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How US Conservatives Use Language to Dominate Politics

Posted by TimSlavin at March 15, 2004

"The first thing to know about language is that it expresses ideas and thoughts. Every word is defined with respect to what cognitive scientists call a frame. A frame is a conceptual structure of a certain form. Let me give you an example. Suppose I say the word "relief." The word "relief" has a conceptual frame associated with it. Here's the frame: In order to give someone relief, there has to be an affliction and an afflicted party – somebody who's harmed by this affliction – and a reliever, somebody who gives relief to the afflicted party or takes away the harm or pain. That reliever is a hero. And if someone tries to stop the person giving relief from doing so, they're a bad guy. They're a villain. They want to keep the affliction ongoing. So when you use only one word, "relief," all of that information is called up. That is a simple conceptual frame.

Then there's metaphorical thought. We all think metaphorically. When you add "tax" to "relief" to give you the term "tax relief," it says that taxation is an affliction. That's a new metaphor. Then, using the metaphor, anyone who gets rid of the taxation – the affliction – is a hero, and anybody who tries to stop him is a bad guy."

While the article is about language and politics, good marketers and copywriters will recognize the underlying principles. How you use words to describe your business, product, and service matters. It is hard work to use language to highlight strengths (benefits) and minimize weaknesses. From AlterNet. There's also an interview from UC Berkeley. And the Rockridge institute has a section devoted to the topic of strategic framing.

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