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In reply to the discussion: Wanna Know Who Made Racism ''Acceptable Again'' in the good ol' USA? [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)181. ''Liberal Media'' - ''Liberal Mind''... So...
A Good Week for Science (Or, What Eating Worms Reveals About Politics)
by George Lakoff
Huffington Post, 04/22/2010
EXCERPT...
Conservative Populism and Tea Partiers
After the Goldwater defeat of 1964, conservatism was a dirty word and most Americans wanted to be liberals, especially working people, who were highly unionized. Lee Atwater and colleagues, working for the 1968 Nixon campaign, had a problem: How to get a significant number of working people to become conservative enough to vote for Nixon.
They intuited what I have since called "biconceptualism" (see The Political Mind) -- the fact that many Americans have both conservative and progressive views, but in different contexts and on different issues. Mutual inhibition in brain circuitry means the strengthening of one weakens the other. They found a way to both strengthen conservative views and weaken liberal views, creating a conservative populism. Here's how they did it.
They realized that by the late 60's many working people were disturbed by the anti-war demonstrations; so Nixon ran on anti-communism. They noticed that many working men were upset by radical feminists. So they pushed traditional family values. And they realized that, after the civil rights legislation, many working men, especially in the South, were threatened by blacks. So they ran Nixon on law and order. At the same time, they created the concept of "the liberal elite" -- the tax and spend liberals, the liberal media, the Hollywood liberals, the limousine liberals, and so on. They created language for all these ideas and have been repeating it ever since.
Even though liberals have worked tirelessly for the material benefit of working people, the repetition of conservative populist frames over more than 40 years has had an effect. Conservative ideas have spread in the brains of conservative populists. The current Tea Party movement is an attempt to spread conservative populism further.
Sarah Palin may not know history or economics, but she does know strict father morality and conservative populist frames. Frank Rich, in his February 14 NY Times column, denied David Broder's description of Palin as "pitch-perfect populism" and called it "deceptive faux populism" and a "populist masquerade." What Rich is missing is that Palin has a perfect pitch for conservative populism -- which is very different from liberal populism. What she can do is strengthen the conservative side of bi-conceptual undecided populists, helping to move them to conservative populists. She is dangerous that way.
Frank Rich, another of my heroes, is a pitch-perfect liberal. He assumes that nurturant values (empathy; social and personal responsibility; making yourself and the world better) are the only objective values. I think they are right values, values that define democracy, but unfortunately far from the only values. Starting with those values, Rich correctly points out that Palin's views contradict liberal populism and that her conservative positions won't materially help the poor and middle class. All true, but ... that does not contradict conservative populism or conservatism in general.
This is a grand liberal mistake. The highest value in the conservative moral system (see Moral Politics, Chapter 9) is the perpetuation and strengthening of the conservative moral system itself!! This is not liberal materialism. Liberals decry it as "ideology," and it is. But it is real, it has the structure of moral system, and it is physically part of the brains of both Washington conservatives and conservative populists. The conservative surge is not merely electoral. It is an idea surge. It is an attempt to spread conservatism via the spread of conservative populism. That is what the Tea Party movement is doing.
SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/a-good-week-for-science_b_470500.html
Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts into words, Liberal_Stalwart71. Very much appreciate your insight.
by George Lakoff
Huffington Post, 04/22/2010
EXCERPT...
Conservative Populism and Tea Partiers
After the Goldwater defeat of 1964, conservatism was a dirty word and most Americans wanted to be liberals, especially working people, who were highly unionized. Lee Atwater and colleagues, working for the 1968 Nixon campaign, had a problem: How to get a significant number of working people to become conservative enough to vote for Nixon.
They intuited what I have since called "biconceptualism" (see The Political Mind) -- the fact that many Americans have both conservative and progressive views, but in different contexts and on different issues. Mutual inhibition in brain circuitry means the strengthening of one weakens the other. They found a way to both strengthen conservative views and weaken liberal views, creating a conservative populism. Here's how they did it.
They realized that by the late 60's many working people were disturbed by the anti-war demonstrations; so Nixon ran on anti-communism. They noticed that many working men were upset by radical feminists. So they pushed traditional family values. And they realized that, after the civil rights legislation, many working men, especially in the South, were threatened by blacks. So they ran Nixon on law and order. At the same time, they created the concept of "the liberal elite" -- the tax and spend liberals, the liberal media, the Hollywood liberals, the limousine liberals, and so on. They created language for all these ideas and have been repeating it ever since.
Even though liberals have worked tirelessly for the material benefit of working people, the repetition of conservative populist frames over more than 40 years has had an effect. Conservative ideas have spread in the brains of conservative populists. The current Tea Party movement is an attempt to spread conservative populism further.
Sarah Palin may not know history or economics, but she does know strict father morality and conservative populist frames. Frank Rich, in his February 14 NY Times column, denied David Broder's description of Palin as "pitch-perfect populism" and called it "deceptive faux populism" and a "populist masquerade." What Rich is missing is that Palin has a perfect pitch for conservative populism -- which is very different from liberal populism. What she can do is strengthen the conservative side of bi-conceptual undecided populists, helping to move them to conservative populists. She is dangerous that way.
Frank Rich, another of my heroes, is a pitch-perfect liberal. He assumes that nurturant values (empathy; social and personal responsibility; making yourself and the world better) are the only objective values. I think they are right values, values that define democracy, but unfortunately far from the only values. Starting with those values, Rich correctly points out that Palin's views contradict liberal populism and that her conservative positions won't materially help the poor and middle class. All true, but ... that does not contradict conservative populism or conservatism in general.
