Thanks to our Sydney correspondent for alerting us to this article. George Lakoff on idea "frames" and how progressives are always forced to speak in terms framed by conservatives. Such as, "tax relief." He also explains Left and Right in terms of how each views the family: a "strict father" or a "nurturing parent."
(Or, as I would call them, the Daddy State or the Mommy State)
Although I'm not a progressive, this was very helpful in understanding why our political dialog is the way it is. Hopefully libertarians can figure it out.
James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
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Although it will be distasteful to libertarians, they may want to come up with a few simpleminded slogans to serve up to the masses. Political argument in the US seems to be like a Pokemon duel (I have a lot of nephews brainwashed by Japanese card makers) with each side playing a set of flash cards with slogans or other memes on them. Some are powerful argument stoppers like the "anti-semitism" card or "blame America first" card.
ReplyDeleteLibertarians need to work at framing the issues to their advantage. I have found that framing the issue often brings people around to a libertarian view. We need to deploy memes to the effect that law=force, taxation=theft, etc.
It may be helpful to deconstruct the memes of the statists and reframe them in less euphemistic terms. For example, when a statist says "We need to support community gardens", this could be restated as "We want to force you to subsidize someone else's gardening hobby".
Keep up the good work.