Finally a THINK TANK for liberals/progressives that focuses on language

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

The right wing has had a field day in the minds of the populous over the course of the last couple decades. From the Reagan era, we have WELFARE QUEENS, from the RUSH era we have FEMINAZI ( a term I see all too frequently on DU...and I have said..if we wouldn't let RUSH post here, why accept his language here?) We have ELITIST as I have hilighted in another topic and a WHOLE host of terms that DEFINE US BY OUR OPPONENTS. We have TREEHUGGERS and all sort of VERY negative connotations thrown at us from ordinary everyday language. Those of us that are pro-choice are called ABORTIONISTs.

This is language one sees in everyday talk.

We are NOW going after SOCCER MOMS and NASCAR DADS as though appealing to a real demographic is the same as appealing to a stereotypical person. (Witness Dean with the Confederate FLag statement)

This institute sees the harm we have caused ourselves by allowing us to be defined by our opponents and is working on making a difference.

There are SOME aspects of Lakoff's philosophy I am NOT quite comfortable with in terms of some of his analogies, but I can LIVE with that.

Read on and post your thoughts.

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/what/

What We Bring
Interdisciplinary Research
We bring expertise in economics, cognitive science, sociology, history, contemporary polling, law, linguistics, race, gender, public health, and the family.

Reframing Public Debate
We analyze framing in policy-making and in the media, and strategically reframe social issues from the perspective of progressive values.

A Progressive Moral Vision
We articulate progressive values in clear, specific, straightforward language.

Activism
We have a commitment to progressive social change and a long history of working for it.

Action
Our ActionLink connects us directly to action networks of grassroots organizations, policy-makers, and advocates.

Expertise
We have considerable expertise in studying long-term trends in American life.

Long-Term Planning
We do not just react to the issues of the day. We do long-term strategic planning.

Progressive Family Values
We bring progressive moral values to family issues, including the raising of children.

Communication Skills
We write well and speak effectively. We publish everything from op-eds, to articles, to books, to manuals for activists. And we have a great deal of experience with the media.


http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics

By Bonnie Azab Powell, NewsCenter | 27 October 2003

BERKELEY – With Republicans controlling the Senate, the House, and the White House and enjoying a large margin of victory for California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's clear that the Democratic Party is in crisis. George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley professor of linguistics and cognitive science, thinks he knows why. Conservatives have spent decades defining their ideas, carefully choosing the language with which to present them, and building an infrastructure to communicate them, says Lakoff.

The work has paid off: by dictating the terms of national debate, conservatives have put progressives firmly on the defensive.

In 2000 Lakoff and seven other faculty members from Berkeley and UC Davis joined together to found the Rockridge Institute, one of the only progressive think tanks in existence in the U.S. The institute offers its expertise and research on a nonpartisan basis to help progressives understand how best to get their messages across. The Richard & Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the College of Letters & Science, Lakoff is the author of "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think," first published in 1997 and reissued in 2002, as well as several other books on how language affects our lives. He is taking a sabbatical this year to write three books — none about politics — and to work on several Rockridge Institute research projects.

In a long conversation over coffee at the Free Speech Movement Café, he told the NewsCenter's Bonnie Azab Powell why the Democrats "just don't get it," why Schwarzenegger won the recall election, and why conservatives will continue to define the issues up for debate for the foreseeable future.

Kudos to SOteric for first bringing this institute to my attention given my interest in linguistics :thumbsup:

[Karenina]

1. Language MATTERS.

.

[Minstrel Boy]

14. Language is ALL that matters

There's be no action without the words to drive it. This is great!

[IrateCitizen]

2. This is great news!!!

Lakoff was the author of some EXCELLENT articles on this very subject in the Sept 2003 issue of TAP. I'm glad to see he's taking it the extra step.

Good news, indeed!

[mmonk]

3. much needed I think

also, we must think of a way to make conservative an ugly word with the public like they have done to the word liberal.

[redqueen]

5. Thanks for sharing that, NSMA... good news indeed.

And mmonk, I think "cheap labor conservatives" is a good one to counter the tax and spend thing... or "borrow and spend conservatives"

There's not really much you can do to tarnish something if it's already crusted over with filth, though. Our only hope is to get a fair media back so that we can actually communicate the level of their corruption to the masses effectively.

Wasn't a liberal network supposed to be in the planning stages? What happened with that?

[Mountainman]

4. How will we get the message out to the voters

If the media is dominated by the right wing how will the message get out?

When ever I see one of the right wingers on TV or hear them on radio go up against someone like Katrina vanden Heuvel they fall completely to pieces. We have the spokes people but our message is not carried in prime time!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. It DOES take time

You just have to throw it against the wall often enough for it to stick.

BTW, it is carried in prime time with Whoopi's show. :D

[Mountainman]

12. That could be the key! Carry our message to voters via sitcoms

I think more people watch sitcoms than watch the cable news shows. If our message was communicated via the sitcoms it would reach lots of folks.

That's what was so up setting to the wing nuts about the Reagan movie. Too many people would have gotten the "wrong" impression of saint Ronnie.

[Some Moran]

24. Careful...

The Right-Wing shrills might pick up some indies and centralists by bitching about the "liebrul media" if we do that.

