exact same words. Whew!
>
> A conservative frame is "tax relief", not tax cuts. The word "relief"
> makes it seem like an affliction that must be cured. Within this frame
> the concept is not critically question. Healthy Forests and Clear Skies
> are frames that also are received uncritically. Lakoff points out that
> when you hear such Orwellian names, it flags a political weakness that
> may be an opening for the opposition.
>
> Those of us interested in the environment have plenty of values to sell
> that people really want, but they must be properly framed. For example,
> "sustainable development" doesn't work as a frame, but "protecting
> America's grandeur" does. "Pollution control" doesn't work, but "poison
> free cities" might.
>
> Before I was baffled. This book provided to me one of those "a ha"
> experiences, now I get it. I would suggest that this book is of great
> value to those interested in environmental protection.
>
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Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship
e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's
latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent
editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/