An important quote from that 2005 Obama post

[barking_iguana]

I didn't discuss it directly in my last post, because I'd already highlighted it for Tom, as part of an ongoing discussion we've been having for years. But it touches on something that needs to be widely understood and isn't. Obama here is the only public figure I've seen address it at all.

The bottom line is that our job is harder than the conservatives' job. After all, it's easy to articulate a belligerent foreign policy based solely on unilateral military action, a policy that sounds tough and acts dumb; it's harder to craft a foreign policy that's tough and smart.... I firmly believe that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, or oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. A polarized electorate that is turned off of politics, and easily dismisses both parties because of the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to chip away at the very idea of government because, in the end, a cynical electorate is a selfish electorate.

Actually, that could be finished better. He paints the target with poetry and precision. But then he misses the mark. A cynical, disinterested electorate is short-sighted and effectively stupid, as well as being selfish. Selfishness doesn't prevent the middle class from supporting a good national health care plan. Not paying enough attention to get past fear-phrases prevents it.

I have a long post half-written post from a few months ago on the subject above (forgetting that Obama had addressed it) combined with some critique of George Lakoff (writer of Don't think of an Elephant and other works, and a public speaker). At some point I'll dig that up and it may even turn into something more substantial than a blog post. But in the mean time, Lakoff says to engage people's pre-enlightenment minds. And he's right that we need to do that. Lakoff goes further, though, and says that the enlightenment conception of the mind is an illusion, to be discounted. That goes beyond insight into counterproductive bullshit. It infantilizes the electorate and makes it much harder to effect positive change, because babies are easily frightened of change.

Comments

[chemoelectric.livejournal.com]

I have one of Lakoff’s books. Nowadays I see George Lakoff as a kind of glorified ad man; his ‘science’ is not designed to find out how people work, but how to work them.

There are other people who talk more intelligently about the two major American worldviews; Thom Hartmann, for instance (as long as he leaves out religion).

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

I think it is possible to avoid automatically infantilizings the electorate.