An excerpt which Kos posted: "But (Republican pollster) Frank Luntz is about much more than language. He recognizes that the right use of language starts with ideas -- with the right framing of the issues, a framing that reflects a consistent conservative moral perspective, what we have called strict father morality. Luntz's book is not just about language. For each issue, he explains what the conservative reasoning is, what the progressive reasoning is, and how the progressive arguments can be best attacked from a conservative perspective. He is clear: Ideas come first.
One of the major mistakes liberals make is that they think they have all the ideas they need. They think that all they lack is media access. Or maybe some magic bullet phrases, like partial-birth abortion.

When you think you just lack words, what you really lack are ideas. Ideas come in the form of frames. When the frames are there, the words come readily. There's a way you can tell when you lack the right frames. There's a phenomenon you have probably noticed. A conservative on TV uses two words, like tax relief. And the progressive has to go into a paragraph-long discussion of his own view. The conservative can appeal to an established frame, that taxation is an affliction or burden, which allows for the two-word phrase tax relief. But there is no established frame on the other side. You can talk about it, but it takes some doing because there is no established frame, no fixed idea already out there.

In cognitive science there is a name for this phenomenon, It's called hypocognition -- the lack of the ideas you need, the lack of a relatively simple fixed frame that can be evoked by a word or two [...] "

The Conservative Party here uses all the same slogans that the Republicans use in the U.S, while the Liberals, like the Democrats rarely use any. But, the electoral results are rather different.

Which is why my "Death to the Family Compact" slogan never really took off the way I thought it would or should.

Slogans are not just a capsulation of an idea, they are banners for people to wave.

Progressives tend to use more detailed and complex arguments because, golly gee, the world is a complex place with complex problems and complex solutions. Of course, like the book says, this is a weakness when trying to appeal to the average voter, so there's lot's of room for improvement.

[ 22 September 2004: Message edited by: Andy Social ]

One cop looked at it and smiled and said "fast car"

Simple, oft-repeated slogans or catch phrases (Clinton's "It's the economy, stupid" was a rare Democrat exception) work.

This topic is related to this item.

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Stahl's piece was so hard-hitting in its criticism of Reagan, she recalled, that she "worried that my sources at the White House would be angry enough to freeze me out." Much to her shock, however, she received a phone call immediately after the broadcast from White House aide Richard Darman. He was calling from the office of Treasury Secretary Jim Baker, who had just watched the piece along with White House press secretary Mike Deaver and Baker's assistant, Margaret Tutwiler. Rather than complaining, they were calling to thank her. "Way to go, kiddo," Darman said. "What a great story! We loved it." "Excuse me?" Stahl replied, thinking he must be joking. "No, no, we really loved it," Darman insisted. "Five minutes of free media. We owe you big time." "Why are you so happy?" Stahl said. "Didn't you hear what I said?" "Nobody heard what you said," Darman replied. "Come again?" "You guys in Televisionland haven't figured it out, have you? When the pictures are powerful and emotional, they override if not completely drown out the sound. Lesley, I mean it, nobody heard you."

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Recently: "Compost happens."

In university: (with musical notes at each end)
"HELP! I've fallen and I can't get dowwwwn!"

[ 24 September 2004: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

"You've got your 'X' (Malcom X logo), I've got mine" (Confederate flag)

Back to the thread, distilling a concept down to a few words isn't necessarily a "dumbing it down" endeavour. It's a discipline that actually takes considerable effort. I believe Benjamin Franklin once started some correspondence thus: "Please forgive the length of this letter; if I had had more time, it would have been shorter." I know a (public-sector) journalist who complains that academics and progressives tend to be "bad" interviews for this reason: "You ask them what time it is, and they start off by telling you how watches are made." The argument by Chomskyites that the "soundbite" phenomenon acts to suppress new or complex ideas is often just laziness - "My principles are too radical, advanced and sophisticated to be communicated succinctly to a mass audience, and the mouth-breathers probably wouldn't understand anyway, so why bother?" And then they complain how difficult it is to get on mainstream media.

You make a valid point, but can one distill, say, Keynesian economic theory into 20 (or 15) words or less?

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
You make a valid point, but can one distill, say, Keynesian economic theory into 20 (or 15) words or less?

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
You make a valid point, but can one distill, say, Keynesian economic theory into 20 (or 15) words or less?

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Here's the Keynesian welfare state in one word: Share.

[ 24 September 2004: Message edited by: CoryWillis ]

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The Republicans are smarter propagandists than the Democrats.

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But we're catching on. My favorite Kerry stickers so far:

"He'll do" (cartoon pic of Kerry at the side)

"They're strong nuances"

"Yes, this is my truck
"No, I won't help you move"