I am banning the words "frames", "frame", or "framing" from my vocabulary, except when I'm picking out new glasses or dusting the wood things around the pictures on my walls. It's hard, because they are everywhere in the Left Blogosphere. Throw up a diary on Daily Kos that mentions Lakoff or framing, and it's guaranteed a multi-threaded comment list in at least three figures.
I have to confess that, at first, I was dazzled by the concepts. But that was back in those dark days when I feared that Kerry would blow it and then the reality that he had.
Now, months later, we have gone from cringing as a strutting George Bush crowed about spending the political capital he had earned, to watching gob smacked as the arrogant are eating their own. By 2006, let alone 2008, there may be nothing left of them but dried blood stains.
We have started to see alliance among Left and Right groups that are exposing the Administrations lies and near-criminal actions to the light of day. There seems to be real potential in an array of new groups, such as Air America Radio, Democracy for America, ACT, Move-On, and, yes the Left Blogosphere.
Of course, They are not dead yet. And the Left is not exactly in power either. The mainstream media is still pathetically craven, unwilling to report news that would strike the Administration as unpleasant, unwilling to dig for news. And the Left Blogosphere powers that be are too often pack animals, willing to get together to take down the one stray, ailing yak, while failing to notice that most of the herd is still safe and kicking.
Amidst all this I am coming to think that the way we are using George Lakoff's notion of framing is one of the biggest threats to the Left - and therefore to democracy. Yes, it's good to notice the way that the Roveniks cynically - but effectively - package their programs. It's important to have the hairs on our necks go up sooner than would have been the case in the past.
Whatever George Lakoff wanted, the passage of time is showing is that we are spending far too much time on positioning and fine tuning wording. What we should be doing is speaking from our hearts and minds clearly and honestly about reality and facts. Focusing on the equivalent of positioning, framing, and fine tuning contributed to Kerry's loss.
Lakoffism is also contributing to a dangerous contempt for Red Staters. It is fueling a belief that our stereotypes of them are true. These are people too. We are cheering and gloating over statistics that show Red States have higher divorce rates, greater poverty, you name it. But this human suffering is nothing to rejoice in. We need to be reaching out to these, our fellow citizens. We are all in this together.
The lives of these folks are miserable. Read David Shipler's book, The Working Poor, to learn something we all need to know and keep in the front of our minds. They are poor. They have miserable prospects. They are undereducated and overworked. They do not have computers with high speed internet connections in their homes. They do not blog. They have terrible luck, and they are so preoccupied with finding or keeping a place to sleep for the night and putting together some cash for food, they have no time to work out the nuances of Gannon / Guckert. Their jobs are miserable, dangerous, insecure, and badly paid. They have no health insurance. One misstep, one accident, and they are homeless.
We need to pay attention to the meat and potato issues that are grinding down ever larger percentages of our population. This stuff matters to them and it, therefore, matters to all of us.
Dean was right when he said he wanted to be the president of the guys who are driving pick-up trucks with confederate flag decals. Someone has to be their president, and we are better off if it's someone with Dean's values and views than those of Bush. We have got to talk with - not to - these folks. We are all in this together. The Blue States will not be seceding. We will not be emigrating. This is our country, and these are our fellow Americans. We need to take it back - all of us together.
The reality is that reality matters. Thank God, Dean sees this. Thank God Dean wants us to talk honestly with one another about race. Thank God he is spending time in those Red States and is seeding and supporting candidates today who will be in the Senate tomorrow.
Forget Lakoff. Forget games. Forget framing. There are no easy answers - there is only hard work. Dig in and do it. Do real work that is honest, real work that will make a difference.
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