Powell's Books: Marc Cooper on George Lakoff's "Elephant" Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (A Progressive Guide to Action) by George Lakoff Thinking of Jackasses: The grand delusions of the Democratic Party A Review by Marc Cooper In one of Lenny Bruce's classic routines an agitated Lyndon Johnson -- freshly seated in the White House, and in the privacy of the Oval Office -- is sweatin', swearin', and cussin' as he tries to say "Ni-Ni-Ni ... Ni-groh" but instead keeps returning to a more familiar and vulgar word.
Now, at the urging of the UC Berkeley cognitive linguist George Lakoff, liberal America's guru of the moment, progressive Democrats are practicing to get their own reluctant mouths around some magical new vocabulary, in the hope of surviving and eventually overcoming the age of Bush. In his best-selling manual of progressive political advice, Don't Think of an Elephant! And here I thought semantic bobbing and weaving had helped cost the Democrats the vote. But that's not really MoveOn's job. George Lakoff Manifesto. GEORGE LAKOFF. George Lakoff. George P. Lakoff (/ˈleɪkɒf/, born May 24, 1941) is an American cognitive linguist, best known for his thesis that lives of individuals are significantly influenced by the central metaphors they use to explain complex phenomena.
The more general theory that elaborated his thesis is known as embodied mind. He is professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972. Work[edit] [edit] Although some of Lakoff's research involves questions traditionally pursued by linguists, such as the conditions under which a certain linguistic construction is grammatically viable, he is most famous for his reappraisal of the role that metaphors play in socio-political lives of humans. Metaphor has been seen within the Western scientific tradition as purely a linguistic construction. He suggested that: "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. " Linguistics wars[edit] Embodied mind[edit] Rockridge Institute - George Lakoff.
Linguistics prof. George Lakoff dissects the 'war on terror" and other conservative catchphrases. UC Berkeley Web Feature Linguistics professor George Lakoff dissects the "war on terror" and other conservative catchphrases By Bonnie Azab Powell, NewsCenter | 26 August 2004 BERKELEY – With the Democratic National Convention over and the Republican one beginning next week, it seemed a good time to check in with George Lakoff, the UC Berkeley professor of cognitive linguistics whose scrutiny of the language of politics has begun to bring him national recognition.
The author of the seminal book "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think," Lakoff's specialty is dissecting "framing," or the ways in which conservatives and liberals position issues to fit their respective moral worldviews. (For more on framing, read this excerpt from the NewsCenter's October 2003 interview with Lakoff.)
He grasps how Republicans use language more effectively than Democrats, and what Democrats can do about it. What's in this new "essential guide for progressives"? There's been a lot of improvement. George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics. UC Berkeley Web Feature Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics By Bonnie Azab Powell, NewsCenter | 27 October 2003 BERKELEY – With Republicans controlling the Senate, the House, and the White House and enjoying a large margin of victory for California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's clear that the Democratic Party is in crisis. George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley professor of linguistics and cognitive science, thinks he knows why. The work has paid off: by dictating the terms of national debate, conservatives have put progressives firmly on the defensive.
In 2000 Lakoff and seven other faculty members from Berkeley and UC Davis joined together to found the Rockridge Institute, one of the few progressive think tanks in existence in the U.S. Why was the Rockridge Institute created, and how do you define its purpose? I got tired of cursing the newspaper every morning. Why haven't progressives done the same thing? The Atlantic Online | April 2005 | Thinking of Jackasses | Marc Cooper. In one of Lenny Bruce's classic routines an agitated Lyndon Johnson—freshly seated in the White House, and in the privacy of the Oval Office—is sweatin', swearin', and cussin' as he tries to say "Ni-Ni-Ni … Ni-groh" but instead keeps returning to a more familiar and vulgar word.
Now, at the urging of the UC Berkeley cognitive linguist George Lakoff, liberal America's guru of the moment, progressive Democrats are practicing to get their own reluctant mouths around some magical new vocabulary, in the hope of surviving and eventually overcoming the age of Bush. In his best-selling manual of progressive political advice, Don't Think of an Elephant! , Lakoff asserts that political consciousness, and therefore voter choice, is determined by deeply wired mental structures—"frames"—that reflect more-general views and values. "The frames," Lakoff writes, "are in the synapses of our brains, physically present in the form of neural circuitry. " After the Supreme Court gave the election to George W.