George Lakoff: Moral Politics

UC Berkeley professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics George Lakoff explores how successful political debates are framed by using language targeted to people's values instead of their support for specific government programs in this public lecture sponsored by the Helen Edison Series at UC San Diego. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [11/2005] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 11194]

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  Education

[SuperHadEnough]

310 Million people in America and this has been viewed 53K times. That for me is a problem. I'm just saying, it should be required viewing for anyone who votes.

[OriginMSD]

I consider myself to be a moral person. My dad always taught me to be a good person and do the right thing. What I noticed is that my beliefs always tended to lean more towards the liberal side instead of the conservative. I always wondered why that would be. Helping the poor. Honesty. Responsibility. "Love your neighbor as yourself." I thought these were THE morals. After watching this video... I finally get it.

[IxenBlaze]

I find that a similar problem of framing exists among conservatives and libertarians which allows progressives to frame their opposition as sociopaths. The rest just gets lost in the us vs them rhetoric.

[Timothy Hobson Jr]

An amazing video.

[MelvinThe42]

Linguistics can study the rhetoric of a politician, but not his policies.

[nixxie]

That is as ignorant as saying linguistics is about speaking multiple languages.

[Lesley Woodward]

Amazingly insightful video. The most disturbing thing is how liberals ignore so many of Lakoff's insights. I have pointed out self-defeating messages sent out by MoveOn to leaders only to be told that, yes, they have read/heard Lakoff, but will not change or adjust their basic messages because people "won't understand.". Go figure.

[socrates877]

The failure in New Orleans was the hubris of believing that the ocean could be checked indefinitely. The disaster did not start with Katrina. It began with the founding of the city and deepened every year as the soil beneath the city compacted and eroded. Katrina was merely the inevitable justice that an indifferent nature dealt.

[TheEmpressIsBack]

What a brilliant lecture. And he was able to keep me very interested throughout.