I had to read this for a communications course earlier this fall and when I read it I blazed through it very quickly and knew I wanted to revisit it as soon as the semester was done. So I left it as “reading” in my Goodreads for over a month and finally got around to re-reading it and genuinely absorbing it.
I’m glad I re-read it, some of it was pretty obvious and some of it clearly explained things like why “climate change” is the predominant word of choice instead of “global warming.” My professor said that many of his students said they can’t watch the news anymore after reading this, and while I can still watch it I’m much more aware of the framing and terminology newscasters/journalists use than before.
This was a fascinating book and although Lakoff clearly aligns to the left, he did a really good job of describing and critiquing the right without attacking or condemning (even though you can read that in if you lean left too). I wasn’t surprised at the sheer immensity of the machinations of the right through language and framing but to see it so clearly and logically laid out in relatively easy-to-understand terms and examples were eye-opening.
When you are arguing against the other side, do not use their language. Their language picks out a frame—and it won’t be the frame you want. (1)
The biggest thing was Lakoff’s pointing out why the left and right were so different and the idea of a strict father module and nurturant model of everything from communications, politics, government, living, etc. It was like holy shit they’re not messing around and they really do want to control everyone and everything from patriarchy, misogyny, heterosexual, cis-gendered, white, English-speaking, financially well-off place.
The strict father model begins with a set of assumptions: The world is a dangerous place, and it always will be, because there is evil out there in the world. The world is also difficult because it is competitive. There will always be winners and losers. There is an absolute right and an absolute wrong. Children are born bad, in the sense that they just want to do what feels good, not what is right. Therefore, they have to be made good. (4)
And Lakoff tying it back to Puritanism and the founding of America it’s like no wonder we’re so screwed up and we (collectively) have been buying into the bullshit for so long. The fact that so many poor people and minority people vote for a party that is 100% opposed to their existence should boggle everyone’s mind, but Lakoff explains very clearly why it doesn’t. And this book more than any other piece I’ve read in the past few years gives the exact roadmap to why Roe v Wade was overturned and why it’s not the end. I also found the explanation of why and how the rich got richer in the late 70s and early- to mid-80s to be enlightening and will have to share that with some coworkers who recently asked why those classes give so much money.
Reporters have an obligation to notice when they are being taken for a ride, and they should refuse to go along. It is a duty of reporters not to accept such a situation and not to simply use right-wing frames that have come to seem natural. And it is the special duty of reporters to study framing and to learn to see through politically motivated frames, even when those frames have come to be accepted as everyday and commonplace. (102)
The two big takeaways for me were:
- Biconceptualism is real and the right is winning that takeover. The idea that there are many people who are somewhere between the left and write but that our brains are wired to be overrun by one or the other and that if your brain does actually shift between the two it’s always at risk of being overridden by one or the other if it has a more powerful framework
- Journalists should be required to read this work and abide by it. Either finding neutral language or using language that is beneficial to all, which is generally what the left uses, and not the language of the right (i.e. use global warming, NOT climate change).
I’ll probably go subscribe to Lakoff’s newsletter, because like I said this is fascinating and I learned a lot.
Recommendation: Wow—this was a mind trip. Lakoff lays out in clear and concise language why the left is losing the framework battle for America. Everything he writes in this book explains why America has and keeps moving to the right at least politically. It’s ridiculous how obvious it is when he points it out, but also clear why so many hundreds of thousands of people buy into a system that is not for their benefit. The number or relatives and people I went to school with and people I interact with on a somewhat regular basis that have the mindset created for them by the right is shockingly high, but 100% explainable by Lakoff. This should be required reading for journalists AND high school students as they’re learning about politics, American history and being responsible citizens.
Opening Line: “We think with our brains. We have no choice.”
Closing Line: “Those are a lot of guidelines. But there are only four really important ones: Show respect. Respond by reframing. Think and talk at the level of values. Say what you believe.” (Not whited out as this is a work of nonfiction.)
Additional Quotes from Don’t Think of an Elephant
“That is the power of the conservative messaging system: It is reflexivity in action. Over time, someone’s very personhood can change, and with it her ideal of what other people should be. And, of course, who they should vote for.” (46)
“Again, I say ‘brain’—not ‘psyche’ or ‘mind’—for a deep and vital reason: All thought is physical, carried out by the neural circuitry in one’s brain. Thoughts don’t just float in air. As a result, you can only understand what your existing brain circuitry allows you to understand. The fundamental frames through which you understand the world are physical. Your moral identity is as much a physical part of you as your lungs or your nose. You can only make sense of what your brain allows. If the facts don’t fit what your brain physically allows, the brain circuitry stays and facts are either ignored, dismissed, ridiculed, or seen as a form of immorality to be fought against. It is a fact that the private depends on the public—perhaps the most central fact of American democracy—and yet strict conservatives either can’t see it or see it as a form of immorality so fundamental that it must be defeated at all costs.” (51)
“Conservatives for the most part are using the idea of terminating a pregnancy as part of a cultural-war strategy to gain and maintain political power.” (131)