george lakoff at Brave New Films

Lakoff recognizes Kucinich health care plan

2008-11-23T12:28:25Z

Most Americans cannot see Dennis Kucinich.

The mainstream media help to keep him invisible. Finally, after a prompt from the audience, George Lakoff remembers and recognizes the Kucinich health care plan and admits that he is the only presidential candidate who has the right idea.

Kucinich recognizes that the majority of American people want the government to stop insurers from profiteering among the poor, the sick and the elderly.

The Kucinich plan covers everyone, greatly reduces waste and allows us to live up to a value deeply held by all the major religions -- healing the sick.

You will find more on the Kucinich health care plan my companion website at:
http://www.Interactive-Pioneers.org/listening

Watch the video

George Lakoff on Political Moderates: A Myth?

2008-10-28T15:30:11Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

UC-Berkeley Linguistics Professor George Lakoff identifies differences between conservative and liberal reasoning, and argues that there is no such thing as a true political moderate.

Watch the video

Linguist George Lakoff on Rationality and Politics

2008-10-27T03:29:47Z

Watch more politics at www.theyoungturks.com

Watch the video

Authors@Google: George Lakoff

2008-10-28T03:29:28Z

The Authors@Google program was pleased to welcome author and professor George Lakoff to Google's New York office to discuss his new book, "The Political Mind".

George Lakoff is Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute, a think tank in Berkeley, CA. He is author of "Don't Think of an Elephant!", "Moral Politics", "Whose Freedom?", and coauthor of "Thinking Points: A Progressive's Handbook", as well as many books and articles on cognitive science and linguistics. In this talk Professor Lakoff speaks about his latest work The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain. In "What's the Matter with Kansas?", Thomas Frank pointed out that a great number of Americans actually vote against their own interests. In "The Political Mind", George Lakoff explains why.

Watch the video

McCain's Stump Speech for Obama

2008-10-28T03:31:06Z

Barack Obama just made history by becoming our first African-American Presidential nominee. But Obama also accomplished something else last night, something completely unintentional that Democrats haven’t done successfully in a long, long time. He compelled his Republican opponent to use his frame for a change—literally.

By all accounts, there was nothing unexpected about last night’s speeches from the three Presidential hopefuls. McCain’s speech was unconvincing and wholly uninspired. Clinton refused to acknowledge Obama’s victory and continued to talk about herself, even when pretending to talk about others: “While I traveled our country talking about how I wanted to help you, time and again, you reached out to help me, to grab my hand or grip my arm, to look into my eyes and tell me, don't quit, keep fighting, stay in this race for us.” And Obama was his usual poised, eloquent self as he graciously celebrated Clinton, jabbed at McCain, and fired up the crowd once again by talking about “our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.”

With the exception of the press being much more critical of McCain than usual, these speeches appeared to be merely the next step in a seemingly endless 17-month primary marathon. And yet McCain played right into Obama’s hands by devoting his entire speech to countering Obama’s message of “change” with his own message of, well, “change.”

McCain appeared in front of a green board with the message “A Leader We Can Believe In” scrawled across it, which blogger Attaturk quipped made him look "like the cottage cheese in a lime jello salad." This was an obvious ploy by McCain to repackage Obama’s “Change We Can Believe In,” coupled with the slightly subtler green, a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Within the first couple of minutes, McCain began talking about change, which, as Tim Russert later noted on MSNBC, was a word he reiterated 32 times (33 if you count “climate change”).

“This is, indeed, a change election,” McCain said. “No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But, the choice is between the right change and the wrong change; between going forward and going backward.” At this point, McCain grimaced awkwardly, perhaps because deep down he knew he was reinforcing Obama’s message.

What exactly did McCain mean by the “right” and “wrong” change? Well, that was really where McCain's rhetoric began to sound like a stump speech for Obama:

“The right change recognizes that many of the policies and institutions of our government have failed. They have failed to keep up with the challenges of our time because many of these policies were designed for the problems and opportunities of the mid to late 20th Century, before the end of the Cold War; before the revolution in information technology and rise of the global economy. The right kind of change will initiate widespread and innovative reforms in almost every area of government policy -- health care, energy, the environment, the tax code, our public schools, our transportation system, disaster relief, government spending and regulation, diplomacy, the military and intelligence services. Serious and far-reaching reforms are needed in so many areas of government to meet our own challenges in our own time.”

McCain’s use of “change” clearly shows that Obama now controls the discourse of this election.

George Lakoff: How Democrats & Progressives Can Win

2008-10-18T03:31:11Z

"HOW DEMOCRATS & PROGRESSIVES CAN WIN: Solutions from George Lakoff" is a tool for political change.

George Lakoff is the author of the bestseller, "DON'T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate." This 25 minute DVD outlines Lakoff's key ideas and reveals what the mainstream media doesn't provide in understanding modern politics. Featuring a lively interview with Professor Lakoff, TV news clip, illustrative graphics, this is a media tool to assist people working for political change.

This focused, concise program will help improve communication skills of those working for change. Each DVD includes a wallet-size summary card of key points. The program covers" How the conservatives gained power," "How Democrats can influence swing voters," "How to debate a conservative," "What is framing?" "What are values and why are they crucial for voters to understand?" "What are the progressive values?" and much more. Organizations such as Democracy for America, Sierra Club, National Resource Defense Council, Mother Jones, The Nation, Latinos for Democracy, Tennessee Alliance for Progress, New Jersey for Democracy, have all made use of this DVD.

www.winwithlanguage.com

Watch the video

George Lakoff speaks at Google

2008-10-14T11:27:35Z

About his book "Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most Important Idea"

Watch the video