Don't Think of an Elephant Initial Response

I have just begun reading the illuminating book Don't Think of an Elephant. Published in 2004, it is a brief explanation for progressives about how conservatives shape political debate using language. By effectively controlling the language, conservatives have been able to effectively frame political debate to their advantage.

The author, George Lakoff, explains that both conservative and progressive thought grow out of a family model. Conservatives' model is an authoritarian father-figure. Progressives' model is a nurturing parent. This is extremely beneficial to understanding the other side's point of view. I have been grappling with understanding why people will vote Republican when it is not in their financial best interests. This book addresses that question very clearly.

I am certainly a progressive. I recognize my most cherished values in Lakoff's sketch of progressive beliefs. Career-wise, the value driving me the most is opportunity, closely followed by fairness. I can see that my outrage about poor public education centers around a lack of opportunity for those children who do not have access to any better education than their failing public school. This is simply not fair, I reason, because they can never be as well off as those with a better education, no matter how hard they work.

These children could be of any race, but they are almost always poor. Lakoff identifies several types of progressive, and I see myself in the type he calls Socioeconomic Progressive, who view problems in terms of class and economics. I cannot ignore that I am a mixed-race person who was raised to cherish the progress gained during the Civil Rights Movement, so I was taught a lot of identity politics (another progressive type). However, class and economics speak more strongly to me. My white mother is from a poor-er family than my black father. Growing up I concluded, somewhere along the way, that if you're poor you need help regardless of skin color.

It seems that my next step is to figure out how conservatives frame debates related to education. I was discussing the evolution/creationism "debate" with friends when they recommended Lakoff's book. So maybe that topic is a good jumping off place. The role of strict father in creationism is pretty clear: the all-knowing, infallible God. For further study, Lakoff has several other more academic books I would benefit from reading.

Then there's finishing up my tour of education political philosophy. Phew! I'm behind "schedule" on that, but cutting myself slack because we're moving.