November 04, 2003
Language and Politics
Tags: language, politicsGeorge Lakoff, professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley, has a theory as to why conservative rhetoric dominates the political landscape.
He argues that progressives haven’t spent the time or money necessary to frame political debates in language that people will internalize — language based on a central moral compass. Instead, progressive spend their time marketing — choosing ideas based on popularity.
His discussion of conservative language as fatherly and progressive language as motherly (nurturing) is fascinating.
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