George Lakoff deciphers “the Obama code”

Barack Obama has quite a knack for addressing deep themes with his surface eloquence. What are those deep themes? Linguist George Lakoff has taken the time to set them out in a recent Huffpo article, and I think he's thought it through impressively. Lakoff's article is well worth a slow read. What is Obama really about?

Behind the Obama Code are seven crucial intellectual moves that I believe are historically, practically, and cognitively appropriate, as well as politically astute. They are not all obvious, and jointly they may seem mysterious. That is why it is worth sorting them out one-by-one.

Note that for Lakoff (and Obama), "progressive values" (#2) are the natural result of genuine and uncorrupted empathy:

Those empathy-based moral values are the opposite of the conservative focus on individual responsibility without social responsibility. They make it intolerable to tolerate a president who is The Decider--who gets to decide without caring about or listening to anybody. Empathy-based values are opposed to the pure self-interest of a laissez-faire "free market," which assumes that greed is good and that seeking self-interest will magically maximize everyone's interests. They oppose a purely self-interested view of America in foreign policy. Obama's foreign policy is empathy-based, concerned with people as well as states--with poverty, education, disease, water, the rights of women and children, ethnic cleansing, and so on around the world.

Here are Lakoff's seven insights into the ideas that drive Obama's spoken words:
1. Values Over Programs 2. Progressive Values are American Values 3. Biconceptualism and the New Bipartisanship 4. Protection and Empowerment 5. Morality and Economics Fit Together 6. Systemic Causation and Systemic Risk 7. Contested Concepts and Patriotic Language

Continue ReadingGeorge Lakoff deciphers “the Obama code”

Representative Keith Ellison: fighting to get real information to the People

Representative Keith Ellison is one of my heroes.   Before a big crowd in Minneapolis in June, 2008, Ellison delivered a passionate speech on the importance of having a media that truly informs the People.   I agree whole-heartedly with his statement that the People will do the right things, but only…

Continue ReadingRepresentative Keith Ellison: fighting to get real information to the People

Popular right wing talk show host Michael Savage shows his ignorance regarding autism

Here's a standard account of autism, from Wikipedia: Autism is a brain development disorder that first gives signs during infancy or childhood and generally follows a steady course without remission or relapse. Impairments result from maturation-related changes in various systems of the brain. Autism is one of the five pervasive…

Continue ReadingPopular right wing talk show host Michael Savage shows his ignorance regarding autism

Let there be hecklers

It’s difficult to watch hecklers, even when you agree with them. On a superficial level they are rude. By interrupting formal speeches they are preventing the officially designated speaker from delivering his or her message. But what alternatives do we have when modern-day powerful politicians carefully exclude people who disagree…

Continue ReadingLet there be hecklers