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Lakoff on the Political Mind
George Lakoff was recently in Seattle at Town Hall to talk about his book "The Political Mind." Prior to speaking, staff from Northwest Progressive Institute had dinner with him. I was invited but found the email when it was too late to arrange to go. By the time I got back to town, I would not even be able to get into Town Hall to hear him speak. Luckily, there were reviews.
He spoke about his book, The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century American Politics with an 18th Century Brain.
Lakoff's thesis is that the progressive movement has been stifled by a faulty theory of mind and that progressives think arguments are won using facts and reason whereas conservatives have poured money into think tanks. Therein, they made up neo-con terms like "tax relief" which are then parroted by the media.
Lakoff likes Barack Obama's "hope" strategy. Elections are about values and identity, he said. Conventional thinkers might be skeptical of Obama's "cult of personality" but historically, people relate more to ideals than to campaign promises. He felt that Hillary Clinton realized this late in the game and that people connected with her as a person after awhile but that her "run to the center" strategy was not well timed for this election.
Lakoff believes that there is not so much a pure left and right, but that progressives and conservative frames are activated for a variety of issues. Obama thus has a central theme which is empathetic and people can say that it's just "rhetoric" but it doesn't look good to attack someone who is showing empathy with others.
As for Lakoff and cognitive linguistics, he also goes on in his book to discuss "mirror neurons", which exist in our body which relate to empathy. "Mirror neurons" happen to be something I've been reading about with respect to autism. I may just have to read Lakoff's book.
I did turn to a review in New Scientist.
According to this interpretation, Lakoff wishes to employ wisdom from cognitive science in order to defeat the conservatives in November, which seems a worthy proposition. His take is that progressives buy into the 18th century Enlightment view that humans are thinkers: rational, logical and attentive to facts. I know that I would certainly like to buy into that view.
Yet he argues then that humans are not rational but affective, imperfect and easy to trick since we combine passion and emotion with thought. Karl Rove obviously learned this a long time ago. As Lakoff says, "There is a name for those who use this knowledge to gain power. In America they are called Republicans."
Rather than changing minds through arguments and evidence, politicians often configure people's neural pathways through repetition, comforting words and appealing narratives as well as mantras and mottos. "Politicans who control brains win elections."
Americans like "redemption." According to Lakoff, Bush had been an alcoholic with DUIs, an avoider of service and a failure in business but his team portrayed him as a redeemed man and people bought it. They have carefully framed ways of talking about taxation as theft of the fruits of labor and a war that is supposedly against terror itself. Lakoff thinks this was all no accident, as repetition of phrases like "war on terror" strengthens neural connections.
As in his last book, he goes back to the family as a metaphor and compares the strict father with the nurturing parents. Conservatives knuckle under to authority who then is to protect us from evil, using force if necessary. The strict father thus doesn't need to win public approval, as he knows best. Progressives are moved by empathy and Lakoff would like to help them set up progressive think tanks to make and push policy using frames that will capitalize on their strengths.
This is why Lakoff would have been having dinner with the Northwest Progressive Institute and I am looking forward to hearing a firsthand report about what I missed.
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If ONLY people would fund progressive think tanks! They simply don't understand how to set them up--or they don't understand how to organize them--or they simply don't understand how important they are. There is truly a different ethos between the right and the left--the right wingers understand how to make foot soldiers and get cooperation and the left wingers do not seem to care about getting everyone working together towards goals. The left has far better writers and thinkers than the right, but the right is far more willing to get with a program than the left.
Karen
Northwest Progressive Institute is doing quite well and it was founded by someone who is only 21 years old. He didn't realize it was supposed to be "impossible." He definitely does "get with a program," and I think that is part of the success.
He had an advance copy of Markos' new book which is coming out in September and it looked encouragingly good. I got a look at the Table of Contents & Andrew shared a couple of good quotes.
Think "Gatecrashers" with a system.
I also think that within the political realm, Obama and his campaign and also Dean at the DNC are doing a much better job of mobilizing people than I had ever expected. Am encouraged about the Fellows that have just been trained & the events planned for 6/28, the Gore endorsement & the number of Republican seats in jeopardy, the 50 state campaign etc.
I guess I am an optimist.
On the other hand, the news is more sobering than ever - as far as the economy, Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq - but that is part of why we need to almost start over from the ground up.
We have nothing to lose.
I don't want to be a party pooper, but from what you report, Dianne, I don't think there is much of anything new from Lakoff. Yes, he has important observations, but many of his points have been made. The value is derived from the fact that he attended your group's session and was able to "humanize" his message. It is that tangible construct that energizes and crystalizes activists into a cohesive working unit. And, despite Karen's observation that "left wingers do not seem to care about getting everyone working together towards goals", Lakoff's theories do help people to understand which goal is the one that deserves their collective attention.
As regards to progressive think tanks, for years I have advocated a progressive think tank in Northwest Indiana. It is that environment and culture which has suffered greatly from the policies of the Conservatives who currently hold power. As a rural and manufacturing region, it is a microcosm of the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. I have gone so far as to distribute my proposal to many others affiliated with the Democratic Party whose resources are greater than mine. Just like the writer trying to publish their first novel, I get the perfunctory and very gracious thanks, but no thanks letter.
However, it is true that Obama has struck a chord with many people. The country is ready for a change, and as long as Bush's administration continues to fulfill its lackluster destiny, Obama's message will resonate even more widely. Perhaps that is what Lakoff is suggesting; act on the cognitive knowledge that change is necessary and the hopeful emotion will help provide the energy that will lead to successful completion of that goal (but isn't that something all activists implicitly understand?). We, the people are ready for change and have a goal, but are the people who control the purse strings (they could hardly be considered to be activists) ready for that change? I have my doubts about that.
This page continues to be flagged as a Suspicious Website in Internet Explorer 7.0.
Bush and Cheney lied the nation into war, and almost certain economic ruin, but Microsoft is worried about the Democracy Cell Project's website. Now, isn't that special.
I am downloading the new version of Firefox 3.0 - and turning IE 7 off on this machine.
Safari 3.1 works great. But if you are on a windows machine stick with Firefox, it works fine.
A suspicious web site you say? Undoubtedly it is the eloquent and persuasive prose which seriously questions authority while challenging people to accept the fact that even bad marriages have a hard time lasting seven years. The sad truth is we are stuck with an imbecile as our President for eight years. Yes, I am suspicious how a born loser like George Bush who ruined nearly everything he touched ended up as our President.
Safari is available for Windows too... As for me, I run Firefox 3 on a Mac.
We ARE suspicious - we dare to ask questions.
I've been running Safari on a Mac but am experimenting with Firefox and also the Thunderbird email program affiliated with it.