[blueseas]

7. Thanks for posting this!

We need language to frame our discussions, rhetoric in a better light. This is great news :thumbsup:

On edit: Hi nsma

[Dogmudgeon]

8. My Sad Experience

I've tried several times to get people interested in studying the rhetoric of the Right, and to make some kind of counterattack. The idea was to decode the Right's tactics, and then create a kind of a rhetorical martial art.

The responses I got were uniformly dismissive. The hard-core lefties -- the ones who took to spray painting the anarchist circle-A on abandoned buildings and trash dumpsters -- were the most dismissive.

But I love Lakoff's work, and hope he can succeed where I failed. After all, he is a world-class linguist and is doing this with an ambitious scope; I'm "merely" a swinging bachelor of science and I only ever tried to find some local people to get together with.

--bkl

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. You will NEVER get dismissed from me on that point

The language of violence has created a CULTURE of violence. NOT the reverse.

[salinen]

10. high crimes

the very idea of using conservative tactics to fight back requires a new kind of being. this cyborg human would not only be thoughtful and knowledgeable, but be able to distort, lie, murder, and slander those who oppose cyborgthink. face it folks, how could we have lost sp much so quickly? underground is the equivilent of sitting in the rear of the bus.

[newyawker99]

21. Hi salinen!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Dogmudgeon]

23. Fighting back

You mentioned using "conservative tactics to fight back", and seemed to imply that's what we want to do. I take issue with that.

It's not about using conservative tactics; it's about coming up with tactics of our own. Our rules, our values, our tactics. Which is why I likened it to a martial art -- discipline and skill can often overcome uncontrolled thuggery.

The problem is that we, on the left, have a lack such these skills. Conservatives are well-practiced in all sorts of political fighting, AND they are permitted to use uncontrolled thuggery with impunity. We need to use an entire range of political "martial arts" rather than limit ourselves to a few techniques that the Right can easily deal with.

--bkl

[KoKo]

11. OOps NSMA! I thought you were giving up Cussing & Swearing there for a

minute! LOL's. Sounds like a great link. Thanks!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. It's about time!

I have a graduate degree in linguistics, and I've known for a long time that the field is full of left-leaning people, Chomsky being only the most notable.

I'm glad they're finally putting some of that knowledge to use.

[Armstead]

15. I like Italian food.

Ohhhhhh, you mean linguistics? Thought you said linguini. Never mind.


But in a more serious vein, every little bit helps. Just so long as we don;t become as dishonest and weasly in the use of lies,er,language as the otehr side is.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. Check out the site. I don't see that as the intent

[Armstead]

20. I did check it out

actually before I postd.

I did not mean to criticize them or their goals. Soeey if it came across that way.

I do think we need to put in place better ways to get our side across effectively. Anyone or any group that contributes to that i'm all for. Especially if they can help us reframe the complicated ideas on our side so we can more clearly explain it.

My concern was raised for reasons unrelated to them specifically.

One is that the DLC "centrists" are very careful about language, and that's one reason our side comes across as so blodless. If this approach goes too far, we deflect from the real issues by using careful phrases that are designed not to offend but don;t excite anyone eitehr.

I also believe we need more of the "real" communications. That's one reason I like old Howard the D. He says what he thinks in an unfiltered way. Sometimes he puts his foot in his mouth, but I'd much that than someone whose every word is programmed.

Another is that hearing (or reading) the talking points and careful phrases of the right wing turns my stomach.

But setting those reservations aside, I am glad they're doing it and it is much needed. I definetly support what they're doing, especially if it helps us get our points across better.

[Malva Zebrina]

18. that is my concern also

as I read the interview with Lakoff. I was not sure that I agreed with him. I do agree that the Republican approach using and abusing language, has resonated particulary well in this society--where people are quite used to the corporate advertising, over and over and and over--and after all, advertising is a form of sloganeering and use of language to sell a product. It is meant to convince us of it's truth as well as to inspire us to go out and buy the product-and this is what the Republicans do quite skillfully. Is it really to any one's advantage to use language to obfuscate , spin and hide to sell a product like a candidate or a party? It turns me off, but then, I am a natural skeptic anyhow--toward all forms of advertisement. I may be the only one who thinks this, but I think plain honesty in language better than making up all kinds of spins. If this is what it takes to win, I really question the anchor to reality here and also the potential for abuse--ie, spin is easier to deny--as in Bush's denial that he lied about Saddam and the reasons for the attack on Iraq.

[Dogmudgeon]

25. Honesty isn't really a concern

If taking care to use language effectively is a form of expression, then if you're honest, you'll communicate honestly.

The stumbling block is the idea that any planned forethough in communication is a form of deceit. That's just not so. Literature and poetry are just two examples that I'd put up against advertising, spin, and manipulation. And it's why I say that honesty isn't really a concern here. The intention shapes the expression.

A method of expression can no more be good or evil than a letter or a part of speech.

It's easy to fall into despair when so much of the "info-sphere" is packed with manipulative and deceitful messages. On the other hand, it ought to make it easier for the honesty to be heard. Being intimidated into silence, because you fear that speaking is lying, is the best indication that they have succeeded in breaking you to their political will.

--bkl

[proud patriot]

17. Language is key

:thumbsup:

[supernova]

19. Breathtaking

in its scope. :thumbsup:

This is exactly what we on the left need. I hope it won't take 30 years though. :P

[Armstead]

22. A little ...

:kick:

[KoKo]

26. Kick for the Saturday Crowd!

:kick: