The Politics of Framing

George Lakoff is a world renowned Linguist and professor of cognitive science at the University of California Berkley. Since the 1980's he has devoted his intellect to the study of politics. His main focus regards how the nature of language influences public thought and how different political parties use language in order to frame their world view. He is prolific in his writing, author of the influential book Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think (second edition, 2002). In this work Lakoff describes the major hurdles that the American Progressive movement are facing, namely their inability to master the language of their own world view. Because of this the Liberals/ Progressives/ Democrats have failed to unite their party and move public opinion as effectively as the conservatives. In reading this book you will gain an intriguing insight into the inner workings of linguistics and politics. You will also learn about the importance of "frames" and how they operate in our public mind, forcing us to do all sorts of things one of which being the way we vote. And this is where we begin our discussion:

· Metaphorical thought begins with framing ideas in such a way that they can be understood. Example: The idea of the US or a nation as a family (we send our sons to war, our fathers founded the nation).

· Framing is a powerful cognitive tool because it evokes emotional states and solidifies views. Example: A Republican will speak of “Tax Relief.” Since relief evokes a pleasant mental frame than tax must be an affliction. If a Conservative interviewer asks a Liberal “What is your position on Bush’s Tax Relief program?” there is little chance of sounding good or convincing. This is because a Liberal is forced to say that he is against relief and therefore for the idea of affliction and therefor crazy. His alternative is to describe his beliefs from the beginning. This is also a losing battle because he will sound defensive and verbose. By failing to employ his own language the Liberal falls into a trap.

· Our country is comprised of Conservatives and Liberals and we frame the same concepts differently. But how?

- Conservatives will ask “How could you possibly not want to put a murderer to death and simultaneously sanction abortion?”

- Liberals will ask “How could you possibly be prolife and advocate for the death penalty?”

· How does this happen? The Answer: Opposing Worldviews

· Where do these worldview differ and where does the split begin? This is where we get back to the metaphorical thought idea and the idea of framing. Both Conservatives and Liberals employ metaphorical reasoning around the worldview of family and this is where we differ.

By understanding the differences in our world view we may be able to overcome the psychological problem of misunderstanding. We may be able to overcome frustrations in debate and become more intelligent in the way we voice our opinions. In future posts I will elaborate on the disparate world views of conservatives and liberals in hopes that we might mitigate misunderstanding and push toward a better society.