"Is Nothing Sacred?"

AlterNet has an article about environmental policy and political moral structures that used Lakoff-style arguments. It's called "Is Nothing Sacred?" Go Tai Moses!

"How Kerry lost me"

This class is heavily invested in the language that is being used in this current election. Much of our conversation centers around Kerry vs. Bush (and frankly, how much Kerry is fucking up). Given this angle, i was quite interested in Ann Althouse's entry entitled How Kerry lost me. In it, she analyzes what Kerry has said over this campaign and why she is not voting for him. While it is not a Lakoff-styled analysis, it connects well with this class.

class 4 notes

Here are notes from Class 4. Yes, it was another fun day in Lakoff land with the focus being on "Strategic Initiatives." Great bits on Christianity and militancy.

There are always various interesting people who sit in on the class. Today's visitor was James Dean, the brother of Howard.

Daily Kos on Don't Think of an Elephant

Daily Kos blogged a review of "Don't Think of an Elephant." The thread below his review is fantastic and, apparently, this review resulted in a skyrocketing of the book on Amazon. Fantastic!

Beyond the F Word

The Bush team's use of language and framing of issues is part of decades long GOP strategy. How do they do it and what can be done by the other side? Check out this post and video piece featuring linguistics Professor George Lakoff.

Electablog has a 25-minute streaming video of Lakoff's How Progressives and Democrats Can Win

Question for the President.

A friend of mine might have the opportunity to ask a question to the President. What would be the best way to frame that question? [Examples would rock.]

My first attempt was:
The Abu Ghraib scandal raised a lot of questions about our military's morality and responsibility. Why did the generals who were eventually held responsible initially deceive the public about their involvement in the abuses? How else is the public being deceived about immoral acts abroad?

Update: Daily Kos has some fantastic suggestions in his post on debate questions

Does America Need a New President: A Debate

"Does America Need a New President: A Debate"
YES! - Mark Danner
NO! - William Kristol
Moderated by Orville Schell
Monday, October 4
7:30 p.m. Zellerbach Auditorium
Tickets free for UCB students, at the Zellerbach ticket office.

Don't Think of an Elephant

Lakoff's new book Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives was just released today on Amazon. It's co-authored with Howard Dean and Don Hazen. I'm definitely looking forward to reading it, as i suspect that it will provide a great synopsis of Lakoff's arguments around this election.

class 3 notes

For the third class, i took notes. Today, Lakoff focused on some key cognitive science ideas that play into his thesis. He started off comparing the different conceptions of framing put forward by Charles Fillmore and Erving Goffman and then continued on to talk about the role of categories and metaphor. He told a fantastic story about how metaphor entered the picture based on a class discussion in the 1970s.

articles

Here are a few more articles discussed in conjunction with the class:

From last week's New Yorker:
"The Unpolitical Animal" - by Louis Menand

From the New York Times' Magazine section from the end of July:
"Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy" - by Matt Bai

Lewis Lapham, "Tentacles of Rage: The Republican Propaganda Mill, A Brief History"

Class 2 notes

Mary Hodder took notes again for class 2. Lakoff continued where he left off the week before, focusing on notions of fairness and justice in the moral accounting schema.

Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz is the premier conservative linguist who helps the Republicans frame their issues in a powerful way. You can directly thank Luntz for: "The Contract with America," "Partial Birth Abortion," "The Marriage Tax," and "The Death Tax." Here are three Luntz-related files that might be of interest:

- Powerpoint on Luntz
- Communicating the Principles of Prevention & Protection in the War on Terror
- Energy: Preparing for the Future

Nailing the frames of the Republican National Convention

During the Republican National Convention, Lakoff wrote a series for Berkeley entitled "Nailing the frames of the Republican National Convention." In it, he analyzes each night of the convention.

- Day 1: All terror, all the time
- Day 2: Pull yourself up by your bootstraps - if you can afford the boots
- Day 3: Red-meat night frames Kerry
- Day 4: Freedom, liberty, freedom

articles

Three different articles mentioned in class:

Steven Johnson, "The Political Brain"
David Brooks, "How to Reinvent the G.O.P."
Lewis Powell, "Confidential Memorandum: Attack on American Free Enterprise System"