freecounterpoint: Berkeley gurus psychoanalyze elections

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Berkeley gurus psychoanalyze elections

7 comments:

Tecumseh said...: George Lakoff: Uh, I got into this, uh, back around the 1994 election, when I picked up my copy of The Contract With America, and was [laughter] -- I, I do this out of civic duty. And I was mystified. I couldn't understand conservatives. Why would the same people who were, uh, you know, uh, against abortion, in favor of the flat tax, uh, or, uh, tort reform or against environmental regulations -- what do they have to do with each other? And then I asked myself: What do my positions, which are the opposite of those, have to do with each other? And got mystified. But I realized something interesting, which was -- this was a cognitive science problem, and that's my field. I'm a cognitive scientist and a linguist. And I went and I just did a study. And what popped out of that was something interesting. That what draws together, uh, conservatives who are on the right wing, and progressives, is a notion of the family. Two opposite notions of the family that turn out to structure nations. Now why do we understand the nation as a family? By the way, this is -- when did you first think of George Washington as father of the country and not wonder about it, just accept it? Right? You have the nation as family. We have the fatherland, uh, in Germany, Mother Russia, Mother India, around the world. Because, very simply, what is your first experience with governance? It's in your family. What we have in America is a split in family values that is echoed in our political system, and that is between the "strict father" understandings of the family and the "nurturant" understandings of the family. I won't go into that here, but, y'know, if you've read any of the stuff I've written, it's familiar to you.; 10/29/2006 2:24 AM
Mr roT said...: His name ought to be Large Jackoff. What is this drool?; 10/29/2006 4:11 AM
Tecumseh said...: George Lakoff is the author of several influential "progessive" strategy books and is considered the top Democratic philosopher.

If this is the best they can come with to peddle their wares, I shudder to think what is the B-team.; 10/29/2006 12:15 PM
Mr roT said...: Noam?; 10/29/2006 11:55 PM
Tecumseh said...: Ward?; 10/30/2006 12:12 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...: Moore!; 10/30/2006 8:38 PM
Mr roT said...: no, Les is More--Mies van der Rohe; 10/31/2006 2:07 AM

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