|
|
Wednesday, December 29
DFQC Meet Up January 6 Covers George Lakoff and The Importance of Framing
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 29 Dec 2004 04:38 PM CST
 DFQC Meet Up January 6 Covers George Lakoff and The Importance of Framing
A Message from Dr. Alta Price
Hi everyone!
I wanted
to invite you to the Democracy for America/Democracy for the Quad
Cities Meetup. This is one to invite all your friends to.
Who: All progressives interested in politics or political issues (not just Deaniacs)
When: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 at 7 pm
Where: Steel Workers Union Hall in Bettendorf (880 Devils Glen Rd)
RSVP: Not needed – just come (call me with questions)
We will
be showing the George Lakoff DVD on “framing” - which should be of
interest to a lot of people. And after watching the DVD, we will break
into small groups and practice “framing” our positions on a local
political issue (maybe the issue of how GLBT students are going to be protected in PV schools?)
Don't miss this opportunity to see the DVD. And invite your politician
and elected official friends. They need to start learning how to
"frame" issues to better connect with voters. At the end of this
message are a few words to the Meetup group from George Lakoff to
introduce the concept of "framing."
Alta Price
altaprice@mailblocks.com
421-1140 (work)
332-5051 (home)
A Word from George Lakoff: Setting the Frame for the January Meetup Workshop
 “There
is no escaping framing - it is how the human brain works. Framing is
more than finding “better” words. It is the way you think about the
world. Good framing reflects your values and your beliefs, and connects
them to issues in ways that have self-contained arguments built in. If
you are framing honestly, then the arguments will be ones that you
believe in.”
“Once a
frame is set, people no longer listen to facts that contradict it. The
facts just bounce off. Facts are important, but they come after the
frame, not instead of it.”
“Don’t
let the radical conservatives set the agenda. It is important that you
frame your own issues proactively – don’t just respond to their frames.
For example, you should talk about taxes as investments often, not just
in response to their view of taxes.”
“Don’t expect to convert anyone right away - it takes a while for people to get the ideas and new frames in their brains.”
“Framing
is not the same as messaging: it is a whole new way of thinking about
all the issues. Real training in reframing takes a long time. Tonight
is only the briefest of introductions, to whet your appetite for more.
There are many steps to reframing, but you can make the first step here
tonight.”
U.S. Aid To S.E. Asia "Stingy" - Updated!
by
Chad Thompson
on Wed 29 Dec 2004 12:35 PM CST
 U.S. Aid To S.E. Asia "Stingy" - Updated!
This little tidbit noted by Atrios should catch on the conservative talk radio today. (It's called "WHO Radio" in Central Iowa)
From the Washington Times:
The Bush administration yesterday pledged $15 million to Asian
nations hit by a tsunami that has killed more than 22,500 people,
although the United Nations' humanitarian-aid chief called the donation
"stingy."
Now what would prompt someone to call such a donation "stingy"?
From MSNBC:
The war on terror will take center stage at next month’s second inauguration for Bush in Washington, D.C.
...The estimated budget for the event is $30-40 million, but that will not cover security costs.
UPDATE ONE:
The Washington Times report quoted above is a
complete lie. It seems that the Washington Times and the
WSJ have gone out of their way to use an international crisis to malign
the ever-hated United Nations.
The Gadflyer has a post
detailing how two outlets outright fabricating a story echoes through
the media outlets - and outrages Blog For Iowa posters....
Somewhat surprisingly, the WSJ points out the notion of using a natural disaster to further a political cause:
People prone to hysteria often become
further unhinged in the face of a great disaster, and that may explain
these remarkable comments on the tsunami disaster. Still, these
comments by the movement's leadership may serve as a case study of how
such imaginings work their way into public discussion of the
environment.
The author of this comment then proceeds to write about how the
Kyoto Protocol is holding back South Asian nations from creating a
Tsuanmi warning system similar to the one used by Pacific Rim nations.
I swear - you can't make this stuff up.
UPDATE TWO:
It seems that shame is an important motivator. From today's Washington Post:
The
Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment
yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean
tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been
insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.
As
the death toll surpassed 50,000 with no sign of abating, the U.S.
