ToDaZed Alinsky Lesson
Look! Over there!!
In a struggle for power, first seize the language. OR If you’re losing - change the name.
When you say ‘global warming,’ a certain group of Americans [code forstupid rednecksthe dumb masses] think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.” ...fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals [eww! hippies], economic sacrifice [bark jerkey] and complex scientific disputes [eww! thinking]...
wait… so that hockey stick graph of Algore’s was really about gay marriage?
The answer, [ecoAmerica’s president and founder, Robert M. Perkowitz] said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language. “Energy efficiency” makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of “saving money for a more prosperous future.” In fact, the group’s surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term “the environment” and talk about “the air we breathe, the water our children drink.”
...talk about “our deteriorating atmosphere.” Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.”
...“Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology,” said the e-mail account of the group’s study.
If ya can’t confuse ‘em with hockey sticks, dazzle ‘em with bullshiite.
EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support for climate change legislation and other initiatives. A summary of the group’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations by someone who sat in this week on a briefing intended for government officials and environmental leaders.
Instead of Natural Rights, we’ll hear about Natural Heritage.
"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed.”
crap someone told ‘em Lincoln once mighta said
“When you say ‘global warming,’ a certain group of Americans [code for stupid rednecks the dumb masses] think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.”
Progressive liberals I get, but the rest of that is a textbook case of Advanced Strawman Debate.
It reminds me of the time, not too long ago, when they decided that “Socialist” didn’t have the warm fuzzy resonance it once did (I guess that’s when happened when Woody Guthrie stopped singing), so they switched to “progressive”.
More classic Orwell: “avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology”.
That science and technology - it only confuses them. Let’s sing songs about poor old redwood trees.
“EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support...”
In other words, we don’t care about the facts or the evidence (pro and con), we just have an agenda to push.
The Lincoln quote is authentic. It’s from a debate with Stephen A. Douglas over the issue of slavery.
The idea certainly works. That’s how Obama got to be President.
Posted by ZZMike on 05/05/09 at 10:41 AM
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