This is a grand liberal mistake. The highest value in the conservative moral system (see Moral Politics, Chapter 9) is the perpetuation and strengthening of the conservative moral system itself!! This is not liberal materialism. Liberals decry it as "ideology," and it is. But it is real, it has the structure of moral system, and it is physically part of the brains of both Washington conservatives and conservative populists. The conservative surge is not merely electoral. It is an idea surge. It is an attempt to spread conservatism via the spread of conservative populism. That is what the Tea Party movement is doing.
SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/a-good-week-for-science_b_470500.html
Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts into words, Liberal_Stalwart71. Very much appreciate your insight.
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Wanna Know Who Made Racism ''Acceptable Again'' in the good ol' USA? [View all]
Octafish
Jun 2015
OP
Amen! 'The legacy of Saint Reagan is one of treachery, malfeasance and treason IMO.'
Surya Gayatri
Jun 2015
#162
And then they fell to their knees, lit the incense, and prayed "Yes, Yes, YES!!!"
calimary
Jun 2015
#64
I recall seeing that live (or on the news the next day) during GHWB's inauguration
Chiyo-chichi
Jun 2015
#88
That's the right answer. But on DU it's tricky to criticize Reagan, many here voted for him and
Bluenorthwest
Jun 2015
#4
In addition to defending Reagan, they defend Bush I, II and the rest of the Crime Family
Octafish
Jun 2015
#10
Reagan could not have pulled it off without the willing acquiescence of many who should have known
KingCharlemagne
Jun 2015
#31
Reagan was a fascist piece of shit, going back to his days as Gov. of California when he threatened
KingCharlemagne
Jun 2015
#35
Reagan called in the National Guard over 4 "dirty words" in The Berkely Barb
stuffmatters
Jun 2015
#137
The thing to remember about RWR is that he started as a Cold War Dem. He's the missing link
leveymg
Jun 2015
#80
Good points all. Simply add a little astrology to the mix and, voila, you've got
KingCharlemagne
Jun 2015
#84
Racism is going to get worse as competition for the few good jobs that are still
Baitball Blogger
Jun 2015
#7
+1. This country was built by African slave labor and the extermination of indigenous peoples
YoungDemCA
Jun 2015
#103
How Ronald Reagan used coded racial appeals to galvanize white voters and gut the middle class
Octafish
Jun 2015
#191
We were in Alabama when Kennedy was shot, and Dad was working in Huntsville (Apollo program stuff)
hatrack
Jun 2015
#123
Lee Atwater had an army of racists and supremacists he used to political advantage.
blm
Jun 2015
#29
Lee Atwater had SC wired with his racist hit squad including a group from Bob Jones Univ.
blm
Jun 2015
#210
And yet in an interview with Mike Wallace in 1988, Ronny couldn't understand why so many
muntrv
Jun 2015
#32
Actually, the Dixiecrats who revolted against Civil Rights gains in the 60s and became Southern
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#43
RACISM has always been around and never went out of style. There never was a time when
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#44
Saying that racism is "acceptable again" implies that there was a time when racism
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#188
Wrong. Nixon led the resurgence. Read again. The Southern Strategy was Nixon's agenda.
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#199
You simply won't admit your mistake. The assertion you made, "Reagan was responsible for racism's
Liberal_Stalwart71
Jun 2015
#211
Reagan was one of the worst Presidents for the poor, the marginalized, the historically oppressed
YoungDemCA
Jun 2015
#118
It stopped -- for a time, anyway -- in the Oval Office during the Kennedy Administration.
Octafish
Jun 2015
#193
Not to mention he kicked off his Presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi as a symbol of
Hoyt
Jun 2015
#101
I am sorry I sound so pedantic...lots of history being rewritten when it comes to fascism.
Octafish
Jun 2015
#107
I have to admit, I'm on my phone and pretty much just looked at the photo. Just went back
Hoyt
Jun 2015
#111
Presidents can't do anything progressive without masses of ordinary people demanding that they do it
YoungDemCA
Jun 2015
#114
Well, in all fairness to Ronnie the Empty Suit, Tricky Dick was really pretty bad too:
struggle4progress
Jun 2015
#115
Ronnie was caught too, but the House decided not to pursue impeachment
struggle4progress
Jun 2015
#121
Had Reagan been impeached, his forced testimony would have outed his alzheimers
stuffmatters
Jun 2015
#141
What a monster! Also, for what he was responsible for in South America....
Joe Chi Minh
Jun 2015
#135
Don't forget the site of Reagan's first speech after receiving gthe 1980 Republican nomination.
bulloney
Jun 2015
#138
Philadelphia, Mississippi had a population of about 5,000 and had no significance whatsoever
aint_no_life_nowhere
Jun 2015
#183
K&R! I thought it was going to be Poppy Bush refering to Jeb's kids as his "little brown babies"....
Ghost in the Machine
Jun 2015
#148
Bush Defends 'Little Brown Ones' Term for Grandchildren, Tells 'Pride and Love'
Octafish
Jun 2015
#185
Bookmarked and K & R. Thanks for restoring some historical perspective to the debate.
Surya Gayatri
Jun 2015
#158
It was screamed in the 80's, and it was 100% true: Reagan was a god damned puppet.
C Moon
Jun 2015
#168