Frames

I’m halfway through George Lakoff’s new book, don’t think of an elephant, and I spend a lot of time nodding my head, saying, “exactly”. But when I put the book down and take out a sheet of paper and a pen to put my values/identity/issues into a frame (of reference), I end up at a loss with a lot of blank space.

This shouldn’t be rocket science and I’m not willing to grant that the righties who rule the world are one bit more rocket sciencey than I am. Perhaps more left-brained, however. I’m inclined to believe that framing arguments, definable by two or three word sound bites, is a left-brained discipline. And I’m further inclined to believe that the left brain is not where a good many progressives live. It’s not insurmountable, but condensing entire bodies of thought into easily evoked frames will mean retraining our brains to think that way.

Lakoff says that conventional wisdom wrongly suggests people vote for their self-interest. No, he says. People vote their identities. The candidates who best represent a voter’s identity gets the vote. If self-interest aligns with identity, so much the better. But identifying with the candidate wins, hands down. Lakoff correctly identified family values as an evoked frame before the election even occurred. It’s an identity thing, stupid.

Two words, family values, evoked a frame of reference. Everyone has values. Just about everyone has family. And everyone harbors warm fuzzy thoughts about family even if their reality is somewhat different. Family values evokes mom and apple pie. Who doesn’t identify with that? And George Bush is a natural at evoking these warm fuzzy feelings in many people. John Kerry is not.

Bill Clinton was able to do the same thing. Paul Wellstone also knew how. And, I believe, Barack Obama has the same inherent skills. They know how to define policy and ideas in ways that speak directly to the heart. When they speak, people say, “Hey, that’s me he’s talking about. I’m that person. He knows me.” And that’s where it’s at.

Studying their speeches would be time well-spent. I can recognize when they frame concepts. I can identify the phrases that instantly evoke their philosophy of values and political thought, but I haven’t figured out how to duplicate it. Not many progressives have.

The next question is, what do we replace family values with? That’s the righties’ frame. We don’t like what it means. We can do better. Can’t we?