George Lakoff, while in the process of still trying to peddle his ‘framing’ nonsense, came up with this rather puerile try-to-define-the-terms exercise:
The basic idea behind democracy in America is the idea that citizens care about each other; that they act socially as well as individually to cash out that care, and they try to do as well as they can in doing that both for themselves and for others.
NO, you inept fool of a propagandist. The basic idea behind democracy in America is the idea that it is possible to create a political framework where various groups, movements, and individuals can contribute to a shared debate on how to best determine a policy response to events; and that said response will be considered legitimate by everybody, including the people that lost the debate. Whether people ‘care’ for each other is immaterial: they can despise each other all that they like, just as long as nobody is writing up a proscription list.
Of course, taking this position raises a hell of a lot of awkward questions about why the Democratic party decided to ram the ‘stimulus’ and Obamacare down our throats. Not to mention their utter refusal to even pass a budget. Which is why Lakoff is trying to redefine the rhetorical rules of the game.
Moe Lane
Perhaps the professors teaching agitprop 101 padded the grades a bit too much?
Mew
“just as long as nobody is writing up a proscription list”
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This, of course, is what the left doesn’t like about our system.
That’s some low quality drivel he’s spewing there. I demand higher quality of drivel!
I must have missed the “care about each other” phrase in the Declaration and the Constitution…can George point those out to us?
Christine, he feels that it’s in there. That’s good enough for him.
Linked his AlterNet story, and just had to laugh (for some while) at the sub-title: “Thinking and Talking Democratic”.
A Lesson Plan? For a bunch of Relativists? Where everybody’s ‘personal, individual truth’ gonna get to?
“The Little Blue Book” ?
This is some kinda joke, right…?
Ah, but you see that if people “care for each other” it allows them to FORCE others to do WHAT’S IN THEIR OWN BEST INTEREST will they or nil they. And they can’t even object, because the fact that whatever it is you’re forcing them to do is FOR THEIR OWN GOOD automatically destroys the legitimacy of their dissent. The assumtion that the person applying the force knows better about the “own good” of the forcee is implicit: since you’re doing this thing for their own good, if they don’t want it done then you automatically know more about their best interests than they do. As a side dish, you can groove on the wonderful messiah/martyr complex that engaging in well-meaning tyrrany engenders.
See? Altruism justifies everything.