"Don't Think of an Elephant" is a good collection of essays and thoughts by George Lakoff. Lakoff is a professor of linguistics and cognitive science at the University of California Berkeley, is a specialist in the technique of "framing," a communication tool that creates a "frame" for a message that defines the terms of the debate.
Frames help set a context for debate and Lakoff seems to have nailed the Republican strengths in this communicaiton area. It is a fantastic and thought provoking work. Read it.
Lakoff ideas and the messages are clearly the kind of content that advocacy groups want to be pushing through the pipleines out to the public but Lakoff doesn't do enough to focus on the strategy and infrastructure that are required to frame an issue.
Simply calling the gutting of air protections the "Dirty Skies Act" or the timber bill the "leave no tree behind act" is not going to carry the day. These are good message frames and open the debate .."why is it the dirty skies act? " but moving a message takes horsepower, skill and infrastructure and a strategy that unifes messengers.
Hopefully, campaigners here can understand the value of the frames and also start to question the strategy used to saturate the public with the debate.
