Thinking Points

Thinking Points

Communicating our American Values and Vision

by George Lakoff

I was pretty disappointed in this book. Instead of a how-to guide for communicating our American values and vision, it's more about communicating George Lakoff's theory of framing and cognitive science -- and as such, it's pretty highbrow some of the times.

That said, Lakoff does have some interesting things to say, such as his postulation that most Americans are biconceptual -- that is, they are neither purely liberal nor purely conservative, but a mix of the two. And as such, they need to be persuaded to your view on an issue-by-issue basis.

Here is the only hope we see: Reach out to those who are biconceptual and identify with their partial progressive values -- values they genuinely share with progressives. On the basis of that identity, convince them of an important truth, that they are being oppressed by conservatives -- the land they love is being destroyed by conservatives, their progressive Christianity is under severe attack by conservative fundamentalists, their very bodies and their families' bodies are under attack by conservatives. There is no lack of arguments to make here.

Unfortunately, Lakoff leaves it to the reader to make those arguments. He supplies the theory of framing issues, and then leaves it up to the reader to actually frame the arguments. He doesn't provide much in the way of specific arguments to make. Which makes this book less than useful for someone like me, who isn't a graduate student of politics.

I was hoping for a book on how to win over conservatives to the progressive cause. This isn't the book I was looking for.