Weekend reading: Lakoff on progressive morality and framing

An oldie but a beautifully written article from an author who always energizes me. George Lakoff, author of Don’t Think of an Elephant, wrote a piece in 2003 for the American Prospect summarizing his “Strict Father/Nurturant Parent” model of conservative and liberal conceptions of morality. These, he finds, are inextricably tied to the words conservatives and liberals use to discuss the issues. Of course, for the last forty years, conservatives have been focus-grouping their terminology into a cohesive whole. Individual terms in the Republican’s gesamtvokabular spring easily to mind: “partial birth abortion,” “death tax,” and Lakoff’s favorite:

“On the day that George W. Bush took office, the words “tax relief” started appearing in White House communiqués. Think for a minute about the word relief. In order for there to be relief, there has to be a blameless, afflicted person with whom we identify and whose affliction has been imposed by some external cause. Relief is the taking away of the pain or harm, thanks to some reliever.”

“Framing the Dems”