Thursday, September 23, 2004

Elephant Kicks Ass Now, so the Ass Can Kick Elephant Out in November


Apparently, mention of the book in the blogosphere, particularly on high-traffic sites like Langauge Log and DailyKos, has pushed the Amazon rating for "Elephant" into the top ten:

Lakoff hits the big time, blogwise
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001479.html#more

Lakoff book surges
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/21/124721/483

Some others have written good reviews of the book, too:

Don't think of an Elephant
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/19/4228/97955

Don’t Think of An Elephant—A Donkey Kicks Back
http://structureoflies.blogspot.com/2004/09/dont-think-of-elephanta-donkey-kicks.html

Some are already using Lakoff's ideas in campaigning, including these people who have made a DVD they use in training their volunteers:

How Democrats and Progressives Can Win: Solutions from George Lakoff
http://www.winwithlanguage.com/


Here is a good recent article on the topic of framing:

The Disease of Right-wing Framing
By Robert Cole, AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/19969/

The media continually reiterates right-wing language when framing the debate
over healthcare. The loser is not just John Kerry but also the American voter.


Links to a number of articles, some of which cannot be found on the Rockridge site, can be found here:

Two Americas: Framing the Language of Progressive Ideology
http://www.jregrassroots.org/jre/viewtopic.php?t=663


Finally, I wish I was in Berkeley to take Lakoff's class. For those of us who cannot be there, students in his class (with Lakoff's approval) are posting class notes, comments, and links to supplemental readings on their blog:

George Lakoff :: Ling 290L :: Language of Politics
http://www.zephoria.org/lakoff/


UPDATE:

Here is an old article by Lakoff on framing the Iraq war:

Metaphor and War, Again
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15414


and here is a blog discussion of that article:

http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/001377.html


UPDATE 2:

This blog has several good posts about Lakoff and framing:
http://branemrys.blogspot.com/
Not Quite Right, I Think
The Dangers of Poorly Chosen Metaphor
Maverick Philosopher on Framing
On the Framing of Framing
Framing, the Silver Rule, and Political Taste

I disagree with the notion that Lakoff childrearning-scheme is a frame itself, but I agree that many liberals (new on the Lakoffian bandwaggon) misunderstand what framing is all about. Please go and read this blog - it is thoughtful and will make you think.

There was also a response on another good blog:

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2004/09/lakoff_framing_.html
Lakoff framing and reciprocity

...as well as a rant by a pre-Modern pseudo-intellectual gleefully-conservative mind here. This just shows that Lakoff is right. The whole so-called critique comes straight from a Strict Father way of thinking, with no effort to get out of it:

Lakoff on How Conservatives Use Language to Dominate
http://maverickphilosopher.blogspot.com/2004/09/lakoff-on-how-conservatives-use.html

posted by Bora Zivkovic @ 11:10 PM | permalink | (2 comments) | Post a Comment | permalink