Agency for International Development added $20 million to an earlier
pledge of $15 million to provide relief, and the Pentagon dispatched an
aircraft carrier and other military assets to the region. Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell, in morning television appearances, chafed at a
top U.N. aid official's comment on Monday that wealthy countries were
being stingy with aid. "The United States is not stingy," Powell said
on CNN.
Of course, one must take note of what happens when this administraton is shamed into a course of action - blame Bill Clinton!!
Earlier
yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said [Bush] was
confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to
Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part
of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a
White House official said: "[Bush] wanted to be fully briefed on
our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel
your pain.' "
Many
Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to
hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak
louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing [Bush]'s
view of his appropriate role.
As I noted earlier - you can't make this stuff up.
UPDATE THREE: An mportant note on this story. There are several groups
out there providing relief aid to those stricken by the tsunami
now. Here are a couple that I know of immediately (not an
exhaustive list, by any means. Note: More links added 12/29):
Lutheran World Relief
United Methodist Committee On Relief
American Red Cross
... and for a good overview of other charities rasing money and providing relief efforts:
Bread For The World
If there are other organizations operating relief efforts that you support, please post them below.
The Return of the One-And-Only Donald Kaul
by
Trish Nelson
on Wed 29 Dec 2004 07:48 AM CST
 The Return of the One-And-Only Donald Kaul
MinutemanMedia
He’s
b-a-a-a-c-c-k....and you can find him at MinutemanMedia.Org – our
old friend, the world’s most under-rated columnist and RAGBRAI
co-founding father, O.T. (Over the Coffee) Donald Kaul…..Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~
DEC 22, 2004
by Donald Kaul
Who says
there’s no good news anymore? The news lately may not have been
thrillingly good but a lot of it’s been very funny, which is the next
best thing. For example:
Medals - [Bush] gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest
national honor that doesn’t involve getting shot at, to three
architects of the current war in Iraq, George Tenet, former director of
the CIA; Paul Bremer, former civilian administrator of the occupation
of Iraq, and Gen. Tommy Franks, the overall commander of the invasion.
Tenet,
you’ll remember, is the guy who said that finding Weapons of Mass
Destruction in Iraq would be a “slam dunk;” Bremer the chap who
disbanded the Iraqi army, leaving no effective local forces to keep
order, and Franks the fellow who, though he argued privately for more
troops, publicly supported the disastrous decision to try and run the
occupation on the cheap with as few troops as possible.
You know
who didn’t get medals? The people in the intelligence community who
were right on WMDs, right on the need for keeping Iraq forces intact
and right on the need for more troops.
Proving
again the truth of the maxim: “There is no greater sin a bureaucrat can
commit than to be right when his superiors are wrong.” Incompetent,
laziness, bad judgment - all that can be forgiven. A failure to go
along with the program, never.
I hope Tenet, Bremer and Franks enjoy their medals; they earned them.
~~~~~~
Deception
– Word comes via The New York Times that the Defense Department (and
they really should change the name back to “War Department,” don’t you
think?) is considering “manipulating” information it dispenses with an
eye toward influencing opinion abroad. There’s a technical term for
that, of course: “lying.”
Opponents
within the government argue the plan would risk shattering the
Pentagon’s credibility and might make folks skeptical of everything the
military says.
I feel
safe in saying that the Bush administration should stop worrying about
damaging its credibility overseas. It doesn’t have any.
Europeans,
Middles Easterners and Asians are far more cynical than Americans. They
don’t believe governments tell the truth, ever. It is only Americans
who swallow what their politicians tell them.
In any
case, what credibility the United States did have was shredded when
Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the United Nations with
badly forged documents to argue that invading Iraq was necessary
because Saddam had (the still-missing) Weapons of Mass Destruction.
So go
ahead and lie if you want to, people, you won’t be fooling anyone but
American voters, and only 51 percent of them at that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donald
Kaul recently retired as Washington columnist for the Des Moines
Register. He has covered the foolishness in our nation’s capital for 29
years, winning a number of modestly coveted awards along the way.
E-mail Donald Kaul.
(click here to read the entire column).
 Rapid
Response is gearing up for action in '05 and Sinclair Broadcasting is
first on our list...Get in on the fun, receive action alerts.
Click here to join RapidResponse - Iowa.
|
|
