George Lakos, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, offers neurological perspectives to aid in understanding the differences between liberals and conservatives and to help explain why the two sides have such difficulty finding common ground despite sharing some common values.
In his article A Minority President: Why the Polls Failed, and What the Majority Can Do, Lakos offers an analysis of the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath, explaining why the polls failed to accurately predict results that proved upsetting for a majority of Americans, who now face the reality of governance by a president whose values and messages they deem unacceptable and abhorrent.
Lakos points out the futility of the progressive efforts to combat the overt sexism, racism, nationalism and other repugnant features of the winning candidate, which ultimately only served to amplify and reinforce his popularity among his supporters.
The mistake, he asserts, is in arguing against the opponent’s language and mindset by repeating that same language and amplifying the broadcast of those distasteful views. The way forward, he asserts is to use different language, new expressions, new “frames,” that don’t amplify the opponent’s positions but instead posit new ones. In a conversation with UC Berkeley colleague Robert Reich, Lakos elaborated more specifically frames Democrats and progressives should consider in broadcasting their positions and values more effectively. Progressives should ask themselves: What is a Democrat? A Democrat believes in government Of, By, and For the People. What does that mean? Representative government responsive to the will of the people that provides services that benefit the people—social programs, health care, roads and bridges.
Image: 2017 Women’s March poster artwork: Copyright 2017 Tony Kroes. All rights reserved.