Beyond Lakoff

Frances Moore Lappe, author of "Diet For A Small Planet," has a new take on Lakoff's "Don't Think Of An Elephant" book on frames. From Guerrilla News Network via Joho The Blog, which has some interesting comments about frames growing out of this story. Two of Lappe's key points:

So here’s one point progressives might want to savor as they think about frames: A broad swath of the American people may share the “strict father” frame just enough to be vulnerable to manipulation; but this does not mean Americans broadly, deeply share the worldview of those in power. The Left must get much better, not just at placing its issues in a compelling moral frame, but at exposing and holding the radical Right accountable for its lies and deception – without, and here is the tricky part, making those who have been manipulated feel ridiculed and put down.

A New Frame: Strong Communities. Second, in a positive vein, progressives can show that the more engaged and just a community, the stronger and safer we all are. The more we know that we can count on our neighbors, our schools, our health care providers – because we know them and because they are adequately funded—the safer we feel. Immediately after 9/11, a public health expert pointed out an obvious link between fairness and community safety.

Jock Gill of Greater Democracy comments at Joho that

"A key thing is the realization that there are meta frames. So the Family is the meta frame that contains BOTH the strict and nurturing parents. Thus, if we are not careful, Lakoff's Nurturing Parent only serves to keep us trapped in the same meta frame with the GOP. Since they currently control that frame, we can not win unless we extract ourselves from an over dependence on the Family frame.

Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of 14 books, most recently You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear (Tarcher/Penguin 2004). Her books are widely used in college courses and have been translated into over a dozen languages. She’s now at work on a book about taking democracy to its next historical stage – democracy as a living practice that embraces economic and social as well as political life.

Guerilla News Network gets the prize for the best photo with a George Lakoff story. The photo above appears with their story, with the caption: "who's your daddy?"